My apologies

Sorry for the break in postrace review yesterday. I was planning to cover many more drivers and notable events, but my connection has been going in and out. Look for posts to continue tomorrow if everything is working for me.

Busch is incredible

How amazing is this kid Kyle Busch? If you haven't heard, he got his fifth victory of the season tonight after winning at Infineon Raceway. We knew that he could win on ovals, but at a road-course, where he's had no prior success? How?

Nothing that he does is going to be surprising anymore. Call him a bad guy, call him wreck less, but this guy is one heck of a driver. And he's still very young. I'm just blown away.

He had a few bad weeks, and I thought he might finally be slowing down. But obviously, I was wrong, and I'm not sure if he'll ever find hard times this season.

Skipping the Nationwide race might have really helped. If I were him, I would consider doing it more often than he already plans to. It just seems like the smart option.

Anyway, his lead has increased to 103 points. That's a lot, but he still has work to do. I have no doubt that he can do it, and I'm not sure if someone else will make a run at him. We'll see, and it'll be fun to watch. The one thing I do know is that this guy has a very bright future.

Toyota/Save Mart 350 Recap

In a very unusual race, although that's what is expected at Sonoma, Kyle Busch won the Toyota/Save Mart 350, his fifth of the year.

Kasey Kahne, the polesitter, barely led any laps and then handed the lead to Jimmie Johnson, falling way back into the field. Johnson looked to have a pretty good car, as he had a pretty big lead.

On lap 26, Greg Biffle made a green flag pit stop, starting the cycle of drivers attempting to use strategy to win the race. A few more drivers came in before lap 29, when David Ragan and Joe Nemechek got together in the paper clip turn, dismantling a set of tires used as walls and bringing out the caution.

This meant that good cars that had been up front and pitted, most notably Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, two drivers great at road-racing that qualified poorly and needed to gain track-position, Kyle Busch, and Juan Montoya were now the leaders along with Biffle.

On the restart, Biffle put his right tires over the first two turns, spinning the car and going to the back, showing us how one small mistake can lead to a very bad result.

Busch then gained the lead, passing Montoya after he had to check up to see where Biffle was going. Form there, he proved that he had the best car, and kept on hitting his marks. It might not have had the top lap times, but it didn't really have any bad ones.

Things then got messed up again when green flag pit stops were made on lap 65+, with drivers such as Tony Stewart, who stalled his car but ended up OK, Jamie McMurray, Harvick, and Busch pitting. Caution came out yet again, disrupting the stops, as Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch made contact and spun.

Carl Edwards, who had a good car all day, was put back in the pack because of the cars that already pitted being on the lead-lap.

From there it was pretty much Kyle Busch leading the way, with many cautions coming out.

The top ten(scenedaily.com full results):

1. Kyle Busch
2. David Gilliland
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Casey Mears
6. Juan Montoya
7. Ryan Newman
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Carl Edwards
10. Tony Stewart

• Road-course ace Boris Said had some brake and shock issues and ended up finishing forty-first. That's too bad, as this is probably the first of only two or three races he'll run this season.
• A week effort by Kahne today. I'm not sure why, but his car was just much, much worse than it was in qualifying and practice. This is definitely a setback, and might just end his hot streak.
• When contact is made at Infineon, there's a good chance some driver will start spinning. It's kind of ridiculous.
• A great run by David Gilliland, even if he got kind of lucky to get up that high and finish second. He has some experience at this track, and used it to drive with the best Cup drivers.
• Robby Gordon had a very bad day. At the start, it looked like he might contend for the win, but his car was very bad towards the middle of the race. He ran out of fuel after spinning in the incident with Kurt Busch, and had trouble getting to pit-road, making for some very frustrating moments.
• Kevin Harvick was up there until the end, but was involved in an incident that made him finish thirtieth. He might be in some trouble now.
• Scott Pruett didn't have a good race, getting together with Denny Hamlin and finishing thirty-eighth. Definitely not what the forty-one team had in mind.
  
• A good race for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished twelfth. He hates this track, and wanted to just get out with a decent finish. He did lose significant ground to Kyle Busch, though.
• Jamie McMurray had a good car all race, but feel to eighteenth after getting together with Harvick.
• Juan Montoya was spun by Marcos Ambrose, but battled back to finish sixth. This was a very good job by him, and maybe he can use the confidence to run well in upcoming races.
• Elliot Sadler had a very good race, running in the top five up until the end. He had a flat tire for the GWC finished though, and ended up finishing eighteenth. That's very unfortunate for him, as he was having his best race of the season.
• Jeff Burton finished thirteenth, his first finish outside of the top ten this season. He wasn't going to do it all year, and he's still in second place.
• So much for ringers. Ron Fellows was the best one in the race, finishing twenty-ninth. Now granted, he had a much better car and was involved in a crash, but that is kind of pathetic.
• It was a bad day for Kurt Busch, who finished thirty-second after being involved in multiple wrecks. His Chase hopes are starting to fade
  

Roush almost done with deals

Scenedaily.com reports that Roush Fenway Racing is trying to keep their lineup the same for 2009.

The team has two free agents, Greg Biffle and David Ragan.

Biffle is very close to a deal, with reports coming out a few days ago that they had pretty much agreed on one.

They're just trying to get a sponsor for Ragan, and then he's expected to be back. I like both of these guys, as they're young and have shown talent. Roush is smart to bring them back.

In 2010, they'll have to cut down to four teams, but they plan to have five next year.

Final Sonoma Thoughts

The Cup race at Sonoma is going to begin in about an hour, so I though I would give some final thoughts on how to have a good race at Infineon Raceway.

Basically, for the guys up front, it's just follow the leader. Don't make any mistakes, keep four wheels on the track, and keep the car on the pavement. If you can do this, you'll be in good shape, possibly contending for the win with a few late passes. Don't be overaggressive, just follow the leader's pace and drive cautiously.

For the guy's up back, you have to use some strategy, because you're not going to make up a ton of positions throughout the race. This track just doesn't allow it. Use pit strategy and gas mileage to gain some track position and get up front. That's really the only way to do it. One would want to do this as quickly as possible, as cars in the back have a good chance to hit the many drivers who will be spinning out of control in the race.

Like I said yesterday, I'm just not sure if Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick can make their way back up. You should see both guys use strategy to do it.

Anything less than a win today for Jeff Gordon is really not acceptable. He has a good car, is starting in the top ten, and knows this track better than just about anyone else. Plus, he was my pick.

Watch out for Marcos Ambrose. His car has been fast all week, and he is good on road-courses. How about a win or top-five for the guy's first ever Cup race? That would be just awesome.

It'll be very interesting to see if Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson, the first row of the starting lineup, can have a race as good as their qualifying efforts. Both of these guys have not found prior success at Infineon.

Another thing I'll be looking out for is if Jeff Burton, who's starting twentieth, can get another top ten. Remember, he hasn't gotten anything else this season.

How many specialists will be in the top ten at the end of the race? It should be more, but I'll guess two, Boris Said and Ron Fellows.

Some guys who would normally not be in contention for a Cup race, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Robby Gordon, and I don't know, Dave Blaney, could get the win in this one. That's what I love about road-course racing, everyone has a chance regardless of their equipment.

So, there you go. Even though Sonoma doesn't exactly offer the thrills of a normal race, make sure to tune in on TNT. It's a fun race to watch, and I'm sure that you'll find it enjoyable to watch.

DEI Update

SPEED's Tom Jensen has written a nice roundup of all the problems and news surrounding DEI.

There a few situations brewing right now. The first is one that has been widely publicized, that is Mark Martin's contract being up at the end of this year. Right now, Martin is driving most races in the number eight car for them, and has done a very good job. However, he might want to look for a new team to help a young driver along, or might even want a full time gig. The five car, controlled by Hendrick's, comes to mind.

Retaining him is their goal. However, if they don't agree with what he wants to do, he won't come back for one more season. It's that simple. I imagine he'll have at least a few offers from teams looking to have veteran leadership after the season is over, so he'll have some options and flexibility. Right now, it doesn't look like he plans to come back. Aric Almirola is expected to take over for him, as he is running the races that Martin isn't in, although DEI doesn't appear to think he's fully ready.

The second issue is the eight car's sponsor. The US Army has been on the car for the last two seasons, but gets to decide if they want to move elsewhere in the offseason. If Martin is gone, the car may not be noticed enough.

Jensen claims that some sources say the Army could move to Bill Davis Racing and Dave Blaney's car, as they're looking for a new sponsor. However, nothing is completely known.

So like Martin, the Army seems to be gone from DEI.

The third and final issue is the zero-one car that Regan Smith drives. Even though Smith is a top contender for rookie of the year, the car isn't sponsored. Officials are currently looking for one, but a company is yet to step forward. If they are unsuccessful in finding one, the team will be forced to put just three cars out there in 2009. This is obviously something that they don't want to do.

So, it looks like a busy offseason for the people at DEI. Ever since Dale Earnhardt Jr. left, this team has really been falling apart. Assuming Martin leaves, the team will only have Martin Truex Jr. to really count on. Unfortunately, he could leave after the 2009 season. I don't know, it might be time to sell the company to the Earnhardt children, including Junior. It really seems like the best for the company, as it's tanking right now.

Gordon gets sponsors

For the last few days, I've talked about my query as to why Robby Gordon, a road-coursing ace who'll get on TV plenty of times today, hasn't been able to find a sponsor, even with his sub par season to this point.

Well, according to scenedaily.com, he finally has, just a little later than expected.

Camping World has elected to put their logos on his car. This is rather odd, as Gordon's team has a lawsuit filed against the company for failing to honor a deal that they thought they signed. I guess both sides were just desperate, and made a last-minute deal despite the bad blood.

In addition to Camping World, DLP and King Taco are sponsoring Gordon's car.

DLP is the usual sponsor for JJ Yeley's number ninety-six car, but he failed to qualify for this race. Therefore, DLP decided to sign a one-race deal with the number seven car.

Even though he's a bit of a jerk, I'm glad that Gordon got some sponsors. It's been a tough season for him so far, but he deserves it considering his stellar results at this track.