NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
Edwards Out Front And On A Roll:Carl Edwards has won two straight NASCAR Sprint Cup races and as a result, leads the series’ point standings. Victories the last two weeks at Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway have returned Roush Fenway Racing to the top of the standings.The NASCAR Nationwide Series champion looks to continue his roll this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In 2005 he swept the season’s two AMS events, with the spring victory his first in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Competitive Balance Reflected By Early-Season Point Leaders Edwards’ leading of the points marks the third consecutive week that a driver has led the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings for the first time. Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman was a first-time points leader coming out the season-opener, as was Kyle Busch coming out of the Auto Club 500 in Week 2. Earnhardt Rides Runner-up Finish Into Standings’ Top 12:Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s impressive runner-up effort at Las Vegas has pushed him into this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top 12. Earnhardt, in his first year with Hendrick Motorsports, is 10th and starting to look like a contender once again.It’s been awhile. The last time Earnhardt was in the standings’ top 10 was the final week of 2006, when he finished the year fifth in points. The highest he got last year was 11th. Speaking of Comebacks…A resurgence is currently taking place for four other drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top 10: Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Elliott Sadler. All four have made Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup appearances in their career, and all four were afterthoughts in 2007. · Kahne, after a rough 2007, is the only driver to earn three top 10s in this season’s first three races. He made the Chase in 2006 after winning a series-high six races, but earned one top-five all last season. With a new sponsor and a renewed outlook, Kahne now sits fourth in the series standings.· Newman broke an 81-race winless drought with his win at the Daytona 500, and now sits in third-place in the series standings. The last time he ranked in the top 10 in points was after the second race in the 2006 season (seventh). Newman made the first two Chases — in 2004 and 2005.· Greg Biffle finished second in the final standings in 2005, and it’s been all downhill since. He failed to crack the top 12 in points last year and in 2006 only got as high as ninth. After a third-place finish at Las Vegas, he’s now in sixth.Sadler made the first Chase in 2004, and has since switched teams and finished outside the top 20 in both 2006 and 2007. A surprise sixth-place finish at Daytona and another top-15 at Vegas has Sadler in ninth place in the series standings. NASCAR’S 60th Anniversary Season Comes To History-Rich AtlantaThis season marks NASCAR’s 60th anniversary and during the sport’s first 60 years, Atlanta Motor Speedway has been a crucial historical contributor. For a number of years, Atlanta hosted the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finale, such as in 1992 – Richard Petty’s final race in the series, Jeff Gordon’s first and a dramatic championship triumph by underdog driver/owner Alan Kulwicki.Atlanta Motor Speedway has been on the schedule since 1960 and has a history of bringing out the best in the best – 61 of the track’s 97 NASCAR Sprint Cup races have been won by series champions.
Close Finishes The Norm at AMS Three of the top 10 closest finishes since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993 have come at Atlanta Motor Speedway:· Dale Earnhardt finished 0.010 second ahead of Bobby Labonte in the fifth-closest race on March 12, 2000. · Kevin Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by 0.006 second on March 11, 2001, in the fourth-closest finish. · Carl Edwards beat Jimmie Johnson by 0.028 second on March 20, 2005, in the 12th-closest finish (tied with Texas April 2004). Local Flavor Large Part of Atlanta Weekend A number of Georgia – and Atlanta-area – natives are at work in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series garages:
- Chip Wile, Bill Davis Racing PR – Atlanta, went to UGA
- Paul Caven, jack man on the No. 45 – Summerville
- Jacob Norman, front tire changer on the No. 45 – Marietta
- Jason Jones, rear tire carrier on the No. 5 – Rhine
- Chris Golder, shock specialist on the No. 88 – Alpharetta
- Kyle Lewis, rear tire changer on the No. 26 – Marietta
- Dwayne Moore, rear tire carrier on the No. 01 – Hampton
- Adam North, jack man on the No. 31 – Sonaraville
- Andy Lally, No. 7 NCTS driver – Longtime Dacula resident (Originally from Northport, N.Y.). Spent considerable time in Dacula while competing in Grand Am series.
- Shane Sieg, No. 07 NCTS driver – Tucker
- Billy Ballew, owner No. 51 NCTS team – Blairsville
- Kevin Gravitte, jack man for the No. 13 NCTS team – Conyers
- Note: Graduated from Mount Vernon Christian School and helped win state basketball titles his junior and senior years. Henry County’s basketball athlete of the year his senior season.
Home-Grown Drivers:David Ragan (Unadilla) won the 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and is one of four drivers competing full time in the NNS and in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Reed Sorenson (Peachtree City) spent two full seasons in the NASCAR Nationwide Series before moving to the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He’s always pointed to a win at this track as a career highlight. NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES Coleman’s Big Climb:Brad Coleman’s ninth-place finish at Las Vegas was his best of the young season and also propelled him into 10th place in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, the first time in his short 22-race career he’s been ranked in the top 10. Coleman, who turned 20 on Feb. 26, is in his first full-time season after moving from Joe Gibbs Racing to Baker Curb Racing. Burton Chasing Three-Peat:Jeff Burton, he of the 27 wins and 282 starts in his NASCAR Nationwide Series career, goes for his third consecutive victory at Atlanta this weekend. Burton would be the first driver to win three in a row at Atlanta. He’s already won three straight when he did so at Darlington from 2001-02. He and Scott Wimmer claimed the 2007 NASCAR Nationwide Series owner championship in the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
All Eyes On Kyle Busch: Kyle Busch will pilot the No. 51 Toyota again for Atlanta businessman Billy Ballew. Busch is the only driver expected to compete in the trucks, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch, winner of the 2005 and 2007 fall races at Atlanta, looks to start a winning streak this weekend and stay atop the drivers’ point standings. Top Winners:The five drivers with the most victories in the series’ five most recent seasons (2004—2008) will compete in the American Commercial Lines 200. Of those drivers, all but Johnny Benson have won an Atlanta race during that span. NCTS Top Five Winners:Todd Bodine 13Johnny Benson 9Mike Skinner 8Ron Hornaday Jr. 7Kyle Busch 7 Competitive Track:Atlanta Motor Speedway holds the record for the closest finish on a superspeedway. Ron Hornaday, Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) edged Bobby Labonte in March 2005 by .008 second to take the win. On the flip side, Hornaday finished second to Kyle Busch last October by a margin of .971 second—the widest margin in the track’s seven series races. The race’s final lead change has taken place with 12 or fewer laps to go in all seven races held in Atlanta. There were last lap passes for the win on two occasions: Bobby Hamilton and Mike Skinner (2004) and Kyle Busch and Jack Sprague (fall 2005). Speed On Track:F1 driver Scott Speed is slated to race for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports at Atlanta and Martinsville. Speed made his stock car debut in the ARCA series with a seventh-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway last October. Speed will drive the No. 46 Chevrolet. Scott is not the first Speed in NASCAR. Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Lake Speed (no relation) made his mark in the sport with 402 series starts (1980-1998) and one win at Darlington in 1988.
March 4th, 2008 | Category: 1-Sprint Cup Series, 2-Nationwide Series, 3-Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR
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