For the fans who have yet to embrace road course racing, hopefully Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 changed your mind.
With all the twists and 11 turns at Infineon Raceway, there were new vignettes — and rivalries — developing on every lap.
The next race on the schedule is New Hampshire, a flat one-mile track that serves up the perfect stage for revenge. As the laps wind down, the tensions rise. Just ask Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman or Robby Gordon and Michael Waltrip.
So now, let’s separate the men from the boys. Of the dust-ups that occurred in Sonoma, which will likely be settled at New Hampshire? Who will back up his words with his bumper?
THE CHAMPION VS. THE CHALLENGERS
Jeff Gordon has tremendous talent but left a trail of carnage across the Sonoma countryside. Martin Truex Jr. tops the list, as he watched a possible top-10 finish turn into his second DNF this season after Gordon became aggressive on the Lap 61 restart. Truex’s problems were compounded by dropping back into the pack after repairs to his car and consequent penalty, which led to his race-ending wreck.
Will he or won’t he? Truex promised, “It’s all right, we’ll get him.” Generally, Truex is mild-mannered in a similar vein to his buddy Dale Earnhardt Jr. But Truex had the opportunity to make huge gains on Sunday and instead dropped three positions in the point standings to 19th — 157 points out of the Chase Zone. Truex considers Loudon one of his home tracks. He excels on the Magic Mile, where he has posted three top-five and four top-10 finishes in eight starts. For Truex, it’s game on with the Champ.
For Gordon, Elliott Sadler wasn’t even on his radar screen until the hairpin wreck on Lap 99. In the post-race, Gentleman Jeff manned up and apologized to Sadler.
“With Elliott, I feel bad,” Gordon said. “I was racing him hard and he was blocking me, but he was trying to race somebody else, too. But that was probably my fault as well.”
Following Sadler’s 17th-place finish, he said: “We got taken out by Gordon, and it’s just frustrating. This is one of the best tracks for us and one of the good chances we had this year for a top 10. It’s a shame. He took out Martin Truex for no reason. The 33 (Clint Bowyer) and me were side-by-side and he got two-for-one there, so he was just kind of knocking everything out of his way.”
Sadler’s tweet on Monday still showed some steam: “Some people think they are bigger than the sport itself and want everyone else to lay over. I DISAGREE!!!”
Will he or won’t he? Sadler is one of the most pleasant guys off the racetrack and said on Sunday that he’s “never raced (Gordon) bad a day in (his) life.” Well, that’s because the two racers haven’t been in the same league during Sadler‘s career. Sadler accused Gordon of driving over his head, and given the caliber of Hendrick’s equipment lately, there’s probably some truth to that. However, Sadler won’t be anywhere close to Gordon this weekend at New Hampshire.
Kurt Busch was fifth on the final restart. He says despite giving Gordon “all the room that (he) could, the 24 got into us so hard that he cut down our right-rear tire and we had to pit under green and lost almost 30 positions.“
Gordon acknowledged he was offering Busch nada. “Kurt Busch had everything coming to him that I gave him because he gave it to me on the restart before that,” Gordon said.
Will he or won’t he? Busch, who started third and ran in the top 10 all day, finished 32nd and dropped from fourth to sixth in the point standings. Busch said: “We’ll move on to New Hampshire and reload next weekend.” Chances are good that Gordon will be in his sight.
MONTOYA VS. SLICED BREAD
Joey Logano is an easy target on the racetrack because he never retaliates. It’s not surprising Logano was an easy mark on Lap 85 in Turn 10 for Juan Pablo Montoya, a master of road course racing.
Will he or won’t he? Montoya said with a laugh after the event that “it was just racing” and he harbored no ill will to anyone. It’s unlikely Logano agrees. However, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle are likely ahead of Montoya on Logano’s revenge list. Should Logano mess with any of the three veterans, he’s likely to discover, mess with the bull and you get the (chrome) horns.
SMOKE VS. SAID (AND STODDARD)
Boris Said is probably the most popular road course ringer in the garage. It was not surprising he led eight laps on Sunday and was a contender throughout the race. Said finished eighth — one position ahead of Stewart. But he was surprised “Stewart just ran in and took the side of my car out after the checker.”
Following the race, a heated exchange occurred between Stewart and Said’s crew chief, Frankie Stoddard, which cannot be repeated on this G-rated site.
Will he or won’t he? Unfortunately, Said will not be competing at New Hampshire, so any revenge will have to wait until Watkins Glen.
