Perhaps, you could say, Saturday's practice sessions had more twists and turns than the 10-turn road course they happened on.An favorite, an underdog and a three-time champion were all involved in incidents that should have a good bit of effect on Sunday's 110-lapper at Infineon Raceway, and a rookie even got punted in the support race to accentuate a wild day.
All in a day's work, one would suppose.
Marcos Ambrose lost a motor, David Gilliland will head to a backup car, Jimmie Johnson got booted twice in the rear end by Ambrose and Joey Logano lost the Camping World Series West race after getting turned on the final lap while leading.
Ambrose, who was scheduled to start 3rd in his No. 47 Toyota after nearly winning the race as a part-time driver a year ago [he's full-time with JTG Daughtery Racing in 2009], first lost a motor during the first practice session of the day. Per NASCAR rules, he'll head to the back of the pack for the start of Sunday's race.
The problem was fitting for what Ambrose said in his post-qualifying interview on Friday at Infineon.
"It's very easy to get too anxious because your expectations are high, so for me, I expect the worse and when anything goes better than that it's marvelous," said Ambrose.
He'll certainly need a lot to go right on Sunday, and he should probably avoid running too close to Jimmie Johnson.
During the final practice after the team had replaced the engine, Ambrose was trying to get in some more laps on the car when he entered the final hairpin corner behind Jimmie Johnson. Johnson hit the brakes quicker than Ambrose, and Ambrose hit the rear of Johnson after the No. 48 slid his tires. Johnson then let off the gas, which was unexpected to Ambrose, and Ambrose plowed in the back in the No. 48 even harder.
Both cars suffered some damage, but neither appeared to need a backup car come Sunday. Ambrose apologized several times afterwards, while Johnson opted not to talk to the media.
Two other cars -- John Andretti and David Gilliland -- made heavy contact in an incident that you'll hardly ever see. Andretti was ahead of Gilliland coming off of pit road and slowed to a near stop to allow several cars at full speed on track to pass. Gilliland, meanwhile, was looking down at his switches to turn on tire blowers and brake fans in the road course car his TRG Motorsports team had just recently purchased.
The result was a wreck incredibly similar to something you'd see involving a distracted driver in rush hour traffic as Gilliland hammered the rear of Andretti's car. Gilliland had qualified 32nd, but the biggest problem was that he had crashed the team's only road course car to an unrepairable mess.
Later in the day, the team worked out a deal with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing to lease Martin Truex Jr.'s backup car for the race. The crashed car was also purchased from EGR, and the new backup will undoubtedly be better than the one the low budget team had brought -- a short track car.
"Our race car was really good, the best I have ever had for this race. That car was purchased from Earnhardt Ganassi so the one we will race should be relatively the same," said Gilliland. "The guys are working really hard to get the car ready and I will work just as hard on the track tomorrow to work my up through the field from back. I am ready to turn this into a positive."
To cap off the wild festivities during Sonoma's final practice day, Joey Logano also had a dose of bad luck during the Camping World West Series race at the track. While leading the last lap, Logano was punted from the lead and ended up 17th. The driver who wrecked him? Penalized.
