The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly -- Toyota/Save Mart 350

This week, the Crappafoni Pictures crew presents the wine (or whine) and cheese version of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, served up Northern California style.

THE GOOD

Kasey Kahne: as the race winner, he automatically gets first billing. He led the most laps in the race and had the best car out there. He was able to hold off a hard-charging Tony Stewart on several late-race restarts. The win was the first for Richard Petty as a car owner since John Andretti’s win at Martinsville in April 1999. For Kahne, it was his first win on a road course, and he led the final 38 laps of the race. More importantly, the win moves him into 13th place in the standings. Good job Kasey!

Tony Stewart: Smoke had a strong car as well, as he led 11 laps. He kept waiting for Kahne to make a mistake, but it didn’t happen. He was strongest in the middle thirds of the race.

Marcos Ambrose: he had to start at the rear of the field due to an engine change. But he kept plugging away and kept moving up. Plus he was the beneficiary of a caution flag that occurred shortly after he left the pits on a pit stop. He moved way up when several drivers ahead of him pitted during that caution, and he stayed out. He tied his career-best finish of third.

Jimmie Johnson: while he’s not the best on road courses (he’s never won at Sonoma or The Glen), he gets this spot because he dramatically improved on his average finish at Sonoma before this race. While he never led, he hung around and the crew kept working on the 48 to make it better, and the results showed.

Denny Hamlin: another driver with an unexpected result on a road course. Hamlin was stout, leading 33 laps and hanging around the top 5 much of the race.
Honorable Mention: Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Elliott Sadler, Patrick Carpentier, and Max Papis.

THE BAD

PJ Jones: he did Todd Bodine one worse. He only completed TWO laps before he was done for the day, finishing in an amazing 43rd place. Dead Freaking Last. Dude, next time you pull this crap, give up your spot in the field to someone that wants to RACE. That was a disgrace to NASCAR and sports in general. That left a BAD taste in my mouth.

Dave Blaney: another S & P—this time he completed an amazing FOUR laps to finish 42nd and run off with his paycheck. Both he and Jones probably did faster times running off with their prize money than doing laps on the track DURING the race. Perhaps the FBI should issue posters with both Blaney’s and Jones’ faces on them with the caption: WANTED: ROBBERY AND GRAND LARCENY.

THE UGLY

Jimmie Johnson: it’s rare that I put a driver in both the Good and Ugly categories, but I do this week. Johnson was trying to pass Kurt Busch in the esses. First of all, it’s next to impossible to pass in the esses. Busch was running very well, and his chances of winning evaporated when Johnson punted him and sent him into the tire barrier to bring out a caution at Lap 90.

Those are my nominees for the race. Feel free to come in with yours! For all you fellow bloggers that made it to Sonoma, I had a GREAT time! Thank you for a memorable weekend!