Tactics at Watkins Glen frustrate drivers
Juan Montoya took his first victory of this season this Sunday at the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips in upstate New York at Watkins Glen.But Watkins Glen wasn’t kind to everyone; Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Danny Hamlin all finished far back in the ranks after falling victim to the hazardous track.
Biffle was favored for the race after winning for the first time this season last weekend at Pocono. He lead the practice rounds on Friday and qualified in an impressive seventh place on Saturday. But during a restart in the 65th lap, Biffle and Boris Said bumped each other going into turn one, forcing Biffle to pit for a check-up.
Upon returning to the race Biffle dropped to 25th place. He finished the race 24th, a disappointing finish for someone who came into the race with such momentum.
"It sucks when you have to drive with people with their heads in the wrong place," Biffle said referring to Said. "The guy [Said] is hanging on to the top 10, barely, and races this race once a year or whatever. He banzai's the corner three-wide in turn one because that is the only place he could make a pass on the restart. Anyone can do that. He just jammed it in there three-wide and Kevin [Harvick] was already turning in, I was already turning in. There was no place for it.”
With four more races remaining until the Chase beings, Biffle remains in 11th place in the standings. Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin’s position in the Chase are secure even though both encountered similar problems at Watkins Glen, and both finished outside of the top 25.
Johnson had been dealing with problems in his No.48 car since Lap 10 when his left-rear tire blew out. When he returned he had slipped from 10th place to 37th, and struggled for the rest of the day to regain his position.
Johnson, a four-time champion, had worked his way up to 18th place by the 70th lap when he was tapped by Jeff Burton in Turn 7, causing him to spin out and hit the wall.
"We just recovered from a flat tire that we had and worked our way up there into the top 10, finally. Then we had some contact from behind," Johnson said. “I'm really not sure what all took place.”
When Johnson started spinning out drivers were frantic to avoid a major crash, but Hamlin couldn’t steer clear as quickly as others had and plowed right into Johnson’s car.
Hamlin caused extensive damage to both his and Johnson’s when they collided. Hamlin was frustrated by the incident, which cost him a 37th place finish and Johnson a 28th.
Most of Hamlin’s frustration was directed to the other drivers whose tactics he believes were responsible for the collision, "It's so stupid. We were racing for 10th place, we weren't racing for a win. It's just lack of respect out there for each other and that's the way these races have gotten toward the end."
After Montoya, Kurt Busch took second place, with Marcos Ambrose in third, A.J. Allmendinger in fourth and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
Ambrose was fresh off a win Saturday night in the Nationwide Series, and had high hopes for the Sunday race. Ambrose and Montoya battled for the lead in the opening laps, with Ambrose slipping ahead. But in the final laps Montoya had a strong lead, and Ambrose was left fighting for second with Busch.
"I had nothing for Montoya there toward the end. Congratulations to him -- he drove a heck of a race. Just a lot of fun racing a guy with that much talent. He was swinging around the corners, jumping curbs, locking tires. It was just a really good battle, something I'll take away from this weekend as a memory I'll never forget."
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