NISSAN MOTORSPORTS | INFINITI PRO SERIES : Rd.11 Sonoma 100

Marco Andretti couldn't let up during the Sonoma 100 at Infineon Raceway. He was being closely pursued by equally hungry drivers the entire 30 laps on the 2.26-mile, 12-turn natural-terrain circuit.

Andretti, who topped every practice session speed chart and started from the pole position, won his third consecutive Menards Infiniti Pro Series road-course event of the season with a 1.0456-second victory over Wade Cunningham. Jeff Simmons was 1.3909 seconds behind at the checkers.

From his No. 26 Vonage Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone making contact with the No. 3 Multimatic/Brian Stewart Racing car driven by front-row starter Bobby Wilson in Turn 2 of the first lap to locking the brakes entering the hard-braking Turn 11 hairpin attempting to pass a lap car, Andretti wasn't taking a leisurely Sunday drive in the Sonoma Valley wine region.

Cunningham was 0.5009 of a second behind with five laps remaining, but couldn't gain momentum in the passing zones on the track that was hosting its first major open-wheel series weekend since 1970. Simmons also remained in the hunt, waiting for a mistake or passing opportunity. Cunningham remained less than a second off the leader until the final turn of the white flag lap.

"We actually were battling brake problems three laps into the race because earlier in the weekend we were having problems getting temperature in the brakes, so we taped the ducts for the race," said Andretti, who said he will compete at Watkins Glen International in late September and possibly could race at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway oval in two weeks. "They were overheated by Lap 3. I knew it was going to be a long day. I was locking brakes in all the slow corners. That's where they were catching me.

"I was looking forward to using those Firestones in the faster corners where I didn't need brakes. I was trying to stay off them as much as possible. We got lucky."

Of course, Andretti's road-racing skills helped him avoid trouble. He led every lap in the race with one caution period (three laps for the spin of the No. 1 CELG-Sam Schmidt Motorsports car driven by Jaime Camara in Turn 3 on Lap 5).

Cunningham increased his lead in the championship race to 33 over Travis Gregg (378), who finished sixth. It was Cunningham's seventh runner-up finish in 11 races. One of these races, he'll record his first series victory.

"I was a little disappointed to come in second again," said Cunningham, who started fourth in the No. 33 Motorsport New Zealand car for Brian Stewart Racing. "It was my third time to be second to Marco on the road courses.

"It was a difficult day starting with our first corner when Bobby went off the track, and I followed him through the gravel. I lost a bunch of positions, but fought my way back up to second, got second on the restart. From there, I just had to follow Marco. He was too strong out of the slow corners today. I just had to make sure not to make any mistakes in the last couple of laps, with the lap traffic."

Simmons, who won the previous week at the 1-mile Pikes Peak International Raceway and posted his fifth consecutive top five, moved to fourth in the standings.

"There were some places where I was a little quicker and there were other places where I think Wade just had enough to keep far enough away where I couldn't really take any risks anywhere to try to pass," said Simmons, who started on the inside of Row 2 in the Team ISI car for Kenn Hardley Racing. "It was a good run, but still a little disappointing. We wanted to be on the top of the podium."

Nick Bussell finished fourth, with Chris Festa fifth.