NOTEBOOK

NOTEBOOK

NASCAR

Knaus, Letarte return: The return to the racetrack by Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte after six-week suspensions had mixed results. They were suspended by NASCAR for technical violations discovered on their cars before the race in June at Sonoma, Calif. Jimmie Johnson, the reigning series champion who has worked with Knaus for his entire NASCAR Nextel Cup career, had a solid third-place finish, while four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon ran in the top five most of the day before late problems relegated him to 27th. “We’ve been here so long, it’s felt like it’s been two race weekends since Chad came back,” Johnson said, referring to the two days of rain that postponed the 3M Performance 400 until Tuesday. “I could say when the weekend started six days ago it was nice to hear him back on the radio. With Chad or without him, we have a great race team. We’re able to put up the great finishes and it was great having him on the box today.” Letarte’s return to Gordon’s No. 24 team wasn’t quite a successful. Gordon was obviously disappointed after going through a long pit stop to secure a flap along the edge of his rear window and then he spin into the infield and lost a lap by getting stuck in the mud after nearly getting run over by Matt Kenseth. “I don’t know, we might have had a tire going down,” Gordon said. “I’m not sure what was going on. But it was certainly good having Steve back, and we’ll just keep going after wins heading toward the Chase [for the championship].”

Rookie mistake: The first accident of the race involved rookies Juan Pablo Montoya and Chad McCumbee, Joe Nemechek and Dave Blaney. It began when Montoya got underneath Blaney, lost control and skidded sideways without hitting the wall. A week ago, at Watkins Glen, Montoya crashed and then had a brief physical confrontation with Kevin Harvick, who blamed Montoya for the incident. After Tuesday’s accident, the unforgiving Harvick said on his radio, “Hopefully, it’s bad enough [Montoya] can’t go back out. What a damn idiot move. It’s not a matter of if he’s going to wreck, it’s just a matter of when he’s going to wreck.”

Associated Press