Infineon Race Thread

[slorydn1]

THE RACE: Toyota/Save Mart 350
TRACK: Infineon Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Race #16 of 36 for the 2010 season
Track Specifications:
1.99 mile Road Course with 10 turns
Pit Road/Stalls: 16' wide by 29' long, 58' wide
increased from 1.949 miles to 1.99 after the 2000 season
The race distance is 218.9 miles, 110 laps
Track opened: 1968;
Inaugural NASCAR race: 1989
Grandstand Seating Listed: 47,000
Track Record:Jeff Gordon, 6/24/2005, 75.950sec @ 94.325mph
Race Record:Race Record: Ricky Rudd, June 2002, 81.007mph
Most Wins: 5 - Jeff Gordon
Most Poles: 5 - Jeff Gordon
Most Laps Led: 92, Jeff Gordon, 6/27/2004
Most Leaders: 9, twice, most recently 6/23/2002
Most Lead Changes: 10 - Four times, most recently 6/21/2009
Fewest Leaders: 3, 6/11/1989
Fewest Lead Changes: 3 - 6/11/1989
Most Cautions: 9, 6/10/1990
Fewest Cautions: 3 - four times, last on 6/23/2002

http://jayski.com/next/2010/16inf2010.htm

[slorydn1]

Well, it looks like Ambrose is gonna be the man to beat this week. Fastest in every practice and wullda had the pole if he didnt over drive turn 11 in Q

[slorydn1]

Looking at the pit stall chart, the 3 guys who qualified ahead of Harvick gifted him the number 1 pit stall!!!!!!

[e2mtt]

TV note... Kyle Petty is the best color commentator in Nascar.

[slorydn1]

TV note... Kyle Petty is the best color commentator in Nascar.

he is pretty good :up:

[slorydn1]

and this is getting that fuel mileage <yawn> look to it

[dunes]

I too like a commentator who admits hes a moron about everything.
What a boner by the ambrose group. Surely this will haunt them for awhile. Rules are rules and no matter how unintentional somedays its just not you're day.
Congrats to Johnson for finally winning Sonoma, A multi year champion and his 1st win on a road course.
Congrats
to Rubby for a decisive 2nd.
and what was up with B.LaBonte at the end? did his petal stick or what?
OH yea and Boris said after hios dissappointment last year finally gets back to basics.Good deal.
Me on the other hand have some serious thinking to do about the future of my picks. If I would have just left things alone.................

[DanicaFan]

Feel bad for Ambrose. He made that bad mistake of shutting the engine to save fuel and didnt keep pace car speed. That most likely cost him the race.

[00steven]

TV note... Kyle Petty is the best color commentator in Nascar.



Amen!

I can't believe what happened to Ambrose. I don't know who told him to do that but whoever did needs to be fired. And what was with Gordon today?
He was taking out whoever he pleased.

p.s. I wonder how many times Kyle Petty said wow today? Had to be more than 20.

[Sparky1329]

TV note... Kyle Petty is the best color commentator in Nascar.

Bingo! I'd take 10 Kyles rather than either Waltrip in the booth anyday.

Wooo hooo to Robby Gordon! :)

[harvick#1]

thank goodness I got a massive amount of sunburn up in Wisconsin than have to deal with another Johnson win, I guess the media is gonna say its all over again since he won a race.

I see Jeffy pissed off a few people today,

so where are all the Haters that say only Harvick wrecks people for position and no other driver is dirtier than him :p :

[MD24]

so where are all the Haters that say only Harvick wrecks people for position and no other driver is dirtier than him :p :

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b59/5242548/wave.gif

[Robert Ryan]

Like to say congratulations to Mathias Ekstrom for leading 7 laps of a Sprint Cup race in his first ever time in a NASCAR.
As well the "Other Tasmanian" Owen Kelly coming home 5th after a cut tire and a broken swaybar, in his first ever Nationwide race.

[harvick#1]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b59/5242548/wave.gif


:wave:

[Mark in Oshawa]

Feel bad for Ambrose. He made that bad mistake of shutting the engine to save fuel and didnt keep pace car speed. That most likely cost him the race.

I don't feel bad for him AT all. Why? Well first off, just because you are told to save fuel doesn't mean you do it that way. Secondly, if one is going to shut off the motor, rather than risk a misstart or an starter motor glitch, wait til you hit the top of the hill, dump the motor off then...glid and dump the clutch and bump start it at the bottom...He was on the steepest climb on the course, so how far was he going to glide?

Someone has to explain to the Aussies that gravity works the same way on this side of the planet!

[Mark in Oshawa]

TV note... Kyle Petty is the best color commentator in Nascar.


I have always thought that. He is always outspoken, and he isn't afraid to call someone a bone head. DW I think is either kind or plays favourites. That, and with TNT, I don't get Danicaed or Boogityed 3 times an hour....

[Robert Ryan]

Since Marcos has been racing in the US, I have seen him snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on 3 occasions: Leading the rain sodden Montreal Race by an almost Earth to Moon margin, especially when it rained , he incurred a penalty because he overshot his pit box; The last Montreal Nationwide race he
inexplicably did not "close the gap" on the last lap something he would have done here in Australia, now the Sonoma incident.
It sounds like he has a psychological problem winning on a roadcourse although Watkins Glen is an exception.
Not winning on an oval is really bugging him. Owen Kelly who he raced karts with him in Tasmania and who has been in the second tier Fujistu V8Supercars, has in a sense faired a lot better than Marcos, given Owens lack of racing opportunities.
Owen won on a oval Late Model regional challenge(I think was ranked 35th out of 500 Late Model drivers in the US/Canada) and now finishing 5th in his first ever Nationwide race. Unfortunately a lack of finances killed the Late Model program.
How Marcos is driving now on roadcourses in the US, would have not won him any championships in Australia, way too many basic errors.

[muggle not]

Since Marcos has been racing in the US, I have seen him snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on 3 occasions: Leading the rain sodden Montreal Race by an almost Earth to Moon margin, especially when it rained , he incurred a penalty because he overshot his pit box; The last Montreal Nationwide race he
inexplicably did not "close the gap" on the last lap something he would have done here in Australia, now the Sonoma incident.
It sounds like he has a psychological problem winning on a roadcourse although Watkins Glen is an exception.
Not winning on an oval is really bugging him. Owen Kelly who he raced karts with him in Tasmania and who has been in the second tier Fujistu V8Supercars, has in a sense faired a lot better than Marcos, given Owens lack of racing opportunities.
Owen won on a oval Late Model regional challenge(I think was ranked 35th out of 500 Late Model drivers in the US/Canada) and now finishing 5th in his first ever Nationwide race. Unfortunately a lack of finances killed the Late Model program.
How Marcos is driving now on roadcourses in the US, would have not won him any championships in Australia, way too many basic errors.
I think you may be too hard on Ambrose. Very few drivers come into Nascar from other forms of racing and suceed right-off-the-bat, regardless of how good they were in their former series. Montoya, an excellent driver, is a prime example and he is just now getting the hang of Nascar racing.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Since Marcos has been racing in the US, I have seen him snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on 3 occasions: Leading the rain sodden Montreal Race by an almost Earth to Moon margin, especially when it rained , he incurred a penalty because he overshot his pit box; The last Montreal Nationwide race he
inexplicably did not "close the gap" on the last lap something he would have done here in Australia, now the Sonoma incident.
It sounds like he has a psychological problem winning on a roadcourse although Watkins Glen is an exception.
Not winning on an oval is really bugging him. Owen Kelly who he raced karts with him in Tasmania and who has been in the second tier Fujistu V8Supercars, has in a sense faired a lot better than Marcos, given Owens lack of racing opportunities.
Owen won on a oval Late Model regional challenge(I think was ranked 35th out of 500 Late Model drivers in the US/Canada) and now finishing 5th in his first ever Nationwide race. Unfortunately a lack of finances killed the Late Model program.
How Marcos is driving now on roadcourses in the US, would have not won him any championships in Australia, way too many basic errors.

Unlike Muggle, I don't think you are being too hard on Marco's performance on the road courses at all. He threw that race away at Infineon, and he has been the fastest at Montreal and lost twice. That is the reality.

When you are shutting the car off to save fuel and doing it going UPHILL proves you have a mental block or something. I love the guy, but c'mon, he was lucky he didn't drop further back when you watch that video.

On the ovals though, I am with Muggle. He has been fast, and he has had some good runs. His first trip to Bristol he pulled out a top 10 I believe in a Cup car. That is a pretty good achievement IMO. Cup racing is so tough, and so competitive that even the best guys are lucky to win but a few races a year, and Marcos isn't the best guy.

AS for Owen Kelly being one of the better late model guys in North America, I will just say he had the best equipment under him, and while his 5th in his NW debut at Road America looks good, he is a thundercar driver from OZ, I would expect him to do well there. Let him get a NW start at a place like New Hampshire or Charlotte and see him run up front before we put him on the level with Marcos.

Marcos didn't show a lot of brilliance in Trucks and was hit and miss with his first efforts on ovals in Cup, but he has come a long way, and he is a popular guy. He has a career for now, and he has had bad luck this year. I think he might get that oval win someday, but that day isn't today...

[Robert Ryan]

When you are shutting the car off to save fuel and doing it going UPHILL proves you have a mental block or something
That is my point exactly. He needs an oval win, any oval winto get that monkey off his back. The "snatching defeat from victory" roadcourse performances is not Marcos Ambrose of V8Supercar days. Something is bugging him.
He is in a series when the majority of races are on ovals . He has done well on some, but he keeps being reported here as saying "that win cannot be too far way". He seems to be fixated on the fact he has not won anything on an oval


AS for Owen Kelly being one of the better late model guys in North America, I will just say he had the best equipment under him, and while his 5th in his NW debut at Road America looks good, he is a thundercar driver from OZ, I would expect him to do well there. Let him get a NW start at a place like New Hampshire or Charlotte and see him run up front before we put him on the level with Marcos.
Two corrections regarding Owen.:He had to set that Late Model up himself, coming from a roadracing background, not that easy. Dale Jr was not going to give him too much help, he had to prove to Dale Jr could do things himself, equipment or otherwise. Anyway he came through and puts some good results in. The money then disappeared ;Well running 5th coming from 20th with initially a cut tire, then a broken sway bar, in a totally unfamiliar car and track, would be pretty difficult for a lot of drivers, no matter who they were . Before he had a run in with another car he was 4th on the track.
My point about Owen is not that he has had the same chequered success as Marcos has had in the past.(He was never a fulltime V8Supercar driver, mainly doing the Fujitsu series) What he does have is a lot more confidence and a doggered determination to succeed at this point. Owen is hoping for more Nationwide runs later.