(WOMR file photo)
Sunday was almost like a repeat performance of Saturday, however, there was position swap between the Kyles! Kyle Busch held off rookie Kyle Larson to win Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Busch, who took the lead by passing brother Kurt Busch and Kurt’s boss Tony Stewart on the final lap after a green/white/checkered restart, became the fifth winner in five Cup races in 2014. The victory at Auto Club Speedway was Kyle Busch’s 29th Sprint Cup victory of his career.
It was a great green-white-checkered sprint to the finish between the two Kyles.
However, the real story was the tire failures that repeatedly happened throughout the race! That is right, tires – specifically their wear and deflating – was the real story of the day. They were blowing like crazy. And in the end, the tire failures would determine the winner of the race!
The rash of tire failures actually began happening during the Sprint Cup final practice session on Saturday. That infliction continued throughout the race on Sunday. Many drivers suffered tire failures during the race on Sunday. And I have stated in the previous paragraph, a tire failure was the decisive factor that determined the winner of the race.
With seven laps to go, Jimmie Johnson blew a tire.
“We did everything we could to win the race today,” Johnson said, “unfortunately something out of our control let us down. I had that feeling I thought we were going to win here at my home track once again and just a bummer it didn’t work out.”
It was then Gordon’s turn to breath easy. Or not. With just over two laps to go, Clint Bowyer blew a tire to bring out a caution.
Gordon and most of the contenders pitted for, yes, tires.
Landon Cassill stayed out and took the lead but with old tires, but he was doomed by that decision!
Kurt Busch took just two tires and came out of the pits first and restarted on the low side.
But Cassill was passed by Tony Stewart and then both were passed by Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson to set up the final finishing order.
Kyle Busch said taking four tires on the final stop was key.
There has not been a rash of tire failures in one race since the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about four years ago. It appeared that it was either the construction of the tires, or the amount of camber allowed in the rear wheels, or a combination of both that contributed to the amount of catastrophic tire failures at the Auto Club 400. Nevertheless, it will be quite interesting to see what the final outcome that NASCAR decides was the reason for all of the tire failures Sunday.
Check out the unofficial results of the Auto Club 400.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
