Holy Sonoma: Why The Toyota/SaveMart 350 Caught My Attention

Going into this race weekend, I wasn't thrilled. Road courses never caught my attention, and it wasn't because Dale Earnhardt, Jr. doesn't do great. It was because they never seemed that interesting to me.

That was until the 2009 Toyota/SaveMart 350. My choice to win was Kasey Kahne. I saw on his myspace page that he thought he could win and I felt that was true.

I watched the race with little attention until Lap 101, when Earnhardt, Jr. got spun out along with David Ragan. Oh boy, not again. I was getting ready to turn off the race when I started to realize the action at the front of the pack.

Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Marcous Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top top. All five drivers are known to be good at road courses, so it was bound to be a close call.

As each U-turn hit, Tony Stewart was one step closer to catching Kasey Kahne. But you certainly couldn't leave out the Australian Marcous Ambrose. He certainly knew how to brake like a pro, but he couldn't catch up to Stewart and Kahne.

After every shootout restart, everyone in my household felt as though Stewart was going to make it right past him, but good old Kasey Kahne held him off.

The race ended with with a amazing green, white checkered finish, that I never really cared for, but this was a good one. On the last lap, Mark Martin and two others crashed and no caution was thrown, as Kasey Kahne and the No. 9 Budweiser team took home a win.

This was the first win for Petty and the first win for Kahne for awhile. It was an exciting, illuminating, and eventful road race. If they would continue to be that great, I would say they should have a road course in the chase.