Napa’s Krider Racing team found itself on some unfamiliar ground recently — it wasn’t in the winner’s circle.

The weekend after NASCAR held its Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway, Krider Racing headed to Sonoma to compete during the next round of the United States Touring Car Championship.

After winning the last three races they entered, the boys of Krider Racing were feeling pretty good heading back to their home track of Infineon.

In preparation for the race, their 1991 Nissan Sentra engine was upgraded by Napa’s TEM Machine Shop and the exhaust was modified by Napa Valley Muffler.

“The car was working perfectly,” said Randy Krider, the team’s mechanic.

The one thing the Kriders hadn’t counted on was the surge in competition.

The team recently moved up in class to the Performance Touring E group, which pitted it against the nimble Mazda Miatas.

“I knew the class would consist of faster cars, but I wasn’t expecting them to be as fast as they were. We just flat got beat,” said driver Rob Krider, who piloted the car around the technical 12-turn track.

“The crazy part is, it has been so long since we lost a race, I didn’t really know what to do with myself when the event was over. Usually, I’m up on the podium standing next to the trophy girl. This week I was watching all of that from down below. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t like it.”

Krider Racing is going to take what it learned from the loss at Infineon and put it to good use for the next race.

“We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve for the next race,” said Rob Krider.

“Silver Auto Service and Miracle Auto Body keep this car running and looking good. Now it’s our job to get the car up front were it belongs.”