Bruton Smith: Add some passing lanes to Sonoma's Infineon -- for better racing

  
That's right, Mr. Smith -- open up some new passing lanes at your Sonoma track (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net
   
   SONOMA, Calif.
   Okay, first things first:
   Bruton Smith, who owns this picturesque track just north of San Francisco, needs to invite Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon back, before next year's 350, and get their input on how to add more passing areas to this two-mile layout.
    Perhaps widen, and bank, the esses.
    Perhaps reinvent the Kulwicki Corner carousel, where drivers, if not right on their game, could too easily wheel-hop their cars and create opportunities for those right behind them.
    Perhaps change that whole parking lot corner, the flat 180 at the end of the esses, that may be the most interesting passing area on the track but certainly one of the silliest looking corners on the entire tour. NASCAR should not be parking lot racing, around barrels.
   Much of Sunday's racing was flat boring. So give these drivers more passing zones.
   That's a no-brainer.

    Second, this points chasing racing. It stinks. That's not good NASCAR racing. That's stroking.
    Time for NASCAR officials to man up and come up with a system that better rewards wins….and that doesn't hurt a team so much when it has a bad day.
   Stroking? There ought to be penalties for that.
    Denny Hamlin, increasingly frustrated at not winning this season, despite all the opportunities, once again let one slip away.
    "We had that slow pit stop on the last stop, and it allowed Kasey Kahne and Tony Stewart to go out right in front of us -- and that was the race for the win," Hamlin said. "I knew it was as soon as I saw them pull off pit road. 
    "They had a little bit fresher tires, so for us to hang on to fifth with old tires that's pretty good.
    "It's solid days like this where you can't think about wins, in the points position we're in right now.  We're trying to gain points over that 13th place; that's the most important thing for us -- to make that fourth consecutive chase. Once we do that, then maybe we can think about taking chances. But right now it's all about getting points."
    Juan Pablo Montoya: "We finished sixth, another good points day.
   "But the car just wasn't up to it. We struggled putting the power down so much.
    "So it's a little disappointing.
    "But it's good. This is all we needed to do, and we did that -- It was a good points day, and the bigger picture is good. I can't really complain."
    Sorry, points racing shouldn't be 'the NASCAR way.'

    Third, gas-mileage racing? That stinks too. Maybe once a year, it's cute. But that's three or four straight races now that fuel mileage has been such a big part of the game.
    One suggestion – a mandatory fuel stop caution with 80 miles or so to go…..so drivers can go flat out down the stretch, instead of feathering the pedal.
    Another suggestion – NASCAR should let teams put better fuel gauges in the car.
   
   On the plus side of things – a big plus here -- Goodyear finally appears to have solved it's Indianapolis tire problems…just in time for July 26 400.
    Drivers seem pretty upbeat about what they've seen.  Carl Edwards says "The tire test at Indy went really well.  That Goodyear tire felt good, it felt good to drive. 
    "You could get the car a little bit sideways and it didn't feel too treacherous.
    "And the wear looked good, the wear that I saw.
     "I think it's cool that Goodyear is putting so much effort into it.  I’m glad they included me because it's nice to see a few laps around the place."
    So those tire problems are history?
     "I guess you never know until the race starts," Edwards says. 
     "You get to see some long green-flag runs in groups (in testing); but it felt pretty good out there testing.  I didn't have any trouble with the tire.
    "I don't remember much about that tire last year.  We never got a real good feel for it because you never ran it hard. 
     "This tire I ran as hard as I could. 
     "I did a couple of 10-lap runs, but mostly we did five-lap runs. 
      "There were other guys doing longer runs.
     "It felt good to me, It felt like a tire should.  I didn't have any issue with it.
     "The thing I was nervous about is it would be so hard that it would be real treacherous to drive on. But it didn't feel that way.  It felt pretty good."