Sonoma Report Card

Sonoma Report Card

A+
Kasey Kahne – Definitely not the favorite coming into the race, but holding off Tony Stewart on those last restarts was no small feat.
Tony Stewart – The question that came to my mind at the end of the race was if his front bumper might have gotten used up more with someone other than Kasey in front of him.
Marcos Ambrose – I have to give props to him for coming from the back to the front.

A
Juan Pablo Montoya – Even taking fuel mileage out of the equation, JPM was solid all day long.
AJ Allmendinger – Ambrose came from 41st to 3rd in 110 laps. AJ came from 41st to 7th in 55 laps. That deserves an A.
Others – Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer

A-
Elliott Sadler – He went for an early race spin, got the lucky dog, pitted for some tires late in the race, and scored a top 10 finish.
Patrick Carpentier – All through practice and the early stages of the race I wondered if Michael Waltrip made the right decision, but the Canadian road racer proved his mettle.
Others – Jeff Gordon, Max Papis

B+
Carl Edwards – Just about everyone messes up a corner in a road course race. Unfortunately for Cousin Carl, he took a teammate and the most popular driver in NASCAR out when he did.
Others – Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers

B
Joey Logano – The rookie was looking strong on the road course this weekend
Paul Menard – I don’t remember seeing him off course all race long.
Others – Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte

B-
Boris Said – He hit more cars than David Stremme usually does.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – He had such a strong run going until he got Edwards-ized.
Others – Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Martin Truex, Jr.

C+
Ron Fellows – The road course ringer didn’t have quite the finish he was looking for.
Kevin Harvick – He was running strong until tire problems took him out.
Others – Greg Biffle, John Andretti, David Reutimann, David Ragan

C
David Gilliland – After his bonehead move in practice, he thought the weekend could only go up. Guess not.
Mark Martin – He got knocked around so much that he must have felt like a pinball.
Others –Jeff Burton, Robby Gordon, Scott Speed, Sam Hornish, Jr.

C-
Reed Sorenson – Mechanical problems kept him from joining his RPM teammates in the top 10
P.J. Jones – We never even got to see his car on the track.
Others – David Stremme, Brandon Ash, Dave Blaney