(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)
Jimmie Johnson was literally handed his fourth victory of the season today at Infineon Raceway, winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350. During a yellow flag Marcos Ambrose was shutting off his engine to conserve fuel, while following the pace car. But after he passed the start/finish making a left to go uphill to turn #2, he could not get the motor to restart until he had fell to seventh place on the grid.
NASCAR rules say that you must maintain the speed of the pace car to retain your position. Ambrose failed to maintain his position and had to restart in seventh position, a major gaffe on his part. Ambrose most likely was going to win his first Sprint Cup race, if not for this error on his part.
For Johnson it was his 51st Sprint Cup victory of his career, however, it was his first victory on a road course.
Johnson, who jumped from fourth to second in points with the victory, gave credit for his first victory on the road course to increased emphasis on that part of his game. He said driving Grand-Am prototypes has helped his progress.
Throughout this afternoon the cars looked more like they do after a race at Bristol. The sheet metal was bent, dented, and crumpled. From the drop of the green flag there was give and take. Unfortunately, there was very little giving and a whole bunch of taking! The race today more resembled a boxing match or a wrestling match, than a road race. There was beating, punching, a take down or two, some field goal kicking, and of course some well positioned punting as well!
Here is the unofficial NASCAR results from Infineon.
Is this a precursor to what we can expect at Louden next week?
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
One Comment on “Ambrose Goofs And Johnson Wins”