Alright, someone explain to me how so many weird, crazy, and exciting moments can happen in one race, much less at a road course?
How exactly do I start here? Well, normally if it was the old-school way of this column I’d focus on the green flag, but instead the action started up on pit road, before even the first pace lap got under way. In the back of the field, David Reutimann stopped his car to reset his steering wheel, the car behind him stopped and waited, but the one behind him apparently was not paying attention, and plowed into the back of him. The field wasn’t even off pit road and two cars had damage. Not to mention, one came back to pit road experiencing radio issues and another went behind the wall with cooling problems, actually having to replace the radiator.
Now, I understand NASCAR having one team immediately replace the radiator, and also the oil cooler as it turned out, and then having another do electrical repairs so transmission of the car’s position could be relayed to the tower. But, not paying attention to the field on pit road, as you are coming out to warm up. Really? I’d make a funny here about texting and driving, but NASCAR doesn’t allow cell phone use during the race (a play on what happened last year at Daytona with Brad Keselowski).
All I can say at that point is that incident before the green flag will make the Friday Sportscenter on ESPN, as part of the “NOT Top-10” countdown, mark my words on it.
Alright, now onto the crazy moments. This weekend changed in an instant overnight, when the track went from being sunny and rather sticky due to temperature and sunshine, to being cool and overcast on race day. It’s the first time I’ve seen an overcast race in Sonoma, which also included a caution that was because of rain. The topic of rain tires came up a few times, but these new stock cars haven’t even been on the track with rain tires to test, much less in a race situation.
Luckily, the race had no major rain delay, and all 110 laps were completed.
The other crazy moments were all the different strategies, some working and some not working initially. Pit road penalties, like pitting too soon or speeding hit some of the best drivers; but many were able to bounce back and have strong finishes. Goes to show that in a race where laps take over a minute to complete, if things fall the right way, the best teams can make comebacks.
Finally, the excitement when the checkered flag waved. It was a long time since Martin Truex Jr. saw victory lane, actually over six years, with his last victory coming in Dover 2007, before this column even started.
He moved from Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing to Michael Waltrip Racing, hoping to revive his career, and the move initially looked like a great move, but he just couldn’t break through for the win, something he wanted so badly. This year, in particular, he came close on many occasions, only to be beat on pit road, or on the track. But things fell the way of the driver of the Napa Toyota. His eight-second gap was more than enough to hold off Juan Montoya and Jeff Gordon, although Montoya ran out of fuel on the final lap, limping to a 34th-place finish.
It’s been such a long time since Truex could celebrate a win, but there is no question the sip of Sonoma County’s finest wine in victory lane was the best taste he’s had in quite a while.
RESULTS: 1-Truex Jr. 2-Gordon 3-Edwards 4-Kurt Busch 5-Bowyer 6-Kahne 7-Ambrose 8-Biffle 9-Johnson 10-Harvick
NOTABLE FINISHES: 12-Earnhardt Jr. 19-Kenseth 21-Keselowski 28-Stewart 29-Patrick 35-Kyle Busch
CAUTIONS: 7 for 19 laps. Lap 7-8 (#52 accident-T2), 25-30 (Rain), 33-33 (#19, 22, 83 accident-T8), 64-66 (#10 spin-T10), 69-70 (#11, 14 accident-T7), 72-73 (#2, 36, 43 accident-Start/Finish), 83-85 (#18 accident-T8).
LEAD CHANGES: 10 among 8 drivers. McMurray POLE, Ambrose 1-18, Kurt Busch 19-33, Keselowski 34-40, Truex Jr. 41-61, Vickers 62-64, McMurray 65-66, Truex Jr. 67-68, Logano 69-78, Gordon 79-82, Truex Jr. 83-110.
TIME OF RACE: 2 Hrs, 51 Mins, 20 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 76.658 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 8.133 Seconds
POINTS: 1. Johnson, 573 points; 2. Edwards, -25; 3. Bowyer, -45; 4. Harvick, -63; 5. Kenseth, -92; 6. Biffle, -94; 7. Earnhardt Jr, -94; 8. Kyle Busch, -112; 9. Keselowski, -119; 10. Truex Jr, -120; 11. Kahne, -128; 12. Menard, -128