Kyle Busch Wins Road Race in Sonoma

In one of the more exciting races of the season, NASCAR drivers lined up in Sonoma to race the illustrious and, at times, illusive road race challenge in the Toyota / Save Mart 350 this past Sunday.

Road races, by nature, are more about strategy than a racecar’s brute strength on the track. With twelve turns and 1.9 miles per lap, the Infineon Raceway allows drivers of all styles to push their efforts to the test in a grueling and often crash-filled competition. In a race that came down to a green, white, checkered finish, it was Kyle Busch who led the pack to the checkered flag.

There were lots of cars to keep an eye on as things heated up. The obvious favorite was Juan Pablo Montoya who earned his first NASCAR victory last year on this track. Other top contenders included Tony Stewart, who typically runs well on short, aggressive tracks. Robby Gordon also had a win back in 2003. Gordon led 48 laps in 2007, but lost on fuel mileage and wound up 16 th.

Busch has never won a road race before. In a season where he has dominated, this is surely to be considered icing on a half-baked cake. But with so many more miles to go in this year’s Chase, the heat is definitely pouring on.

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There were several crashes that hurt some drivers that had been in the spotlight. The most mentioned so far was when Montoya was edged out by Marcos Ambrose, a rookie in his very first NASCAR race, in the 76th lap of the race. On turn 11, Ambrose spun Montoya, pushing him from 2nd place. Montoya ended up placing 6th.

Another big spin out that involved Kevin Harvick taking a hard turn and catching the bumper of Jamie McMurray. The crash ended up taking Tony Stewart out of contention as well, who was in the process of challenging Kyle Busch, having just passed up McMurray.

The final crash of the day resulted in a red flag stop with the standard green, white, checkered finish just ahead. Kyle Busch had been flawless on the restarts all day, so it was no surprise when he took the lead and never let up all the way to victory lane.

Busch has won five races this season so far. He now leads the Chase by 103 points. Following him in the overall standings are Jeff Burton (103 behind) and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (152 behind). David Gilliand finished second at Sonoma followed by Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, and Casey Mears.

By Angela Moore
Pro Racing Fans Staff Writer

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