Wild day on road course has little to do with restarts

SONOMA, Calif. -- It was a wild day at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, but not necessarily for the reasons feared by many prior to the Toyota/SaveMart 350.

Post-Race Reactions

Kurt Busch talks about his contact with Jimmie Johnson, and Johnson apologizes.

• Post-Race Reactions
• Johnson spins Busch

Several drivers said before the race that they thought double-file restarts after cautions would create massive mayhem. But of the more than a dozen incidents involving cars running into each other, going off the track or spinning on their own -- some of which drew yellow caution flags and some that didn't -- only two appeared to even remotely have anything to do with the new rule allowing leaders to start alongside one another on restarts.

That isn't to say there weren't incidents involving race leaders. One of the worst occurred on Lap 90 of the scheduled 110-lap event when Jimmie Johnson, running fifth at the time in his No. 48 Chevrolet, punted Kurt Busch, who was running fourth in his No. 2 Dodge.

Busch ended up having to settle for 15th, while Johnson ended up fourth behind race winner Kasey Kahne, runner-up Tony Stewart and Marcos Ambrose. Johnson immediately apologized for the incident on his radio after it occurred, and then sought out Busch after the race to say he was sorry again.

"I initially was thinking that it was a pretty tough day out there when you're running fourth and a three-time champion dumps you," Kurt Busch said. "He hit the curb and just launched into us. He came over and apologized right after the race.

"It was just two champion drivers going for the same spot. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it should have been much better. I was so worried we were going a lap down and [then have to] finish way back there."

Johnson added: "Unfortunately, I got together with the No. 2 and got him into the wall, so I had to find him and apologize. It was just a racing deal, nothing more. It left a bruise on our left-front, but other than that it was a good day for us."

There were other tussles between drivers and their cars, with varying results. David Gilliland twice tangled with Sam Hornish Jr., Kurt Busch's teammate at Penske Racing. Hornish was involved in at least three incidents altogether before the last run-in with Gilliland, which ultimately left his car crumpled and inoperable just four laps from the scheduled finish.

"It was just a tough day for us," Hornish said. "We had a strong car, ran as high as sixth, and just got punted and taken out coming through Turn 11. I got spun around, hit the throttle and got caught up when I tried to get going again.

"There was a lot of beating and banging going on out there and we just got caught up in somebody else's mess and it put a hole in our radiator. We ran well at times; it was just an unfortunate day."

David Ragan felt the same way after his own teammate, Carl Edwards, rear-ended him heading into the Turn 11 hairpin -- setting off a chain reaction that also spun Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Lap 98.

"I got into the 6 and that's the bad thing," Edwards said. "I was racing really hard with him, but we didn't expect to run that well. We were really slow in practice."

Ragan was running 11th at the time, but ended up 30th. Earnhardt, seeking the first top-10 finish of his career at Infineon, was 10th at the time and ended up 26th.

"It was a bad end to a day that could have been a great run," Ragan said.

Others felt his pain, but again, only two of the many incidents -- one involving Mark Martin, Robby Gordon and Jeff Burton getting together and another when Boris Said was spun from behind -- appeared to be the direct result of the bunched-up, double-file restarts coming out of Turn 2 at the 1.99-mile track.

Kyle Busch was involved in an incident that included Hornish and pole-sitter Brian Vickers. Another time Ambrose clipped Bobby Labonte as Ambrose was emerging from the pits, and still another time Labonte and rookie Joey Logano got together. There also was an incident involving Patrick Carpentier and Elliott Sadler.

The double-file restarts still were hairy for the drivers, even though they got through most of them clean.

"The restarts were just wild," Jamie McMurray said. "Everybody runs into each other and doesn't really race. They just drive over their head, so it was frustrating. It was exciting, I'm sure, for the fans -- but the guys just don't pass right. They just run into each other."

If and when they did, they usually didn't bump into each other hard enough to cause accidents. One who did suffer was Said, but he sounded like he still welcomed the rule change.

"It was intense. They were a riot," Said said of the restarts after finishing 24th. "It was just chaos -- a free-for-all. Unfortunately, I don't know who tagged me on the last one in Turn 7, but they spun me around and I had to let the whole pack go by. We were done then."