Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya's team made the right call. Montoya, the former Formula One racer, did his part in the driver's seat and drove the #42 to his first career NEXTEL Cup win.
Qualifying
Jamie McMurray posted another great Infineon Raceway qualifying run. Last year he started on the front row and spun on the first lap. This year McMurray put his Roush-Fenway Ford on the pole for the Toyota / Save Mart 350. Starting next to him on the front row was Robby Gordon.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. put his Budweiser Chevy on the inside of row number two. Road racing expert Boris Said rolled off fourth on the outside of row number two.
Two-time winner of this race Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.
Big news came on Friday as Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson failed pre-qualifying inspection and NASCAR did not allow them to practice or qualify. Gordon and Johnson started the race 41st and 42nd. Jeff Gordon was the favorite coming into this race but no driver has ever won at Infineon Raceway from farther back than the thirteenth starting spot.
Drop Of The Green
On the first lap Tony Stewart ran off the track on turn two and fell back from fifth place deep into the field. Lap one was quite a scramble. Drivers were three-wide on the narrow race track and taking a lot of early chances. This came to and end down in the hairpin as Matt Kenseth dove underneath Kyle Petty and collected Petty and road racing ringer Marc Goossens. All three cars spun to a stop and brought out the first caution.
Robby Gordon had the lead and maintained it throughout the early running. Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Storylines
The Toyota / Save Mart 350 is typically all about the strategy until the final 35 laps. Today's race was no different. The first half of the race saw a number of different fuel mileage strategies play out. Teams pitted early, late and every other time you can think of as everyone played their pit strategy to try to put themselves up front for the final run to the checkers.
Until the final round of pit stops it was very difficult to know who was truly having a good day. Different pit strategies had drivers running up front simply because they had not yet pitted and some leaders spent time in the back as they were working a different plan.
Chasing The Checkers
Pit strategy worked out so that there were a bunch of teams that were very close on fuel. Robby Gordon lead most of the day but found himself deep in the field late in the race because of fuel mileage. The running order was shuffled but there was no way to know who had enough gas to make it to the finish.
Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya were leading the race with ten laps to go and battling hard for the lead. Montoya did not make any new friends during today's race. He beat and banged his way through the field like he was driving in a demolition derby instead of a NASCAR race. That strategy seemed to be working for him as he was in position to win it at the end. Montoya took over the lead with less than seven laps to go.
Carl Edwards ran out of gas first with three laps to go. Then Jamie McMurray ran out as he crossed the line with two laps to go.
Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya was still out front as he took the white flag. He babied it around the track while Kevin Harvick chased him down. Amazingly Montoya had enough fuel and the rookie took the first win of his NEXTEL Cup career.
Top Ten
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Burton
- Clint Bowyer
- Greg Biffle
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Gordon
- Kyle Busch
- Boris Said
- Denny Hamlin
The Points
Once again Jeff Gordon posted a top ten finish and maintained the point lead.
In the battle for The Chase no new drivers cracked the top twelve and Dale Earnhardt Jr. held onto his twelfth place points position.
The top twelve are now:
- Jeff Gordon -0
- Denny Hamlin -271
- Jimmie Johnson -366
- Matt Kenseth -433
- Jeff Burton -454
- Tony Stewart -480
- Carl Edwards -519
- Kevin Harvick -574
- Clint Bowyer -604
- Kyle Busch -633
- Martin Truex Jr. -675
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -723
Next Week
Next week the NEXTEL Cup teams will head north to New Hampshire International Speedway for the LENOX Industrial Tools 300. 300 miles here serves as an important test session for The Chase drivers since New Hampshire will host the very first race in The Chase when the series returns in September.
