15th Dodge/SaveMart 350:Ah, how nice is road courses in NASCAR. After many months, here we are again, in circuits with turns for right and left, and many gear changes.
In pole position we have again Bobby Labonte in his Joe Gibbs Racing car. It is a very sunny day here in the city of Sonoma, California. Promise of a highly contested race, with suicidal strategies.
Being a road course, is not common disputes occur all the time as superspeedways or short tracks. So, Bobby Labonte continued to lead by more and more laps, always extending their lead to the second place.
On lap 30, came the first yellow flag:
Kevin Harvick blew the engine on the main straight and took a blow to Ricky Craven as he stopped on the track. Along with this yellow flag came the first round of pit stops, and Tony Stewart came in first place.
And just like Labonte was leading before, Stewart was leading after the first yellow flag. Until
Christian Fittipaldi break a header and stopped at the exit of turn 11: second yellow flag of the day. Few cars made pit stops and stop Tony Stewart restarted first.
And Stewart kept the lead until on lap 48
Sterling Marlin was touched by Jeff Burton and spun at the exit of turn 11. Another yellow flag: those who did not pit stop before, did now and vice versa. Mark Martin restarted in the lead.
After the restart, Martin followed a quiet walk to his pit stop on lap 64. And then another yellow flag came:
Johnny Benson was touched by Matt Kenseth and spun.
Round of pit stops, some have not stopped... Robby Gordon in front... and he came to the pit lane with the pace car for your pit stop. Casey Mears restarted the race in first.
But to no avail: he was going to change tires and refuel his car, and Martin returned to the first position. And slowly, the chance to make his fifth win in seven races and extend lead advantage for the second position was going up.
He was the leader until lap 93, he was in for pit stops and leave leadership in the hands of
Joe Nemechek. Then, came the Front Row Joe stop and leave the front to Jeff Burton.
And then came another yellow flag: Jerry Nadeau was leaving the pits, when he "met" Dale Jarrett and both ran into the gravel of 1A. Ward Burton also ended up running.
Came the restart, with
Mark Martin leading, followed by Terry Labonte.
Martin was doing the basics, the lead until lap 108:
Ward Burton was touched by Jeremy Mayfield and spun. The final yellow flag of the day, which generated a real green-white-checker.
The restart of the race came. Mark Martin ran as usual and ended up leading more than ever.
