NASCAR left the Irish Hills of Michigan and headed to winecountry in Sonoma, California.
For the first time this season the NASCAR SprintCup series headed to a road course. On Friday it was Joey Logano who earned thepole and became the youngest driver to win a road course pole.
Dominating performance…
Kurt Busch started 11th but it took him 15 lapsto get to the front and stay there. Busch was untouchable for much of the dayin fact Clint Bowyer was the only driver to pass him on a restart but Buschquickly reassumed the lead.
Busch coming into this race had not won this season and hadnever won on a road course. Busch was fast all weekend long. He would have hadthe pole had he not struggled turn three and four but up until that point hewas faster than eventful polesitter Logano.
On Sunday though Busch drove the 1.99 mile track toperfection and he found himself in victory lane.
Momentum Sway…
After his win last week at Michigan International Speedway,Denny Hamlin came to Sonoma with a lot of momentum. He qualified fourth andwent on to lead the race early but trouble continued to follow Hamlin onSunday.
On the caution for Bobby Labonte’s wreck out of turn 11Hamlin hit pit road they changed tires but took the car to the garage. A brokensway bar would force the team to make the repair and he would end up 10 lapsdown.
He would end up finishing 37th and dropped to 12thin the standings.
Another year andanother spin…
For the second year in a row Martin Truex, Jr. got taken outin turn 11 and this time it wasn’t Jeff Gordon. Last year Jeff Gordon wastrying to avoid Juan Pablo Montoya when he ended up hitting Truex and ElliottSadler. Truex was upset with Gordon for good reason.
Fast forward to this year and Truex was running up in thetop five when he got turned again in turn 11. Truex would drop to as low as 37thbut would work his way back into the top 10. Truex and his team would stillhave to make one more stop but the rally back into contention was big for thisteam.
Truex though would rebound with an impressive drive throughthe field his day wouldn’t up in a win but it would be a much needed top 10finish in eighth.
Payback is a….
Well coming into Sonoma everyone was talking about Gordonand Truex but suddenly a new storyline developed on Sunday. Tony Stewart felt BrianVickers was blocking him way too early in the race so as they came up to turn11 Stewart pushed Vickers through the corner. In doing so he set off a chainreaction crash.
Vickers was ticked and so when Vickers had the opportunity Vickersrepaid by turning Stewart in turn 11. Stewart’s day was over as they came back on track with only a handful of laps left. Stewart though was unapologetic aswas Vickers. Both did say it’s over between the two of them.
Lug nuts…
-Busch’s win was his first win on a road course.
-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was a victim of the Stewart and Vickersinitial wreck. In trying to avoid the mayhem he suffered a damaged radiator andhis day was over. He finished 41st.
- Michael McDowell got into Bobby Labonte coming out of turn11 on lap 60. Labonte hit the wall hard and McDowell said on Twitter after therace he “got loose”.
-Jeff Burton finished 29th. He still has notlogged a top 10 finish.
For the complete race results click here and for thecomplete standings following Sonoma click here.
Next up for the NSCS is Daytona next Saturday night at 7:30ET on TNT.
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