Anybody who was watching the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway knew Kurt Busch had the dominant race car. Kurt qualified 11th and he somehow managed to driver that #22 car to the lead in just 13 laps! This season Kurt has been known for his incredible qualifying not his race results, after all before this event he qualified 1st for three consecutive races. Congratulations Kurt Busch on your impressive victory.
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Kurt Busch and his crew chief Steve Addington made the call to not come to pit road until Kurt had run an extra 10 laps on the first fuel cycle. This allowed the #22 car to only have to pit for 4 tires and fuel twice throughout the event. I am surprised to hear that Kurt still had three laps worth of fuel in his car after the race knowing he only pit twice. How did he manage to save enough fuel while he was racing aggressively as the race leader all afternoon? Kurt led 76 of the 110 laps at Infineon Raceway. It's been a long time since I have seen someone dominate a road course race the way Busch did.
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I am shocked it took Jeff Gordon about 100 of the 110 laps to figure out the handling balance on the race car. The 4-time champ was running about 20th for the entire race. I expected that #24 Dupont Chevrolet to quickly pass the competition in the opening laps to a top 5 spot, instead he slipped back about five positions. After unintentionally spinning out three drivers in this event last year, I was happy to see him race everyone clean on Sunday. It's unfortunate to see him finally become faster than Kurt Busch when it was too little too late... with just four laps to go. It would have been great to see Jeff Gordon win his 85th career race, his third of the 2011 season, and his sixth at Infineon Raceway.
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It's very difficult to race on a road course with 42 other race cars surrounding the circuit. Mistakes are bound to take place at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International. Tony Stewart couldn't slow his #14 Office Depot Chevrolet down enough to avoid spinning out Brian Vickers heading into the tight turn 11. Later on in the race Vickers allowed Stewart to pass him while both cars were entering the same turn, the next thing you know Vickers runs into the back of Stewart's car and sends him into the wall. Despite qualifying 20th Tony Stewart was one of the favourites to win the Toyota/Save Mart 350. After the race Brian Vickers commented in his interview that it was not intentional, but Tony Stewart in his interview stated that he knows it was payback.
Tony also made this comment, "If everyone is just going to block all year then that's how I'm going to race".
Martin Truex Jr has the worst luck of any driver at Infineon Raceway. He has the skill and most of the time the cars to be successful on the road course, but he's often in the wrong place at the wrong time. Last year in this event he was spun out by Jeff Gordon in turn 11, this year he was spun in turn 11 as well. No matter how many times he gets turned around at Infineon, he seems to bounce back and begin passing cars instantly. Truex Jr raced his #56 Napa Auto Parts Toyota to an 8th place finish on Sunday. Joey Logano won his second career pole for the race and managed to earn a 6th place finish.
Results:
1. Kurt Busch
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Carl Edwards
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Marcos Ambrose
6. Joey Logano
7. Jimmie Johnson
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Kyle Busch
22. Juan-Pablo Montoya
Written by: Tyler McMurter
Just found your blog through a buddy request you sent me on NASCAR.com. Glad to see someone that is interested in the sport in a real, serious way! It's rare in our age group to have fans of NASCAR that actually want to be involved (I'd like to drive in a lower bracket series one day). I hope to see a lot more of this, man. Good job. Well written stuff!
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