NASCAR at Sonoma 2015: Winners and Losers from the Toyota/Save Mart 350
Road races always bring the drama, and this Sunday in Sonoma, California, was no exception.
The Toyota/Save Mart 350 was full of intrigue, from Jeff Gordon's hometown goodbye to AJ Allmendinger's quest for road-racing supremacy to the desperation driving those who have not yet qualified for the Chase.
At the end of the day, it was brothers stealing the stage, with Kyle Busch winning and Kurt Bush nabbing the silver.
Here are all of the winners and losers from a marquee day at Sonoma Raceway.
Winner: Kyle Busch, Comeback Kid
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Sports stories don't get much more remarkable than the saga of Kyle Bush in 2015.
His year began with a horrific crash into an infield wall with no SAFER barrier at the Daytona Xfinity race in February. He suffered a broken left leg and right foot and ended up missing 11 weeks of Sprint Cup action.
Now, Busch has made it to Victory Lane twice—once at the Xfinity race at Michigan International Speedway two weeks ago and now once in Sprint Cup action with his road-course win at Sonoma on Sunday.
Busch restarted in seventh position with 10 laps to go, but on fresh tires he was able to race full steam ahead and execute masterful passes, particularly around Jimmie Johnson, to take the lead.
The 30-year-old still has to find his way to the top 30 in points if he is going to make it to the Chase, but with this win he certainly finds himself a lot closer.
"This is awesome, just unbelievable," he said on Fox Sports 1 after the race. "I can't say enough about my team."
Loser: The Pole-Sitter
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AJ Allmendinger loves road races—he won Watkins Glen last year to send himself to the Chase, and he won pole on Saturday to give himself the prime starting position in Somona. Many actually consider him the best road-course racer out on the circuit right now.
Unfortunately, Sunday was not Allmendinger's day.
While he only led for two laps, Allmendinger stayed toward the front of the pack for most of the race until Lap 67, when he came off of the track with what seemed like engine problems.
He went to the garage, and Bob Pockrass of ESPN reported that his entire fuel cell was replaced. Unfortunately, by the time that happened Allmendinger was 12 laps behind the rest of the field. He finished in 37th.
Allmendinger's only Sprint Cup win came at Watkins Glen last year, and the No. 47 will likely have to repeat that feat if he's going to make it into the Chase.
Winner: Kurt Busch
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It was a great day for the elder Busch brother as well. Kurt finished in second place on the day, marking the first time Kurt and Kyle have ever finished one-two in a Sprint Cup race.
Kurt, who has been riding well all season long and has two wins under his belt already, was greeted with a bear hug by his team's owner, Gene Haas, after the race and said he felt like he was making a statement with his power and consistency.
"We qualified second and we finished second," Kurt said on Fox Sports 1 after the race, failing to mention that he also led 43 laps during it. "Yes, we made a statement."
Kurt, who has at times had a contentious relationship with his younger brother, was quick to go over and congratulate his sibling after the race. He was sure to pass along that sentiment in his post-race interview as well.
"Congrats to my little brother," he said.
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Loser: Martin Truex Jr.
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It has been a phenomenal season for Martin Truex Jr., who has finished in the top 10 in 14 races and won for the first time in almost two years earlier this month at Pocono Raceway.
But on Sunday he finished second-to-last, in 42nd place and 78 laps off of the lead lap, after a wreck in Lap 28 caused him to violently crash into the tire barriers and crack the concrete wall.
The crash occurred in the esses part of the track, when Truex was running two-wide with David Ragan after a restart. Truex bumped Ragan off of the track, and when Ragan was coming back onto the track, he ran into the No. 78 from behind and sent him spinning.
"You just get frustrated, you lose patience and I got into (Ragan) doors a little bit in Turn 7 and I guess he didn't like it and he figured he would just dump me," Truex said on Fox Sports 1 after the wreck.
Truex is firmly locked into the Chase this year, so this is just one of those days to move on from quickly and forget.
Winner: Chad Knaus' Strategy
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Jimmie Johnson didn't end up in Victory Lane on Sunday, and a lot of that has to do with Chad Knaus' call for Johnson not to pit with 10 laps to go after a caution caused by Casey Mears' tire and axle breaking free.
However, Knaus' aggressive strategy should still be rewarded, because if it wasn't for that fluke incident by Mears, the No. 48 would be in Victory Lane for the fifth time this season.
Knaus had Johnson (who finished in sixth place) on a two-stop pit-road strategy, which had their team firmly in the lead before the late-race shenanigans.
I agree with Nate Ryan of NBC's NASCAR Talk, who said that it took guts for Knaus to stick to this strategy.
"A point arrived a few years ago where Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief threw his hands up during a race and said (sprinkling in a few expletives) that he had lost his tactical muse. But Knaus absolutely has regained his pit-box mojo this season. With many predicting tire wear could turn Sonoma into at least a three-stop race, Knaus calmly played his cards perfectly and kept Johnson on two stops. It helped the No. 48 Chevrolet had blazing speed throughout the weekend, but it still took moxie to choose a divergent strategy from the rest of the contenders.
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NASCAR's new Chase format that began in 2014 is supposed to reward winning above all else and therefore encourages bold calls like this. I'd say it's paying off quite nicely.
Loser: David Ragan
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David Ragan received quite a bit of attention on Fox Sports 1's broadcast on Sunday afternoon, but not always for the best reasons.
Ragan was involved in two huge on-track altercations on the day. The first happened early in the race on Lap 28. Ragan was racing hard against Martin Truex Jr.—first, Truex bumped Ragan off the track; then as Ragan was coming back onto the track, he hit into the back of Truex and sent him crashing in the tire barriers.
Truex's day was essentially over, but Ragan carried on until Lap 78, when he and Carl Edwards collided on a restart, sending both of them into a tire barrier.
"You have to be aggressive on these restarts," Ragan said on Fox Sports 1, basically chalking up his incident with Edwards to the perils of racing. He was less diplomatic when discussing his earlier crash with Truex.
"The 78 absolutely did me wrong, I was just trying to get back on the race track," he told Fox.
Not only was it tough to watch Ragan get in trouble time and time again, but it was also tough to listen to Michael Waltrip discuss the trouble on Fox Sports 1 without ever adding the disclaimer that he was the owner of the team; Waltrip, naturally, didn't think Ragan did anything wrong.
Winner: Road-Course Racing
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Count me as one of the people who would like to see more road-course races on the NASCAR circuit, particularly the Chase.
It's just fun to see something different after weeks and weeks of nothing but left turns, and this race at Sonoma was proof of that: There was a true sense that anything could happen up until the end, and all of the twists and turns provided a dramatic experience for fans.
Aggression and control are rewarded even more than speed on the unpredictable track, and Sonoma gives drivers who aren't superstars a chance to shine, since the field is evened out a bit.
Tradition is great, but change always keeps things fresh. This Sunday's race proved once again why road racing is good for the sport.
Loser: Jeff Gordon
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Another week, another disappointing finish for Jeff Gordon, who is still winless in his swan-song season.
This one perhaps hurt more than all of the others because of the fact that Sonoma is his hometown track, and the week was full of emotional celebrations with family and friends.
Gordon, who has won this race five times and finished as the runner-up in three of the last four years, ended up fading to 16th.
"I was really optimistic going into the race," he said on Fox Sports 1. "But I felt the rear tire start to go off pretty early on. It seemed that as the track continued to lay rubber, the setup that we took a gamble on didn't pay off for us."
Still, the lack of a fairy-tale ending didn't put a bitter taste in Gordon's mouth.
"Nothing's going to take away from this weekend," he added.
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