June 23, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
SONOMA,
Calif.—Because Carl Edwards finished where he started in Sunday’s
Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, you might think he had an
uneventful day.
But Edwards’ third-place run was anything but that.
“It
feels weird to race that hard all day and finish in the same spot you
started,” said Edwards, who maintained his second-place position in
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points
and trimmed the lead of ninth-place finisher Jimmie Johnson to 25.
“That’s not the true story.
“I actually got passed a lot and passed a lot of folks. Pretty dynamic race—there was a lot that happened.”
Changing track conditions also complicated the equation.
“The
handling changed quite a bit throughout the race,” Edwards said. “The
tires were a big struggle, which I think makes the racing really good…
“We had
a little bit of a fuel issue. We were spilling some fuel, weren’t
getting the car all the way full, so we were very nervous whether or not
we were going to make it
to the end.”
With
Juan Pablo Montoya running out of fuel on the penultimate lap, Edwards
probably didn’t have enough gas to survive a green-white-checkered-flag
finish—that was one variable
he didn’t have to confront.
JUST A SUGGESTION
After
racing the new Gen-6 car for the first time on a road course, runner-up
Jeff Gordon has a note for NASCAR’s suggestion box.
“There’s
one thing I’m going to talk to NASCAR about with this car,” Gordon said
after posting a much-needed top five that vaulted him three positions
to 13th in the Cup standings.
“We don’t have the body in the right position for the road courses to
turn right. When we go to Watkins Glen, as fast as those right-handers
are, we’re going to have some issues.
“There’s
nothing to lean on. You have plenty of grip on the lefts, because the
body still has a little bit of rake on the rights. It has nice sideforce
for the right side of
the car for those left turns, but on the right turns, the cars are just
so out of control.”
That’s an issue Gordon hopes NASCAR will address.
”I
would like to see if there’s something they can think about for that,”
Gordon said. “But, other than that, I love the Gen-6 car everywhere we
go. It’s got good grip and
drives well and looks great, and I think that—other than those fast
right-handers—it was the same here today.”
REMARKABLE RECOVERY
Kurt
Busch’s No. 78 Chevrolet SS was one of the fastest cars in Sunday’s
race, but the day started to go haywire for the 2004 Sprint Cup champion
during a green-flag pit stop
on Lap 35.
Busch
entered pit road too fast, and NASCAR assessed a pass-through penalty
for speeding. Busch compounded the problem by speeding on entry during
the pass-through and earned
a stop-and-go penalty that left him a lap down.
Busch
regained the lost lap when race winner Martin Truex Jr. came to pit road
on Lap 62, and a caution on the following circuit gave him a chance to
begin a methodical climb
through the field.
“Yeah,
we were fast, even on pit road—twice,” Busch quipped. “I messed up, flat
out. I didn’t hit my tachometer right, and I was speeding both times.
It was one of those (times)
where I’m like, ‘How does this happen?’…
“We did
get back on the lead lap when (Truex) pitted, but we had to battle
hard. You’ve got to rub guys and move guys, and we gave guys room and
just made one mistake (during
the charge through the field). I think we could have gotten all the way
up to second, but we never would have caught Truex.”
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