Leading the Pole Championship Race

Carl had a pretty good car in practice, finishing the first practice in 4th and the second and final practice in 10th.  But he really shined (shone?) in qualifying.  He was second in the first round, then went one spot better in the second and final round, grabbing his 4th pole of the season and his 20th of his Cup career.  He swept the poles for the road courses this season and has more poles this season than any other driver.  If there was a championship handed out for pole positions, he would be in the lead!

With Carl starting on the pole combined with holding the best average finish of 8.4 at Watkins Glen, best of any active driver, this looked to be a good race for him.  He led for the first 25 laps, until green flag pit stops got underway.  That is when his luck changed.

One of the tire changers removed the front right tire and pushed it toward the wall to be caught by a crew member on the other side of the wall.  But the push was a little off kilter, so instead of the tire getting close enough to the wall to be grabbed, it wobbled in front of and around the 19 car.  So on lap 30, Carl had to do a drive through on pit road, the penalty for an uncontrolled tire, dropping him to 30th place. 

Between other drivers completing their green flag pit stops and Carl getting around slower cars, he got back up to 14th place by the time the caution flag came out on lap 47.  Rather than pitting, they chose to stay out, putting him up near the head of the field.  On lap 52, he restarted in 2nd.

 

The field had only barely restarted when a big wreck brought out the red flag, parking the cars for over 13 minutes.  Once the track was cleaned up and the cars were allowed to move again, the 19 team pitted for 4 tires and fuel.  With struggles to get fuel into the car, they ended up restarting in 23rd when the race went green again on lap 56. 

 

Once again the race had barely resumed when another wreck brought the caution flag back out.  This time we were involved, but fortunately the damage was not so bad that we had to go to the garage.  His crew got him fixed up and back on the track in 30th place for the restart on lap 59.

 

Again he gained ground, passing cars, maneuvering his Stanley Toyota up to 14th.  On lap 83, another wreck brought out the second red flag of the race.  When the track was cleaned up and the race resumed, Carl restarted in 14th.  He spent the remaining 15 laps ranging between 14th and 17th, finally crossing the finish line in 15th place.  He maintained the 3rd spot on the Chase grid and 5th in the drivers' standings.