Nudge negates victory

<p>SONOMA — If today’s NASCAR Cup race ends the same way Saturday’s Bennett Lane Winery 200 ended, there may be fisticuffs in the winner’s circle. And someone will have to explain what happened.</p><p>In a race filled with caution flags near the end, Cup Rookie of the Year candidate and teenage sensation, Joey Logano was pushed out of the lead and off the side on Turn 11 by Patrick Long, who then completed the final lap for the apparent win.</p><p>But when Long tried to have his car pushed into the winner’s circle, a NASCAR official instead directed him to the garage area. The win was given to Long’s teammate, Jason Bowles, who followed Long across the finish line.</p><p>Confusing?</p><p>Not to the 19-year-old Logano, who will start today’s Cup race in 12th starting position.</p><p>“I’d like to speak to that kid and see what’s going through his mind,” Logano, who wasn’t really that upset, said of Long after the race. “He thinks I was blocking. It’s one thing if he nudges me.”</p><p>Long disappeared quickly after the race, although someone from Long’s pit crew was seen giving Logano’s car a swift kick when it rolled by.</p><p>Bowles said he spoke with Long, who claimed that Logano was blocking him. “He said he just checked up hard,” Bowles said.</p><p>David Mayhew finished second, Eric Holmes was third and Boris Said, also in today’s Cup race finished fourth.</p><p>“We assessed the penalty we normally do for aggressive driving,” said Richard Buck, director of touring series for NASCAR. “Since it was the last lap there’s no time to assess a penalty. The move took the leader out.”</p><p>Paul Pedroncelli Jr. of Sonoma, also 19, finished 27th in the 40-car field. It wasn’t that bad of a race, considering Pedroncelli’s car had no fenders or front hood at the start because of a crash during qualifying on Saturday.</p><p>“Just making it out there was good,” said Pedroncelli Jr. “It’s not as good as I wanted, but I lost a lot of ground each time in the high-speed corners. I was getting used to the track. Yesterday, just killed us.”</p><p>Pedroncelli Jr. said it was a clean race, until about the final 20 laps. “Then everybody was getting antsy,” he said.</p><p>Long definitely had reason to bump Logano at the end. He and Bowles both passed Logano with about four laps remaining after some nifty moves on the upper turns. Logano had led for most of the race.</p><p>But a caution flag came out shortly after the passes and under touring series rules, the race order reverts to the last completed lap under green. That gave Logano the lead back.</p><p>The race, well known for its aggressive driving, was actually running smoothly until some stalls and accidents began a series of caution flags beginning around the 22nd lap of the 64-lap race.</p><p>Long, the pole winner, held the lead until pitting for fuel on lap 19.</p><p>A few laps later Logano inherited the lead, when others pitted and held it for most of the race.</p><p>Said ran second to Logano for awhile and then Long and Bowles moved in behind Logano with about 17 laps to go. Logano, who spun out after the hit from Long, wound up finishing 17th.</p><p>When asked if he worried about something similar happening today to knock him out of the lead, Logano said, “I hope not. I think the class of racer will be a little bit better.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Rich Rupprecht at 521-5275 or rich.rupprecht@press</p><p>democrat.com.</p>