Jeff Gordon has an excellent opportunity to finally make some real noise in the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Gordon will sit in the No. 2 slot in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Gordon's own back yard at Sonoma. Gordon sits behind only Marcos Ambrose in the lineup as the drivers head into the unique 12-turn course.

Fellow Bay Area native AJ Allmendinger holds the No. 17 position in the starting lineup.

The green flag for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 will wave at 12:19 p.m. PT. Sunday's event will be the third of six races to be televised on TNT this year. There IS live streaming of the race today, which can be found at NASCAR.com's "RaceBuddy" site. If you'll be away from your computer and TV, check the Performance Racing Network's web site for a list of affiliate radio stations in your area.

Here's the starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Sonoma:

1. Marcos Ambrose
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Greg Biffle
5. Martin Truex Jr.
6. Clint Bowyer
7. Kyle Busch
8. Kurt Busch
9. Matt Kenseth
10. Carl Edwards
11. Ryan Newman
12. Juan Pablo Montoya
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Joey Logano
15. Kasey Kahne
16. Denny Hamlin
17. AJ Allmendinger
18. Bobby Labonte
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
20. Casey Mears
21. Brian Vickers
22. Scott Speed
23. Paul Menard
24. Tony Stewart
25. Jamie McMurray
26. Kevin Harvick
27. David Gilliland
28. Boris Said
29. David Ragan
30. Aric Almirola
31. Regan Smith
32. Dave Blaney
33. David Mayhew
34. Robby Gordon
35. Jeff Burton
36. Joe Nemechek
37. Chris Cook
38. JJ Yeley
39. Travis Kvapil
40. Josh Wise
41. Tomy Drissi
42. Landon Cassill
43. Stephen Leicht

For all news and information regarding the 2012 Sprint Cup Series, please visit NASCAR Ranting & Raving or check out SB Nation's dedicated NASCAR hub.