Sonoma County is famous for wineries, not woodsheds, but Kurt Busch found the latter Sunday at Infineon Raceway, administering a good old-fashioned whipping to his Sprint Cup Series competition in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
Busch, the 2004 series champion, put on a dominating performance in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway for his first road course victory in the series. He led 76 of 110 laps around this 1.99-mile, 12-turn Northern California course. Busch finished 2.7 seconds ahead of Jeff Gordon.
“It was an unbelievable setup,” Busch said. “Once we got into the groove with this car, it seemed to get better after lap five or six.”
Busch capitalized on pit strategy by only stopping twice while the other front runners made three or more stops. MiamiHerald.com
“It’s a great sense of satisfaction,” the Penske Racing driver said. “All the hard work from the guys back at the race shop where it starts. The times that we’ve tested. The execution here at the racetrack this weekend. You see it all come together. You know when you have a shot at victory you have to block those moments out and get that car to the victory line. To get the checkered flag, do some doughnuts, to drive in reverse around this road course, I got choked up.
“It was a great feeling to know that I’ve won on a road course.”
Gordon, meanwhile, gained ground in the standings. He climbed three spots to ninth, which puts him inside the group in position for an automatic berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
He did so by staying out of trouble a year after getting caught up in several incidents at Infineon.
“There were times today where we didn’t have the car and I gave up the spots,” Gordon said. “I wasn’t going to try to push the issue. I guess that’s good and bad. I didn’t have a car that could even try to pass anybody or block anybody down in Turn 11 for most of the race. So I had to give up a lot of those spots and bite my tongue and hope that we could get it fixed or get track position, which it worked out.
“I certainly didn’t want to make as many enemies as I did last year, because I made a lot of ‘em coming out of here. So it’s nice to come out of here and that not happen. I don’t think I really touched anybody today. So that feels good.” FOXSports.com
Carl Edwards finished third, Clint Bowyer fourth and Marcos Ambrose was fifth. Joey Logano, who started on the pole, finished sixth.
Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers were involved in the latest chapter of NASCAR’s “boys, have at it” policy that left both of their cars heavily damaged.
On lap 37, Stewart pushed Vickers into a spin that triggered a multi-car crash that heavily damaged Vickers’ Toyota. Later, with 23 laps left, Vickers paid him back by turning Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet, sending Stewart crashing into the tire barriers next to the outside wall.
Vickers finished 36th and Stewart was 39th. Los Angeles Times
Joey Logano, the pole sitter, finished sixth, while Jimmie Johnson, who won his first road course race one year ago at Sonoma, took the seventh spot. Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Busch’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, placed eighth through 10th, respectively.
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon - Race Results
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