By Bill Oursler

SONOMA, Calif. — On one side of Saturday’s Grand Am race was Scott Pruett desperately trying to hold onto his slim point lead. On the other were Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney, trying to snatch it away. And in the middle was David Donohue, equally desperate to score his first Daytona Prototype victory since 2003.
Two sons of driving greats from the past, Dan Gurney and Mark Donohue, went head to head as their fathers had on so many occasions. Pruett trailed, ready to pounce should the two front runners take each other out in the Armed Forces 250 at Infineon Raceway.
Gurney and Fogarty had come to Sonoma with six victories but still trailed Pruett by a few points with just the California affair and the mid-September Miller Motorsports Park finale remaining.
All of this led to the question of whether the Gainsco Pontiac Riley could garner a record-breaking seventh victory of the season to remain in the title chase.
The first hint of the answer came in qualifying when the team put its bright red prototype on the pole. The second hint came at the start when Fogarty immediately jumped into an impressive lead. But that lead turned into a deficit after the first round of pit stops, leaving Gurney in catch-up mode.
Out front was Donohue, who had taken over the Brumos Red Bull Porsche Riley from his partner, Darren Law. Still, everyone expected that after the next round of refueling, Gurney or Pruett, who teamed with Memo Rojas in the Chip Ganassi-owned Lexus Riley, would have the lead.
But Donohue took just two tires, while his rivals all opted for four — the gamble keeping him barely ahead of Gurney as the pair entered the final 60 minutes of competition.
While Gurney could put the nose of his Gainsco entry within inches of Donohue’s gearbox, he couldn’t find a way around. Even so, his reluctance to take chances was not only inspired by the fact that he needed to finish but also was tempered because in his rearview mirror was Pruett, who surely would claim the crown if Gurney wasn’t around to see the checkered flag.
But a full-course caution for an errant competitor who had left his car in a dangerous position after an unwanted off-course excursion, changed the game. On the restart with only two laps left, the field reached the top of the hill on the backside of the course. Pruett made his move, diving to the inside of Gurney, still pasted to Donohue’s tail section.
Gurney likewise dove to the inside to protect his position and in the process got by Donohue, something he might not have been able to accomplish had Pruett not forced him into making the move in the first place.
As Gurney put it, “If it weren’t for the full-course yellow, I would not have been able to pass David. He drove a great race.”
But Gurney did get past and held on to win, with Pruett taking third and Max Angelelli, co-driving with Memo Gidley, fourth in Wayne Taylor’s SunTrust Pontiac Riley. Rounding out the top five was Nic Jonsson and Ricardo Zonta (substituting for 18-year-old Colin Braun, who was serving a one-race suspension for his aggressive driving at Montreal and Watkins Glen) in the Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley.
As a result, Fogarty and Gurney found themselves in the championship lead by a single point over Pruett, with Angelelli just three back and the multi-hour finale still to go.