Following the final practice on Saturday both Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon were still searching for speed and handling.
Gordon qualified in 13th on Friday while Edwards struggles continued and qualified 23rd. Edwards struggles on Friday prompted him to not fly across the country to drive in the Nationwide series event on Saturday at Road America.
The team was focused on the two Saturday practices and making gains on their setup. The struggles though continued in the practices. They never could find the speed or the balance needed on the tricky 1.99 mile track.
The call to stay in Sonoma would pay off but it would take nearly the entire race for it to pan out. Edwards after the race reaffirmed his decision to stay in Sonoma
"It was tough to watch the race [at Road America]. But I think staying was the right decision," Edwards said Sunday. "It paid off. It was a good call. We could have finished poorly here, ended up on the fence over there like Tony did or something. Anything can happen. It turned out to be the right call and it paid off, so it was a great move."
On Sunday, they ran mid pack for much of the day. Edwards ran Matt Kenseth’s setup for the race was never really comfortable in the car.
They struggled in traffic with grip but as the day wore on crew chief Bob Osborn strategy began playing out. The cautions fell exactly the way they needed it and Edwards was suddenly battling in the top 10 as the laps wore down.
Edwards was in the top five after caution waved for Tony Stewart’s wreck and while many of the leaders pitted Edwards and his team stayed out.
Edwards would run as high as second but would be passed in the final laps by Gordon who like Edwards early on in this race a top five was a long shot.
Gordon qualified well but quickly began loosing spots as the car at times was not drivable. He was mired back in the mid 20’s all day long.
Gordon’s frustration at times was evident but Crew chief Alan Gustafson kept Gordon focused.
Gustafson and the team continued to make adjustments on the car but being back in dirty air meant little ground was being made.
On the same caution for Stewart Gordon and his team had pitted five laps earlier and opted to stay out and restart ninth. While drivers with fresher tires were mired mid pack Gordon and his team took advantage of the cleaner air and started picking them off one by one.
Gordon in the final 20 laps was faster than leader and eventual winner Kurt Busch but his second place finish felt more like a win to this team on Sunday.
“It was as much a statement to ourselves as anybody else,” said Gordon, who now ranks ninth in the driver standings. “Great effort by this DuPont team, Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody else. We really missed the setup at the beginning of the race. I don’t know if the adjustments we made were that good or if the track position was just changing.
“We were fast. I think we were faster than the leader. That felt awesome to start there with old tires and work all that way into second. That was amazing.”
For Gordon his second place finish moves him up to ninth in the standings. That is very important as he has two wins and the top 10 make the Chase.
For Edwards and his team it padded their points lead over Kevin Harvick to 25.
With the current point system and every position as valuable as it is Gordon and Edwards took advantage of others misfortune and found a way to get it done.
For both these drivers it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t very pretty at times. The frustration from both crews and drivers at times was clear but in the end their patience and teams’ hard work paid off.
In their post race interviews you couldn’t help but see the relief in both Edwards and Gordon who both never expected to finish where they did after how it all started on Friday.
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