Joe Soriano
O.J. LewisNASCAR Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California - Results
June 23rd 2008 06:56
NASCAR Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California
One would think when you force NASCAR drivers to make both the normal left-hand turns, as well as the unfamiliar right-hand turns that the race would get more exciting. This really was not the case in Sunday’s race in northern California. This had nothing to do with the fact that Kyle Busch got back on track and win his fifth Sprint Cup Series win of the season. It also had little to do with TNT coverage of NASCAR, which I have never been, and still am not a fan of, although maybe it did have a little bit to do with it. It was just boring racing for 110 laps of twists and turns, going uphill and down.
Kasey Kahne who started on the pole led until Jimmie Johnson got around him on lap six. Daivd Ragan brought out the first caution of the day on lap 31 after hitting the safety tires onto the track. At the restart Greg Biffle led, well at least into turn two he did. Going from turn one to turn two he got into the dirt and spun out without hitting anything. It did however knock off a piece of his brake setup. As Juan Pablo Montoya checked-up to avoid Biffle, Kyle Busch went by and took the lead.
Fast forward to lap 66-67 where green flag pit stops began. After about a third of the field had already pitted Robbie Gordon, Kurt Busch, and Mike Papis decided to play bumper cars going into a turn. All three hit one another and spun out before continuing on. Robbie Gordon didn’t make it far and had to be pushed to pit road by a truck. The truck could only push him to the entrance of pit road, so halfway around the curve that begins the pits at Infineon his car rolled to a stop. Now that the other two-thirds of the field were about to come to the pits this could cause some trouble. Luckily everyone slowed to a near stop to get by him without incident. After all the stops Kyle was still in the lead. Those that had stopped prior to the yellow flag lucked out and gained a lot of positions on the track.
On lap 74 Montoya was running in second, with road course ringer and first time NASCAR starter Marcos Ambrose in fourth. Ambrose charges past the third place car as Montoya moved to the inside of the track. Ambrose couldn’t slow fast enough to avoid him and spun Montoya to bring out the third caution of the day. Shortly after Ambrose was spun when Elliot Sadler locked up his brakes and slid into him. Ambrose fell back to 34th place
With just 10 laps to go Kyle Busch had about an eleven second lead over second place Jamie McMurray. David Reutimann cut a front left tire while heading into a turn, the car went straight off the track and into the layer of tires in from of the wall. The field was restarted with six laps to go. McMurray got a good restart but then got off into the dirt and had to slow, this allowed Tony Stewart to pass him for second. Kevin Harvick came into a turn too fast after making a pass and locked his brakes, slid. His slide took out Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, and second place Tony Stewart.
That crash moved David Gilliland to second, Jeff Gordon to third, with Elliot Sadler and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top five. The race was restarted with just three laps left. On that first lap after restart part of the field had to check up, this sent Tony Stewart into the back of Scott Pruett which took out a couple of cars. The yellow flag came out briefly, then NASCAR brought out the red flag and stopped the field so they could clean up. By the time it got restarted it was time for a green-white-checkered finish. These last laps were also uneventful. Kyle Busch came across the finish line first as he has a remarkable 11 times this season in NASCAR’s three series combined.
Next week the Sprint Cup drivers head to Loudon, New Hampshire for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where defending 2007 race winner Denny Hamlin will try to get his season back on track.
2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 Stats
Scheduled Laps: 110
Total Laps: 112
Distance: 218.9 miles
Lead Changes: 6
One would think when you force NASCAR drivers to make both the normal left-hand turns, as well as the unfamiliar right-hand turns that the race would get more exciting. This really was not the case in Sunday’s race in northern California. This had nothing to do with the fact that Kyle Busch got back on track and win his fifth Sprint Cup Series win of the season. It also had little to do with TNT coverage of NASCAR, which I have never been, and still am not a fan of, although maybe it did have a little bit to do with it. It was just boring racing for 110 laps of twists and turns, going uphill and down.
Kyle Busch won his first Sprint Cup Series road course race Sunday.
Kasey Kahne who started on the pole led until Jimmie Johnson got around him on lap six. Daivd Ragan brought out the first caution of the day on lap 31 after hitting the safety tires onto the track. At the restart Greg Biffle led, well at least into turn two he did. Going from turn one to turn two he got into the dirt and spun out without hitting anything. It did however knock off a piece of his brake setup. As Juan Pablo Montoya checked-up to avoid Biffle, Kyle Busch went by and took the lead.
Fast forward to lap 66-67 where green flag pit stops began. After about a third of the field had already pitted Robbie Gordon, Kurt Busch, and Mike Papis decided to play bumper cars going into a turn. All three hit one another and spun out before continuing on. Robbie Gordon didn’t make it far and had to be pushed to pit road by a truck. The truck could only push him to the entrance of pit road, so halfway around the curve that begins the pits at Infineon his car rolled to a stop. Now that the other two-thirds of the field were about to come to the pits this could cause some trouble. Luckily everyone slowed to a near stop to get by him without incident. After all the stops Kyle was still in the lead. Those that had stopped prior to the yellow flag lucked out and gained a lot of positions on the track.
On lap 74 Montoya was running in second, with road course ringer and first time NASCAR starter Marcos Ambrose in fourth. Ambrose charges past the third place car as Montoya moved to the inside of the track. Ambrose couldn’t slow fast enough to avoid him and spun Montoya to bring out the third caution of the day. Shortly after Ambrose was spun when Elliot Sadler locked up his brakes and slid into him. Ambrose fell back to 34th place
With just 10 laps to go Kyle Busch had about an eleven second lead over second place Jamie McMurray. David Reutimann cut a front left tire while heading into a turn, the car went straight off the track and into the layer of tires in from of the wall. The field was restarted with six laps to go. McMurray got a good restart but then got off into the dirt and had to slow, this allowed Tony Stewart to pass him for second. Kevin Harvick came into a turn too fast after making a pass and locked his brakes, slid. His slide took out Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, and second place Tony Stewart.
That crash moved David Gilliland to second, Jeff Gordon to third, with Elliot Sadler and Clint Bowyer rounding out the top five. The race was restarted with just three laps left. On that first lap after restart part of the field had to check up, this sent Tony Stewart into the back of Scott Pruett which took out a couple of cars. The yellow flag came out briefly, then NASCAR brought out the red flag and stopped the field so they could clean up. By the time it got restarted it was time for a green-white-checkered finish. These last laps were also uneventful. Kyle Busch came across the finish line first as he has a remarkable 11 times this season in NASCAR’s three series combined.
Next week the Sprint Cup drivers head to Loudon, New Hampshire for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where defending 2007 race winner Denny Hamlin will try to get his season back on track.
| Pos | Driver | Car # | Make | Started | Laps | Led |
| 1 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Toyota | 30 | 112 | 78 |
| 2 | David Gilliland | 38 | Ford | 31 | 112 | 0 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 24 | Chevrolet | 5 | 112 | 0 |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer | 7 | Chevrolet | 19 | 112 | 0 |
| 5 | Casey Mears | 5 | Chevrolet | 23 | 112 | 0 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoy | 42 | Dodge | 21 | 112 | 0 |
| 7 | Ryan Newman | 12 | Dodge | 9 | 112 | 0 |
| 8 | Matt Kenseth | 17 | Ford | 33 | 112 | 0 |
| 9 | Carl Edwards | 99 | Ford | 12 | 112 | 2 |
| 10 | Tony Stewart | 20 | Toyota | 39 | 112 | 0 |
| 11 | Greg Biffle | 16 | Ford | 10 | 112 | 1 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 88 | Chevrolet | 15 | 112 | 0 |
| 13 | Jeff Burton | 31 | Chevrolet | 20 | 112 | 0 |
| 14 | Brian Vickers | 83 | Toyota | 26 | 112 | 0 |
| 15 | Jimmie Johnson | 48 | Chevrolet | 2 | 112 | 27 |
| 16 | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | Chevrolet | 25 | 112 | 0 |
| 17 | Terry Labonte | 45 | Dodge | 11 | 112 | 0 |
| 18 | Jamie McMurray | 26 | Ford | 18 | 112 | 0 |
| 19 | Elliott Sadler | 19 | Dodge | 6 | 112 | 0 |
| 20 | Dave Blaney | 22 | Toyota | 16 | 112 | 0 |
| 21 | Michael McDowell | 0 | Toyota | 34 | 112 | 0 |
| 22 | Travis Kvapil | 28 | Ford | 41 | 112 | 0 |
| 23 | Patrick Carpentier | 10 | Dodge | 37 | 112 | 0 |
| 24 | David Ragan | 6 | Ford | 38 | 112 | 0 |
| 25 | Michael Waltrip | 55 | Toyota | 35 | 112 | 0 |
| 26 | Joe Nemechek | 78 | Chevrolet | 24 | 112 | 0 |
| 27 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Toyota | 13 | 112 | 0 |
| 28 | Aric Almirola | 8 | Chevrolet | 40 | 112 | 0 |
| 29 | Ron Fellows | 1 | Chevrolet | 22 | 112 | 0 |
| 30 | Kevin Harvick | 29 | Chevrolet | 32 | 112 | 0 |
| 31 | Sam Hornish Jr. | 77 | Dodge | 17 | 112 | 0 |
| 32 | Kurt Busch | 2 | Dodge | 3 | 111 | 0 |
| 33 | Kasey Kahne | 9 | Dodge | 1 | 111 | 4 |
| 34 | Paul Menard | 15 | Chevrolet | 29 | 111 | 0 |
| 35 | Max Papis | 66 | Chevrolet | 28 | 111 | 0 |
| 36 | Robby Gordon | 7 | Dodge | 8 | 110 | 0 |
| 37 | AJ Allmendinger | 84 | Toyota | 36 | 109 | 0 |
| 38 | Scott Pruett | 41 | Dodge | 27 | 108 | 0 |
| 39 | Bobby Labonte | 43 | Dodge | 4 | 103 | 0 |
| 40 | David Reutimann | 44 | Toyota | 42 | 99 | 0 |
| 41 | Boris Said | 60 | Ford | 14 | 94 | 0 |
| 42 | Marcos Ambrose | 21 | Ford | 7 | 83 | 0 |
| 43 | Brian Simo | 34 | Chevrolet | 43 | 20 | 0 |
2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 Stats
Scheduled Laps: 110
Total Laps: 112
Distance: 218.9 miles
Lead Changes: 6
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