In a race featuring several road course experts it was a NASCAR regular who took the checkered flag at Sonoma. Martin Truex Jr. ended a long winless streak with a huge victory at Sonoma. The driver of the #56 Napa Auto Parts Toyota ran the final 41 laps without pitting and ended a 218 race winless drought. Truex last victory came at Dover in 2007. California resident Jeff Gordon finished 2nd followed by Carl Edwards.
Once again a road course race featured lots of angry drivers with the first crash occurring in pit road while the cars were headed out onto the track. That accident happened after David Reutimann stopped his car on pit road. Alex Kennedy stopped his car behind Reutimann but Paulie Harraka was not paying attention and slammed into Kennedy’s car.
There were several other incidents on the track with Juan Pablo Montoya drawing the ire of Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart upsetting half the field. Danica Patrick had a tire issue and finished a disappointing 29th. Points leader Jimmie Johnson had a decent top 10 finish to keep a comfortable lead in the Sprint Cup Point standings.
Which brings us back to road course ringers, Boris Said, Jason Bowles, Ron Fellows, Jacques Villeneuve, among others now regularly show up for the Sprint Cup’s two road races, here and at Watkins Glen. The point of running at the highest level of NASCAR’s circuit is you run against the very best. The ringers may have played a huge part in pushing NASCAR regulars into becoming road course worthy.
Some of the road course ringers even have worked with some of the NASCAR regulars. Boris Said has a driving school and he’s had several NASCAR drivers attend his sessions in order to become more road course savvy. Just a few years ago, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart dominated the road course races. Not so today, as the field is now wide open.
Since 2007 at Sonoma, NASCAR regulars have been at the top of the field with no repeat winners. Montoya, Kurt and Kyle Busch, Kahne, Johnson and Bowyer have all captured the checkered flag here. On Sunday the top 10 finishers were all NASCAR regulars. The highest finish for a ringer was Boris Said in the 18th position.
There have been no road course ringers yet who have found their way into the winner’s circle. What they have done however, is push the NASCAR regulars into becoming better road course drivers, resulting in better racing for the fans.
One wonders if a Boris Said or a Ron Fellows were given a car similar to that driven by one of NASCAR’s large funded teams, how they would do. I suspect they would dominate the race such as what we saw from Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart years ago. For the NASCAR regulars it probably is a good thing we don’t find out.
Next week NASCAR heads to Kentucky for the Quaker State 400. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch won the only two Sprint Cup races held in Kentucky. Look for a fast race as the Generation 6 cars visit the 1.5 mile track located in Sparta, Kentucky for the first time.
My picks for Kentucky:
- Kyle Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
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