2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 16 of 36 in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
|
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| Date | June 22, 2008 | ||
| Location | Infineon Raceway Sonoma, California | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.99 mi (3.2 km) |
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| Distance | 112 laps, 222.88 mi (358.69 km) | ||
| Average speed | 76.445 miles per hour (123.026 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Kasey Kahne | Richard Petty Motorsports | |
| Time | 1:17.40 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Laps | 78 | ||
| Winner | |||
| 18 |
Kyle Busch |
Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| U.S. Television | |||
| Network | Turner Network Television | ||
| Announcers | Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach, Jr. and Kyle Petty | ||
The 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 was the sixteenth race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and the first of two scheduled road course races on the 2008 schedule. The event was held on Sunday, June 22, 2008 at Infineon Raceway at Sears Point in Sonoma, California, televised on TNT starting at 3:30 PM US EDT, and broadcast on radio via Sirius Satellite Radio and Performance Racing Network starting at 4 PM US EDT.
Pre-Race News [edit]
- It was announced by Joe Gibbs Racing that 18-year-old Joey Logano, who won the Nationwide Series Meijer 300 at Kentucky Motor Speedway one week earlier will attempt to drive in several late-season Sprint Cup races. At 18 years, 21 days of age, Logano became the youngest NASCAR-sanctioned major series race winner surpassing Casey Atwood's age of 18 years, 313 days.
- The biannual rite of road course ringers replacing regular drivers happened as per custom this week at Infineon Raceway. Among this week's changes among those already locked into the Top 35, Scott Pruett replaceed Reed Sorenson in the #41 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge starting 28th and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. employed Canadian Ron Fellows in the #01 Chevrolet for Regan Smith, starting 22nd. Four drivers - Italian Max Papis, who drove the #66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet in the 28th slot for Scott Riggs, who transferred to the #70 ride this week, and failed to make the race; Brian Simo drove Front Row Motorsports' #34 car, which switched from Chevrolet to Ford for No Fear Racing, and started 43rd ("Shotgun on the field"); Aussie Marcos Ambrose in the #21 Wood Brothers Ford, who started seventh and Boris Said in the No Fear Racing #60 Ford who will started 14th - made the race in the knockout phase of the qualifying.
- Bill Davis Racing will have to look for a new sponsor for the #22 Toyota as Caterpillar will move to Richard Childress Racing's #31 ride of Jeff Burton as the replacement for AT&T, which will leave as per the agreement in 2007 when Sprint Nextel objected about then-Cingular Wireless was bought by AT&T. Meantime, Penske Racing will more than likely look for a new sponsor on the #12 Dodge of 2008 Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman after Alltel will be bought by Verizon Wireless in a merger.
- Kyle Busch will solely concentrate on trying to win the 2008 Sprint Cup championship, abandoning racing separate events in the Nationwide Series and the Craftsman Truck Series unless they are in conjunction with Sprint Cup events.
Qualifying [edit]
Kasey Kahne, who went out third in qualifying won the session, his second this season. Kahne, driver of the #9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Budweiser Dodge had bettered Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s time, and then sweated out 44 other attempts to sit on P-1. Jimmie Johnson started next to Kahne on the front row, with Kurt Busch and Bobby Labonte in the second row, followed by Jeff Gordon and Elliott Sadler in the third row.
Race recap [edit]
Kyle Busch came from the 30th starting position to win the race under a green-white-checker finish, the second furthest back in this race to win, bettering Juan Pablo Montoya's position one year earlier.
| Top Ten Finishers | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Car # | Driver | Make | Team | ||||
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||||
| 2 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Yates Racing | ||||
| 3 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | ||||
| 4 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing | ||||
| 5 | 5 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports | ||||
| 6 | 42 | J.P. Montoya | Dodge | Chip Ganassi Racing | ||||
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Newman | Dodge | Penske Racing | ||||
| 8 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | ||||
| 9 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Roush Fenway Racing | ||||
| 10 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||||
NOTE: Race extended two laps due to green-white checker finish.
Failed to Qualify: J.J. Yeley (#96), Scott Riggs (#70), Dario Franchitti (#40), Brandon Ash (#02)
