Parks Race Reactions: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway

I've always said when it comes to NASCAR, anything can happen. We had a pothole at Daytona, Brad Keselowski going flying in Atlanta, and record leaders and lead changes at Talladega.

What more could happen this season?

Well, at the Infineon Raceway, write in another "anything can happen" moment as the Toyota/Save Mart 350 provided one more.

I'm not wasting much time. I'm getting into my reactions from Sunday's race.

First of all, I'm extremely surprised at how poorly the Joe Gibbs teams ran. Sure, Kyle Busch got into an early wreck, but it was unavoidable. However, take that away and this organization had a horrible afternoon.

Denny Hamlin had trouble with his car to the point where the hood flew up to the windshield. Joey Logano spun out and failed to finish as he pulled off on the final lap.

The highest position for a Gibbs driver was 33rd, nowhere near where this organization is used to running. Next Sunday, they need a serious rebound not just for points, but for team morale.

What can be said about Jimmie Johnson that we don't already know?

This was his race from the moment the green flag dropped. He got the lead, pulled out to a huge gap, and simply looked unbeatable.

At times, it seemed as though the only person that could beat Johnson was Johnson himself. We all know that usually doesn't happen. He proved again today that he's a four-time champion for a reason.

Whether this is a turning point for this team after having recent struggles is yet to be seen. Of course, the claims that his "golden horseshoe" have returned, but maybe in reality it just was tucked away for this race.

We won't know until the next few weeks to see if it has officially returned.

Finally, how can you not feel bad for Marcos Ambrose? This race was his best chance for his first victory.

He had it all in the bag, the lead, a strong car, and a lot of confidence. But, it's almost as if fate came in and said, "Not today."

Shutting off the car to save fuel is not an uncommon practice. We've seen Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and others do it at other tracks and think nothing of it.

However, the reason we talk about it now is because of the aftermath. Let's face facts. Ambrose shut the car off to save fuel and it didn't start. He saved fuel while the car was traveling uphill to turn four.

Right there was the big issue. Gravity took over as his car stopped at the apex of the hill. NASCAR rules state the cars must maintain speed behind the pace car. Ambrose didn't do that. It doesn't matter whether he was the leader or not, he didn't maintain the pace.

This all goes back to 2007 when Greg Biffle won at Kansas but didn't keep pace behind the pace car taking the checkered flag. He crossed the line in fifth but still won.

It's unfortunate. Ambrose admitted he was at fault and was only doing what the crew told him to. It was bad timing, and just a very sad ending to what should have been a great run by the No. 47 team.

This will certainly be talked about all week and will definitely be a hot topic on many NASCAR sites, television programs and radio broadcasts.

Question is, what does Ambrose take away from this weekend? Does he take away the fact that he screwed up, or the fact that he ran up front all afternoon and had a good finish?

That can only be answered by Ambrose himself.