Sonoma Raceway’s twists and turns don’t always lead to a checkered flag

SONOMA - There were drivers after Sunday’s race who were thankful for Sonoma Raceway’s long twists and turns, which allow most drivers to pit without losing a lap, allowing them to cycle through to the front once others pit to recover track position.

Then there are others who can’t wait to fly away back to the Carolinas and back to the more-common ovals of the southern-based circuit, including native Californians Kyle Larson and A.J. Allmendinger.

For Larson, an Elk Grove native and the 2017 points leader in the driver standings, what started as a great weekend finished in disappointment. After starting the race on the pole position, Larson’s contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr. early in the race in the turn 11 hairpin set him back in the first stage. He recovered to finish third in that stage, but stalled in the pits early in the second stage. He later made contact with Earnhardt in turn 4a, forcing him into Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was then struck by his Stenhouse’s girlfriend, Danica Patrick. Stenhouse was forced out of the race and finished 38th and Patrick 17th after getting as high as fourth in Sunday’s race. Larson finished one lap down in 26th.

Larson later tweeted: “Just wasn’t very good today in the race. Not sure what was going on but we were off. We’ll rebound next week.”

Patrick’s result was somewhat disappointing considering she started sixth. It had been her highest qualifying position of the season. She also raced back to fourth place before the cycle of pit stops pushed her back in the field.

Los Gatos native A.J. Allmendinger was once again the victim of bad luck at Sonoma. After taking the lead on lap 20, Allmendinger fought through the cycle of pit stops to get into the top 10 with less than 50 laps to go, but a voltage issue forced him to pit road for a battery change. He finished 35th.

“I don’t know what happened there,” said Allmendinger via a team audio release. “I just noticed on what was going to be our final pit stop, I kind of looked down and I just noticed our battery was starting to die. From there, that was it.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s likely final race at the 11-turn Sonoma Raceway ended on a very good note, as Earnhardt overcame a variety of issues on the race track to finish sixth. He didn’t know what was going on in terms of strategy and track position with the dynamic stage pit strategies.

“I can’t tell what’s going on. With 30 laps to go, I don’t know if I got enough (gas) to stay out, who I’m racing or what the hell is going on,” Earnhardt said. “I just try to put together clean laps.”

And Earnhardt did. He earned his second highest finish in his career at Sonoma, with his best a third-place finish in 2014.

Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps (25) but was forced out of the race due to a blown motor on lap 88.

“For about 20 laps, I was on seven cylinders,” said Truex via a team press release. “After we made that last pit stop when we lost the lead to Harvick, I lost a cylinder as soon as I left pit road. I was surprised we were able to keep up with him as well as we could on seven, but just shows how strong our car was. Just wasn’t meant to be today.”

Alon Day, the first Israeli driver to race in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, finished 32nd.

POST-RACE INSPECTION

Kyle Busch’s car was found to have a safety infraction post-race, as NASCAR officials noticed that the No. 18 car had two lug nuts on tires that were not safe and secure. The penalty for that violation usually results in a one-race suspension for the crew chief of the car and a $20,000 fine. Busch’s crew chief is usually Adam Stevens, but he’s serving a four-race suspension and the interim crew chief is Ben Beshore. The interim chief would be on the hook for this penalty.

Fines and penalties are usually assessed mid-week and teams have the right to appeal 10 days after the notice of the penalty is given. A NASCAR official said it will be highly unlikely that this will be appealed.