Oh Boy, its Sonoma time! If last year’s race is any indication, then we are in for one heck of a race today!
Open Race Thread: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 | Sonoma, CA
The wave of Dale Jr. mania has hit this week with his win last week at MIS, but I don’t expect to see him win today on this road course. If he comes out with a top 10 it will be a good day for Jr., but I’m thinking a top 15 will be a more realistic goal for the 88 team - anything else will be bonus.
Something of a more pressing issue is whether or not Jeff Gordon will have a good day. Gordon has had some good runs this year, but has faced some bad luck along the way. Will the stars align for a second week in a row and give the Hendrick organization another win? A win by Gordon will give Rick Hendircik a win from each of his Cup teams - something that hasn’t happened in years.
This race could also significantly change the wild-card position in the standings depending on who wins - look for strong runs from Montoya and Ambrose for sure.
Before we head on to the starting line-up I just want to let you know that #WeWantRightTurns is the official Ranting and Raving hashtag of choice to lobby for more road courses in NASCAR, and we invite you to help us get this trending over the weekend. This will be the second year in a row of trending if we are successful. When using that hashtag make sure you let NASCAR know what you want by including their own hashtag #NASCAR in your tweets!
Starting line up is after the jump, see you in the comments.
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 95.262 | 75.203 | Leader |
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 95.067 | 75.357 | -0.154 |
| 3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's | 94.795 | 75.574 | -0.371 |
| 4 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / US Stationary | 94.722 | 75.632 | -0.429 |
| 5 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 94.686 | 75.661 | -0.458 |
| 6 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 94.679 | 75.666 | -0.463 |
| 7 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M's | 94.632 | 75.704 | -0.501 |
| 8 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction Services | 94.557 | 75.764 | -0.561 |
| 9 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Ford EcoBoost | 94.524 | 75.790 | -0.587 |
| 10 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans / Childrens Tumor Foundation | 94.509 | 75.802 | -0.599 |
| 11 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 94.503 | 75.807 | -0.604 |
| 12 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 94.319 | 75.955 | -0.752 |
| 13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 94.269 | 75.995 | -0.792 |
| 14 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 94.209 | 76.044 | -0.841 |
| 15 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 94.206 | 76.046 | -0.843 |
| 16 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 94.199 | 76.052 | -0.849 |
| 17 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 94.184 | 76.064 | -0.861 |
| 18 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Clorox | 94.103 | 76.129 | -0.926 |
| 19 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew / National Guard / 7-Eleven | 94.026 | 76.192 | -0.989 |
| 20 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 93.991 | 76.220 | -1.017 |
| 21 | 55 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | RKMotorsCharl otte.com | 93.949 | 76.254 | -1.051 |
| 22 | 195 | Scott Speed | Ford | Leavine Family Racing | 93.913 | 76.283 | -1.080 |
| 23 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Moen | 93.840 | 76.343 | -1.140 |
| 24 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 93.824 | 76.356 | -1.153 |
| 25 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald's | 93.732 | 76.431 | -1.228 |
| 26 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Rheem | 93.728 | 76.434 | -1.231 |
| 27 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | 1-800LoanMart | 93.524 | 76.601 | -1.398 |
| 28 | 32 | Boris Said | Ford | HendrickCars.com | 93.268 | 76.811 | -1.608 |
| 29 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | Green 1 High Performance Green | 93.166 | 76.895 | -1.692 |
| 30 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Medallion Financial | 93.153 | 76.906 | -1.703 |
| 31 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 93.064 | 76.979 | -1.776 |
| 32 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 92.964 | 77.062 | -1.859 |
| 33 | 98 | David Mayhew | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 92.833 | 77.171 | -1.968 |
| 34 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | MAPEI / SaveMart Supermarkets | 92.563 | 77.396 | -2.193 |
| 35 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Wheaties | 92.459 | 77.483 | -2.280 |
| 36 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 92.140 | 77.751 | -2.548 |
| 37 | 119 | Chris Cook | Toyota | Humphrey Smith Racing | 92.076 | 77.805 | -2.602 |
| 38 | 249 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents | 91.927 | 77.931 | -2.728 |
| 39 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 91.836 | 78.009 | -2.806 |
| 40 | 26 | Josh Wise* | Ford | MDS Transport | 91.729 | 78.100 | -2.897 |
| 41 | 10 | Tomy Drissi+ | Chevrolet | Ice Age Continental Drift | 90.579 | 79.091 | -3.888 |
| 42 | 83 | Landon Cassill+ | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 89.341 | 80.187 | -4.984 |
| 43 | 33 | Stephen Leicht* | Chevrolet | Little Joes Autos.com | 91.686 | 78.136 | -2.933 |
| Did Not Qualify | |||||||
| 44 | 30 | Brian Simo | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 91.078 | 78.658 | -3.455 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
* Denotes Rookie
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