Behind the Wall

One of my vivid memories of Thursday's Brumos Porsche 250 was seeing Scott Pruett and Alex Gurney battling side-by-side for the lead with 20 laps remaining in the race.

"Why couldn't this be the last lap?" I wondered.

From that point, the biggest question was what team would join that pair on the podium. Ruby Tuesday, AIM Autosport, Michael Shank Racing, Krohn Racing, SAMAX and Brumos all ran in the top three down the stretch, challenged by Doran Racing, Rum Bum Racing, Southard Motorsports and Cheever Racing.

With the laps winding town, and Ryan Dalziel running third, Peter Baron said in a PA interview that they were hoping to give co-driver Henri Zogaib a bottle of champagne in Gatorade Victory Lane for a birthday present. Then, Ricardo Zonta took third for Krohn, challenged by Brumos' Darren Law. On the final restart, I wonder what Zonta thought when he saw Law and Brumos teammate Joao Barbosa running side-by-side, battling for fourth.

But all of that was overshadowed by the finish.

On what proved to be the penultimate restart, Gurney was able to hold off Pruett to take the lead. The last lap restart proved to be different. Pruett made a "Hail Mary" move in the chicane and ran side-by-side with Gurney in the sprint to the checkered flag.

Sometimes you get what you wish for.

It also left me wondering, "Why can't we have that kind of finish for the Rolex 24?"