It was Gordon's ninth career road course victory, but only his first NASCAR win of the 2006 Nextel Cup season. This win affirms that Gordon isn't quite ready to completely hand over Kingship of the Road Course to Tony Stewart. Before the race, Stewart had won the previous three road course events.
"It's definitely the most emotional (win at Infineon) for me. I've got to admit, I got a little choked up riding around in the car with the checkered flag. I don't know if it was getting to Victory Lane for the first time this year, whether it was the excitement with announcing the engagement, or the pressure of not winning so far this year, or just the road course," said Jeff Gordon after his 74th career win.
Oh yeah, Jeff Gordon did get engaged to his girlfriend this weekend.
With Gordon winning his 74th NASCAR race, the media will once again do what they always do when Gordon wins a race. Countdown to win number 76, when he matches the late Dale Earnhardt's win total.
Tony Stewart had an eventful day at Infineon, but not in a good way. Stewart unmistakably had a car that was capable of challenging and possibly defeating Jeff Gordon, but after several run-ins with road racing ace Boris Said, and a sour engine, he was relegated to a 28th place finish at the winding road course.
Stewart quoted, "This is a road-course race, but it's also a NASCAR race. This isn't European road racing where you block and run guys all over the racetrack. We're not going to do that. They're not going to do that to me. I don't care if they do it to the rest of the field, but the one thing I think we established today was that they're not going to race me that way."
Boris Said saw things a little different. "I still wasn't mad, but when he was flipping me off, telling me I was No. 1, I was really hot. He is lucky I didn't catch him because I would have turned him around. But I will call him Monday and make up. I am not mad about it."
That should be an intriguing discussion.
Too bad Stewart's engine lost a cylinder- it's possible that he could have indulged in a classic road course duel with rival Jeff Gordon.
It was a great day for Penske Racing South, especially Ryan Newman. Newman has been virtually absent from race winning contention thus far in 2006, but he displayed some road racing prowess on the 1.99-mile road course. In fact, had Newman been in front of Terry Labonte on that last restart, he may have been in position to seriously challenge Jeff Gordon. Gordon had Newman beat on the short runs, but Newman was unvaryingly as fast once the tires aged.
Terry Labonte, former teammate of Jeff Gordon, nearly pulled off the biggest upset in Nextel Cup since Ricky Craven in 2003. Labonte, driving for the first -year single-car effort of Hall Of Fame Racing, gambled with fuel mileage and it nearly paid off. Labonte finished third, the team's best finish by far.
Paul Menard won his first Busch Series race at his home track, the Milwaukee Mile. Menard was challenged by Kevin Harvick, but Harvick lost control when he was tapped from behind by J.J. Yeley.
It has been reported that Brian Vickers will head over to Toyota's Red Bull Racing in 2007.
Quote of the week
Ryan Newman in his post-race interview
"I've got a cramp in my left butt cheek, and it's still there, and that's why I want to get out of here."
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