Write Turn: Exciting road race? For once, the answer's yes

The wild road race at Infineon Raceway topped this week's issues on our readers' minds with Richard Petty's return to Victory Lane, a possible move by The King to Toyota and, yes, more Danica Patrick thoughts also submitted for discussion.

From: fghuit

You always say you hate NASCAR on road courses. Well after last week's race in Sonoma I hope you are eating your words. That was a great race and a true test of these drivers to have to turn left and right.

You're right about my view of stock car racing on a road course, and in fact, this is the first year I didn't schedule the family summer vacation on the weekend when Sonoma rolled around. I'm glad I did watch Sunday's race and agree it was one of the best of the entire season. If we could guarantee every road race would be like last Sunday's, I'd watch more intently.

From: Dick Moore

Aside from the double file restarts, why do you think things were so out of control last week in Sonoma. It seemed like there was a lot more aggressiveness on the track than I can remember in some time at a road race.

I agree, and after the race, the garage area looked like we'd just run 500 laps at Martinsville and not a road race. I think the urgency by many drivers to make a move in the point standings was one reason. Also others were trying to make a name for themselves with a good finish -- "Silly Season" for 2010 is already starting.

From: candi78

Was Kasey Kahne winning something we'll see more of and has Richard Petty Motorsports have a chance to be competitive as a whole in the future?

Kahne is on a bit of a roll, and really his team has been good since Darlington. They just didn't have the results to show for the effort until Sunday. Overall, though, I'm still not sure about the future of RPM. Until the team gets the manufacturer decision straightened out between Dodge and Toyota, it will be difficult. And outside of Kahne, since Daytona, Elliott Sadler, A.J. Allmendinger and Reed Sorenson have done absolutely nothing all year until the top 10s we saw last week.

From: bubble

Do you think there will be backlash from long time NASCAR fans if more foreign manufacturers come into the sport?

I think any true NASCAR fan would welcome a manufacturer who came into the sport and supported stock car racing, whether it be Honda or Volkswagen or whoever. There was much discussion about a similar situation when Toyota first entered the sport, and in reality, I think the overall response has been positive. I'd expect the same if another factory came in.

From: JJ

The Danica move to NASCAR storyline has got to be the most waste of news space in years. As I've said since forever, Danica is a good race car driver, but what she has going against her isn't talent but is instead experience with front engine race cars, e.g. sprint cars. Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, et al all drove sprint cars in their careers. Every winning ex-open wheeler save for Mears and Montoya have that going for them. Montoya is a great driver who can drive anything. Mears is OK and might win again if everything goes his way ... Danica would need to be in front-line equipment.

You make very good points, but in the end I still believe Patrick will remain in open wheel racing and sign with Ganassi. That may allow her to do a few Nationwide Series races for Chip, but I think her best move is to concentrate on winning the Indy 500 and the IRL championship.