1. Evil genius
NASCAR has a new evil genius in crew chief Cole Pearn, who faked a pit-stop call that led Martin Truex Jr. to a runaway win at Sonoma. Its tough, Pearn said. Everybody is so good in this, it sometimes takes something different to mix it up and pull one out.
2. Pole slide
Kyle Larson started from the pole at Sonoma, led two laps and then vanished into the crowd over the 1.99-mile road course. The 25-year-old driver was slipping and sliding and finished 14th. After four straight top-10 finishes, Larsons average in his last two starts is 21st.
3. Brotherly love
At the end of Sundays race, Kurt Busch was trying to hold off younger brother Kyle for fifth-place honors. He failed. We were a top-five car and couldnt quite hold off my little brother at the end, sixth-place Kurt said. We battled I was hoping we could contend for a win.
Godwin Kelly, [email protected]
