2000 Save Mart/Kragen 350
The 2000 Save Mart/Kragen 350 was the 16th stock car race of the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 12th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 25, 2000, in Sonoma, California, at the club layout in Sears Point Raceway, a permanent road course layout. The race took the scheduled 112 laps to complete.
At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would dominate the late stages of a chaotic race to win his 51st career NASCAR Winston Cup Series win and his second of the season. To fill out the podium, Sterling Marlin of Team SABCO and Mark Martin of Roush Racing would finish second and third, respectively.
Background
Sears Point Raceway is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Watkins Glen International. The standard road course at Sears Point Raceway is a 12-turn course that is long; the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns 5 and 6, shortening the course to. The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout. In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn, 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of.Entry list
denotes rookie driver.Practice
First practice
The first practice session was held on Friday, June 23, at 10:00 AM PST, and would last for three hours. Kyle Petty of Petty Enterprises would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 1:10.921 and an average speed of.Second practice
The second practice session was held on Saturday, June 24, at 9:00 AM PST, and would last for one hour. Dale Earnhardt of Richard Childress Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 1:11.747 and an average speed of.Third and final practice
The third and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, June 24 after the preliminary NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series race. John Andretti of Petty Enterprises would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 1:12.510 and an average speed of.Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 23, at 2:00 PM PST. each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round were guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, June 24, at 10:45 AM PST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. Positions 26-36 were decided on time, while positions 37-43 were based on provisionals. Six spots were awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh was awarded to a past champion who did not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points was awarded a provisional.Rusty Wallace of Penske-Kranefuss Racing won the pole, setting a time of 1:10.652 and an average speed of in the first round.
Three drivers would fail to qualify: Rick Mast, Geoff Bodine, and R. K. Smith.