63Corvette

JPM WINS Sears Point

gfacter

Great race, I think more than a few Nascar fans are crying into their beers now.. HA..HA..HA

I think I heard some booing at victory lane..

C6400hp

Mcmurrays crew chief really screwed his driver with the pit strategy. (or lack thereof)
One of the fastest cars the whole race.

Markatl

JPM had textbook lines through most corners which meant he was not only faster but more efficient, saving enough gas to make the finish. A concept most the CRASHCAR guys he was racing (except Gordon, Stewart, Said, Fellows, etc.) can't understand.

RMVette06

Not to knock your post but I think Boris Said and Ron Fellows can do textbook corners too, although I didn't see the race so if they were driving like they were tripping on Acid today my apologies.

Gary2KC5

I wouldn't be so quick to trash the NASCAR guys so flipantly.

Maybe only half the grid at Sonoma could go head to head with best sport car drivers but half the grid is a full F1 grid and double the good drivers in both IRL and whatever the CART seris is now called.

When NASCAR drivers test at road courses like VIR their laps times are right there with the good sports car drivers.

It would be very interesting to have a real IROC with all the drivers competing in stock cars, F1 cars, indy cars, and sports prototypes.

StArrow68

For me the interesting thing was the telemetry the few times they did
most of a lap. The car weighs 3450# then I presume you add driver.
The speeds at the slow corners, 11 in particular were below what I see
running a street tired C5 coupe but that could have been defensive line
results. The top speeds while slow by oval standards were amazing and
show where all the brake issues come from, carrying speed out of 8a,
the blind exit from the esses, and through 10 was just fun to watch. Too
bad they don't do the carousel ...
Randy

folsomlarry

The car control down through the esses and through turn 10 is amazing. A couple of times you could see a full 4 wheel drift through 10 and you have driven Infineon so you know how tough that corner is.

The did do the full course the first couple of years, and I really think they have actually made it a tougher place to pass with their new configuration. Going into the carousel and up the back straight and into 7 were actually places you could make a pass.

At least NASCAR did not make turn 10 into a slow corner like the Indy cars did. Their course changes are a joke and I would not waste my money to watch them at Infineon. They put in a joke of an esses and eliminate turn 11. I had the feeling that some of their drivers were nervous about going through 10 at speed. They made some claim about safety, but the ALMS used the full course and they were going just as fast.

As an old road racer I have to admit that NASCAR puts on quite a show.

Larry

BrianCunningham

keep in mind too that the CoT is new, they were fighting big understeer problems.

Most of the other road racers were with underfunded teams.

Great race.

danswofford

I loved an attempted pass on Jimmy Johnson by Montoya. Montoya dive bombed into the apex, smacked up the side of Jimmy's car but did not make the pass. On the next turn Jimmy Johnson veered over and gave Montoya a good whack, effectively saying, "you are in our hood now, play nice"

Anyone see him crash out his team mate in Mexico, a Busch race? Took Pruit out of first place with a dive bomb when he just didn't need too. And not a hint of an apology after the race.

Gary2KC5

I can only hope that they coached him on his lack of apology, that was bad. I guess F1 guys don't issue apologies but JPM needs to understand that's OK and required in this arena.

I don't think he actually intended to move Pruett, I think he just hit him because he was somewhat out of control (at least with a car in front of him). T1 is at the end of the fastest part of the track and I think he was trying to outbrake Pruett but couldn't get stopped and hit him. then took the lead.

a very large "i didn't mean to do that" would have gone a long way...not saying it impiles that he meant to.

bowmanized

It was a great race. JPM definitely drove a great race, but I can't help but feel like Robby Gordon got jipped. He was the best driver that day imho and if it wasn't for pit strategy would have been on the podium.

Is there anywhere you can find fastest lap times for each driver?

RichieRichZ06

I was watching some of the speeds and they were in line with what I am doing in some places, but not in others. It looked like I could go through 11 much quicker then they were all day. It also looked like they were hugging the inside WAY to much to be fast around that corner. I watched some of my video and it looked like I was making it through much faster, but by the end of the front straight into 1 they had quite a few MPH on me.

folsomlarry

It looked like everyone was sacraficing the "proper line" in 11 so they would not leave an opening. Anytime anyone left any space going into 11 someone would go to the inside. I did not pay that much attention to the line in that corner duing qualifying. It did not look like these cars handle nearly as well as their usuall cars, even with the splitter and the wing.
Larry

xsiveone

I heard somewhere where the teams were buying up old Craftsman Trucks for testing because they handle like the CoT.

danswofford

It seems like the winner in Nascar, to some degree, is just the random guy who happens to be leading at the end of the race. What I mean is the best car and driver doesn't always win. Pit stops, gas stops, luck, crashes, whatever seem to determine the winner more than who is faster. Seems like every time there is a yellow and they come in to pit the leader board completely changes. It is too random for me. I'd like to see the best drivers really duke it out - not see someone drop 10 places because one lug nut was stubborn.

xsiveone

That's how the oval races are for me.