NASCAR 2012 - race 16

WEEKEND AT THE ROAD COURSES




Submitted by Rick A. Talford

NASCAR Enthusiast





ELKHART LAKE, WI - The Nationwide Series ran their road course race in Wisconsin. The race was at Road America. The “Sargento 200” The 50 lap race was run on a 4 mile long track, that had fourteen different corners. This was only the third time that Nationwide would race at this track. There were many road course “aces” at this event. # 30 Nelson Piquet Jr. took the Pole, with # 18 Michael McDowell starting second. The Wisconsin Air National Guard flew their F-16’s over head prior to the start of the race.



The race ran pretty clean with just a few cautions for just a handful of drivers. The first caution was for # 50 TJ Bell running into the sand pit. He would be the reason for another caution later in the race, for the same reason. The second caution was on lap seventeen for a metal plate and foam from someone’s battery box enclosure. During the race, # 7 Danica Patrick showed her talent, driving from tenth to first throughout the start of the race. She would have finished in the third position, but # 22 Jacque Villanueva ran into the rear of her car on the final lap, sending her spinning into the sand pit. She did however get out of the sand, and finished twelfth. The act was very intentional, and the driver spoke after the race, stating her could care less about it. He was an aggressive driver all day, pushing cars out of his way on a regular basis. On lap 31, # 75 Kenny Habul ran off track and into the sand. On Lap 37, # 31 Justin Allgaier did the same.



The final lap was completed with many drivers being over zealous and trying to push their way past the cars in front of them. # 30 Piquet Jr. was the dominant car of the day and he finished right were he started, in the number one spot. # 18 McDowell did the same, finishing right were he started in second. The rest of the top ten were: # 5 Ron Fellows, # 33 Max Papis, # 12 Sam Hornish Jr., # 11 Brian Scott, # 54 Kurt Busch, # 22 Jacque Villenueve, # 88 Cole Whitt, and # 31 Justin Allgaier. Most of the top ten were, Hired road course drivers.



The next race will be Friday night at Kentucky, on ESPN2 at 6 pm.







TOYOTA SAVEMART 350



SONOMA, CA - The Cup Series ran their road course race out in California. The 110 laps were run on the winding track in the Sonoma valley. The Pole Sitter was # 9 Marcus Ambrose, for the second consecutive week. # 24 Jeff Gordon started second.



There was two different strategies ran during this race. A few drivers like # 56 Martin Truex Jr. And # 22 AJ Allmendinger made the race a three stop event, were the rest of the field set themselves up for a two stop race. Jeff Gordon took the lead early in the race, and lead his 23,000th lap at the event. During the first round of green flag stops, # 55 Brian Vickers was caught speeding. On lap 63, # 42 Jaun Montoya had many issues with his electrical system, and his pit crew changed out his electrical control unit in only 25 seconds. At this time # 15 Clint Bowyer had a five second lead. On the second round of green flag pit stops, both # 24 Gordon and # 29 Kevin Harvick ran out of gas prior to getting to pit lane. They both dropped many spots.



The first caution didn’t come out until lap 82, when # 10 Tomy Drissi crashed hard into the tires. Harvick was the “Lucky Dog”, as he was just passed and put one lap down prior to the caution coming out. A second caution came out on lap 106 of 110. # 27 Paul Menard was ran into by # 18 Kyle Busch, and his car stalled and would not re-fire. Busch simply over ran the corner, running into Menard and spinning them both out. The race would end up finishing under the green-white-checkered rules. # 15 Clint Bowyer was able to hold off a hard charging # 14 Tony Stewart for his first victory of the season, and his first road course victory of his career. The rest of the top ten were: # 51 Kurt Busch, # 55 Brian Vickers, # 48 Jimmie Johnson, # 24 Jeff Gordon, # 16 Greg Biffle, # 9 Marcus Ambrose, # 22 AJ Allmendinger, and # 20 Joey Lagono.



Michael Waltrip Racing had a very good day, placing two cars in the top five, and the third would have been in the top ten, but Truex Jr. was spun out on the final lap by another car. During the burn-out during the victory lap, Bowyer ran out of fuel. He walked to Victory Lane for the celebration. Other notes, the fastest lap was at 148 mph by Jeff Gordon, and the fastest pit stop was 12.1 seconds by the Stewart pit crew.



The next race will be Saturday Night at the Kentucky Speedway. The Quaker State 400 will start at 6:30 PM.