Time to "wine" about Sonoma
It's so much fun being right about the winner. Of course, when you're wrong about just about everything else, it sort of takes the sparkle off the moment. You might say that correctly predicting Jeff Gordon's win was easy given that he qualified for the pole, was fastest in three practice sessions and had won this race three times previously. But I had a different method for predicting him in victory lane: I wasn't at the track. See, the past two years I jinxed him by sitting in the stands and cheering him on. This year I snuggled down on my couch and watched the entire race from the best seat in the house.
I never used to like the road courses, but having been to Infineon in person a couple of times has made me appreciate the race a lot more, and the changes they've made to the track itself have made the racing much more enjoyable... for the fans, anyhow. For the drivers it's another story. particularly those in Glenn's Ten this week.
I was a fairly abysmal 2-for-10 (ouch!) as I compiled a list of checkers and wreckers:
* Jeff Gordon (winner) -- Winner! Jeff led all but 18 laps and looked dominant en route to career win #67. No one could catch him and no one did.
* Ryan Newman -- 14th, Had a top 10 going until he cut a tire and had to make an unscheduled stop. Nice recovery.
* Kurt Busch -- 36th, Led the first lap, which was good for bonus points. Unfortunately for the #97, engine problems left him 16 laps down.
* Matt Kenseth -- 20th, Had his share of trouble, having to head to the back of the field after a good qualifying run, but recovered to have a not-too-awful day.
* Kevin Harvick -- 12th, Never got to the front, but at least he didn't hit anyone.
* Ricky Rudd -- 35th, Should have known the transmission woes in practice were a bad omen. Something broke in the race, too.
* Jeff Burton -- 9th, I knew I was in trouble when the only other guy besides Jeff Gordon to make the top 10 from my picks list was the unsponsored Burton brother.
* Tony Stewart -- 15th, Troubles continue for Tony the Terror, who made an ill-advised pass on Ward Burton early in the race and spun both of them out. He led a few laps during the transition of pit stops, but was never a factor for the win. After the race, he got into Brian Vickers' face and pushed him in the chest during what appears to have been a Tony-inspired argument. gNA$hCAR isn't going to look kindly on this. Tony needs to get his act together soon, or we might see a repeat of the 2002 season minus the championship.
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- 11th, Almost made that top 10, which is amazing considering that he spun out a couple of times.
* Robby Gordon -- 34th, I'm not a Robby fan, but I feel for anyone who had the problems he did today: Lost wheel due to faulty lug nuts... cut tire... cut tire and broken air wrench. He was off in the dirt on at least three occasions, and wound up stopped on the track late in the race. What an ugly day for the guy a lot of people expected to repeat his victory of last year.
REST OF THE TOP 10: (Could have and should have done better on these...)
* Jamie McMurray -- 2nd, Great day for Gnassi Racing. Jamie was an unlikely top 5, but ran well right to the finish.
* Scott Pruett -- 3rd, Knew I should have picked him. Best of the road course ringers, and the only guy who made Jeff Gordon break a sweat all day.
* Michael Waltrip -- 4th, This is becoming a trend. Too little too late to save his season, though.
* Jimmie Johnson -- 5th, Points leader shook off poor qualifying effort to have a good finish. No one else gained ground in the points chase as a result.
* Boris Said -- 6th, Always a sentimental favorite. I underestimated his chances in equipment that didn't belong to one of the big outfits.
* Casey Mears -- 7th, Seven is his magic number. What an awesome run for this kid. He led for a few laps after the final round of pit stops. Lack of experience probably hurt him more than anything else at the end.
* Mark Martin -- 8th, Led the Rousch gang of five. Lurked in the top 10 all day.
* Elliott Sadler -- 10th, He's making Robert Yates proud this season. But can he hang with the top 10 long enough to qualify for the Championship Chase?
OTHER NOTABLES:
* Ricky Craven -- 16th, Who would have thought? And at a road course...
* Brian Vickers -- 22nd, From 39th to 2nd and finished in between. Then got roughed up by Tony Stewart for no apparent reason after it was all over.
* Rusty Wallace -- 28th, Same old Rusty, cursed with bad luck at a track he should have done well on. He was looking at a top 5 before the tank ran dry on the final lap. Jeff Gordon could empathize after Watkins Glen 2003.
* Joe Nemechek -- 29th, Yet another race in which Joe has had problems while running near the front. Hope the Army builds better soldiers than it does race cars.
* Kasey Kahne -- 31st, Poor kid. Rookie mistake late in the race cheated him out of a shot at a top 10.
* Scott Riggs -- 42nd, How many times can a guy crash in one race? Not a good place for rookies.
Next week... Saturday night fireworks under the lights at Daytona.
