Sonoma Weekend

The 24 and 48 teams (Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson respectively) got a jolt of reality Friday when both cars failed to pass the first inspection. They tested NASCAR's gray area and came up short, as both teams were parked for the day and not allowed on the track for practice or qualifying. They were allowed to practice Saturday after bringing both cars up to specs. They also were told they would start at the rear of the pack on Sunday. Big deal, like that's going to impede their quest to get to the front and win.

I was very shocked when that is what I heard the first time I turned my TV on at 3 pm on Friday. When I heard what was happening, I immediately wanted both the crew chiefs' heads on a silver platter, especially the 48 crew chief of Jimmie Johnson. Chad Knaus is forever testing the patience of NASCAR and this is his third huge infraction in as many years. I know the 24 team was talked into joining in as they share the same building. Up until now the 24 crew chief of Jeff Gordon had a pristine record.

And Rick Hendrick, the team owner, doesn't think they did anything wrong. Huh? They got caught red handed for gosh sakes. It was "blatant in-your-face NASCAR, so what do you think of that?" Well, we'll see what NASCAR thinks of it come Tuesday when the penalties are handed out to them. And there had better be penalties and they should match, at the very least, what they handed out to Junior's team back at the Darlington race.

I want NASCAR to stick to their consistency policy (if there is such a thing). That's the least they promised us: consistency in the penalties. The infraction on Junior's car, which was an honest mistake, would not have made his car faster. And it passed two inspections before it was "discovered." And that was after he qualified. The Hendrick cars were found to be out of alignment in the hood area as soon as the template 'claw' was lowered onto the car. Holy crap! How could they be so blatant? (I like that word so I used it twice.) What they did would have definitely made both cars go faster.

Now fast forward to Sunday's race. How did both drivers fare starting at the rear on the road course? Jeff managed a 7th place finish and Jimmie ended up 17th. (Junior finished 13th only because their pit strategy didn't work to their advantage, as he had a top five car and was having a blast driving at a track he used to hate.)

And the winner was:

Juan Pablo Montoya who won his first NASCAR Cup race.


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