Sofa Sideline – Finally, A Break for Ricky!
After three weeks of not winning when he
should have, finally, Ricky Ruddy gets a break and wins the Dodge/Save Mart 350
on Sunday at the newly renamed Infineon Raceway located in Sonoma California.
Rudd’s last win at this speedway was at the inaugural Winston Cup event in
1989.
The tough luck that has plagued Rudd the
past couple of weeks shifted to Jerry Nadeau instead. Nadeau, with a one-race
deal driving the number 44 for Petty Enterprises, was one of nine cars who opted
not to pit when the caution flew on lap 84. Nadeau built up a more than 4 second
lead, and Rudd would not have caught him, but with less than three laps left in
the race, Nadeau pulled off the course; the rear end gear broken.
"It always seems to happen to
me," said a disheartened Nadeau. "I’ll tell you what, the guys gave
me an awesome race care. I guess we had the race won. All of a sudden, I spun
the gear and blew the rear end."
Nadeau finished a dismal 34th
as a result.
After starting from the pole position,
Tony Stewart managed to make his way back to bring it home in second place, and
within 88 points of the points leader. His teammate, Bobby Labonte, had a decent
run throughout most of the race; up to third place at one point; but with less
than ten laps to go, he spun off of turn 7, losing several positions. He managed
to work his way back to finish 13th but blamed himself for being over
anxious, going too hard into the turn, and causing the spin.
Finishing third (yeah!) was Terry Labonte.
Terry was another driver who stayed out on the race track and gave it a run for
the money. There was a wide smile on his face after the race – a long time
coming, but good to see the number 5 up in the front of the pack again. Keep it
coming!!
Kurt Busch ran a great race. Busch led for
several laps, but was not able to make up lost ground after the last pit stop.
He did manage to come in fourth, with Jeff Green finishing in the fifth
position.
Rounding out the top ten were; Elliott
Sadler 6th, Mark Martin 7th, Bill Elliott 8th,
Ryan Newman 9th, with John Andretti in 10th. Andretti had
led for several laps; looked in winning form, but the last put stop, had some
slight trouble with the left front and was not able to bring it back to the
front.
The points leader, Sterling Marlin, got
into trouble early in the race. The problem started on lap eleven when Marlin
picked up a rock thrown from another car and causing the power steering and
water pump belts to come off. He managed to make it back out on the track, nine
laps later, but shortly after the engine blew. Marlin finished in 43rd
place.
Jeff Gordon, led for 30 laps, and looked
like he was in position to take the lead in the points race, but that was not to
be. Not to long after Marlin took it to the garage, the number 24 pulled in with
a broken rear end gear. Gordon came back out on the track, seven laps down, but
finished 37th overall. Jimmie Johnson also had rear end gear troubles
and came in 34th.
Dale Jr. – tough race; finished 30th.
Unfortunately, Junior never seems to run well at the road course races; not sure
why that is?
With all this action, the points race is
really heating up. Mark Martin, who didn’t have any significant problems
during the race, is now in second place just 62 points behind the leader,
Sterling Marlin. The championship is fair game to many and the second half of
the season may very well produce some surprises. But, I’m sticking by my
earlier prediction – Tony Stewart.
Other notes:
Several drivers, including first-time
riders Terry Labonte and Matt Kenseth, will be flying to Nevada to join Kyle
Petty in the "Petty Charity Ride Across America." Over 150
motorcyclists will join Kyle in the ride to raise money for various charities,
including the Victory Junction Gang Camp. Last year over $500,000 was raised;
and our best wishes go out to everyone participating in this worthwhile event
– hope you all have fun!!
It’s reported that Rusty Wallace is
pushing for NASCAR to reduce the size of the rear spoilers on all the cars.
"Goodyear has the tire real durable,
and they have told me that if we can get NASCAR to take the rear spoiler off and
get the downforce off, they’ll soften the tires back up," said Wallace.
"Whey they soften the tires back up, then the tires will wear and we’ll
see the passing come back." Supposedly NASCAR is listening to Wallace, and
will have a decision if anything will be done possibly as early as Indy; first
part of August.
Silly season continues. It’s been
reported several times that Penske Racing was switching to Dodge; with adamant
denials coming from that shop. However, you can’t help but wonder?? Dodge can’t
be all that pleased with the performance of their purported number one team
these days.
The Winston Cup Series is on a break this
week; the Busch Series is back in action in Milwaukee. The next race up for WC
is Daytona – the night race; always exciting!
If you’re looking for action, the ARCA
RE/MAX Series rolls into South Boston, Virginia for another short-track event on
Wednesday, July 3rd. The "Big Daddy’s Liberty 200" is
scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the Speed Channel.
Kenny Schrader has filed an entry, and with the tight points race going on in
this series, this should be a good one.
That’s it for now.