NASCAR fans should have had plenty to be excited about at the road course for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 as there were spins, passes and plenty of challenges. For the end of the day at Sonoma Clint Bowyer managed his first win of the season and a first in 2012 for Michael Waltrip Racing.
However, the race also brings forth a few issues to toss around.
First and foremost is the idea of NASCAR on a road course in the first place. Many fans don’t seem to like it. We don’t understand that. This type of course offers a variety of terrain and therefore a variety of challenges to racing. It would certainly follow that those challenges would make for a more exciting race. Granted, the big oval speeds are not there but if all you want is speed then flip on NHRA for a few seconds and you’ll see 300+ mph.
As for the diehard traditionalists that want to insist stock cars turn left and anything else is blasphemous we would say to get over it. This is the same bunch that cried when Toyota entered NASCAR. This is the same bunch that chided the “Car of Tomorrow”. They still boo Jeff Gordon because of some perception that goes back to the #3 and Dale Earnhardt.
The road course is on and a good part of NASCAR. Get with the program and stop shaking like someone just suggested tofu over a rib-eye.
Second on the list is Kurt Busch. We think it might be subject to a coin toss as to which “Kurt” we will have from race to race. This weekend at Sonoma we saw the “driver” Kurt who was up and challenging for the lead and making a best effort to repeat a win there. He was approachable in the pits and the media weren’t drawing short straws as if volunteering for a war mission to go and speak to him.
We’ve seen a bit too much of the other “Kurt Busch”. We like the pleasant version.
Michael Waltrip Racing. They currently have 2 teams in the top 10 for points and have had pole starts and good runs. Clint Bowyer put them in Victory Lane at Sonoma and it appears the work and perseverance is paying off.
Also, as a note on the technical, is Juan Pablo Montoya. Specifically, the electrical issues and pit stop of the Target #42 at Sonoma in which they switched out a relay box. Apparently there were issues for a big part of the day with the relay and the dashboard systems equivalent to the “Check Engine” light of your daily driver.
Montoya came in and the crew did the tire and fuel thing as you would expect. In the midst of it all, one of the crew dove head first into the right side window, unclipped a box on the dash and clipped in a new one, traded “thumbs up” with Montoya and over the wall as the #42 went back out. It literally took just a few extra seconds.
Amazing trick out with planning and execution of a race team during a crisis. The question, however, is why is it so damn difficult for the mechanic to do that at the car shop? The “Check Engine” light is on and it takes a full staff of geek mechanics to plug into a computer, get a code, take a couple of hours and charge $400.00.
We’re not suggesting productions cars have all of the electronics bolted to the air bag panel but they could make the access a little easier. For that matter, why bother with an external code reader? We have digital displays in the dash anyway so wouldn’t be nice if we could tap a button and display the problem?
No. We have to drive our “Check Engine” to the shop, have them plug in a gadget that displays a number and they check it with their super secret Little Orphan Annie decoder ring to find how much money to charge.
Racing. Road courses. Sonoma.
Clint Bowyer ran a good race, was up front when he needed to be and held off two charging champions (Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart) to get a big win for himself and MWR. Racing is as much about momentum as it is about winning. This season has a lot of momentum pushing it forward and is being driven by a number of factors. Kurt Busch and the media… MW Racing making progress… Can Stewart repeat…? Can Johnson…? Can Gordon…? Can Biffle add a Sprint Cup to his Nationwide and Camping World wins…?
It was just a few races ago fans were complaining there wasn’t enough drama. There seems to be plenty to get into now…
Perhaps you can discuss it with the other folks in the waiting room while your “Check Engine” light is diagnosed. You’ll have the time.