Kobalt Tools 500 Race Review

Atlanta Motor Speedway -- 03/09/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Monday Mar 10 2008 12:49am

Simply put, Kyle Busch put the kibosh on the competition in the Kobalt Tools 500 Sunday.

The young racer led 173 of 325 laps - almost three times as many laps as the next closest car which was the No. 88 of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But Busch's string of accomplishments doesn't end there. He won Friday's Craftsman Truck race, his second straight in that series in just three races, and currently tops the CTS standings by 72 points over Todd Bodine. He dominated Saturday's Nationwide Series race, leading 153 of 195 laps before a broken shock put him in the wall, ending his day. Despite finishing a disappointing 24th, Busch is still third in NWS standings. He also leads the Cup series points by 73 over second-place Greg Biffle.

Busch's win at Atlanta Sunday adds even more accolades to the 22-year-old's already impressive list: He is now the youngest-ever winner in the Cup series at Atlanta, beating out Jeff Gordon, who was 23 when he won at Atlanta in 1995. And perhaps most notably, Busch will go down in the record books as the first driver ever to win a NASCAR Cup race in a Toyota, beating second-place finisher Tony Stewart, also in a Toyota, by over two seconds. Busch became the first-ever winner in a Car of Tomorrow race last season.

"For me to win the first race for Toyota was fun," said Busch. "You know, it was great. Congratulations to those guys. They deserve it. They've won in the Truck Series, they've won in the Nationwide Series, now finally in the Cup Series for them. It took them their fourth race I guess their second year. I'm sure they wanted it sooner, but glad I was able to do it for them." The race itself was relatively uneventful, with just eight cautions (there were 14 here last fall), and only four lead changes of any significance, not counting those accomplished through pit cycles. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who started from the outside pole, led the first 39 laps until he was passed by Kyle Busch. Busch led through most of the middle part of the race until Clint Bowyer overtook him on Lap 170. Kyle recaptured the lead briefly on Lap 224, but surrendered it after 16 laps to Carl Edwards, winner of the last two Cup races, who looked like he might have the car to beat at that point in the race. But it was not to be, as the No. 99 was black-flagged by NASCAR about 50 laps later when smoke and oil started pouring from the car.

"I don't know what happened, but the oil tank lid was on," said Edwards after the race, offering a little self-deprecating humor in reference to the loose lid on his oil reservoir tank, discovered in post-race inspection at Las Vegas, resulting in a 100-point penalty for the 99 team. Edwards started the week leading the points, but fell to 7th after the penalty was levied. His 42nd-place finish Sunday dropped him all the way to 17th in the standings, but he remains optimistic, stating, "I'm not worried a bit about the points. We're going out to haul a** every week and let the points take care of themselves."

Edwards' loss was Kyle Busch's gain in more ways than one. Busch not only retook the lead and held on for the win Sunday after the 99 car dropped out, he also assumed the points lead as a result of Edwards' points penalty. Drivers typically cite Atlanta as one of their favorite tracks to compete on, due in large measure to the extremely fast speeds and multi-groove racing surface. But Sunday's average speed was almost 12 miles per hour slower than the same race a year ago, as drivers fought extremely loose conditions and a hard right side tire that failed to grip the track. Despite finishing 2nd, 3rd and 5th respectively, series stars Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon all had harsh words for Goodyear Sunday, particularly Stewart, who again slammed the tire manufacturer in his post-race comments: "That was the most pathetic racing tire I've ever been on in my professional career. They exited out of Formula One, IRL, CART, World of Outlaws - and there's a reason for that. Goodyear can't build a tire that is worth a crap. It was ridiculous to have to race on a tire like this. Not at this level of racing. If they can't do anything better than that, they should just pull out of this sport and save us a bunch of headaches. I guarantee you Hoosier or Firestone or somebody can come in and do a better job than what they are doing right now."

Despite the tire controversy, there were relatively few major incidents in the race. Three Toyotas finished in the top 10, including Brian Vickers with an impressive 9th-place run joining Busch and Stewart. Roush-Fenway teammates Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished 4th and 8th respectively - particularly impressive for Kenseth, who qualified 38th but dropped to the rear of the field after changing a transmission Sunday morning.

Richard Childress's Chevy drivers had an excellent showing in Atlanta, with Clint Bowyer finishing 6th, Kevin Harvick 7th, and Jeff Burton 10th. Kurt Busch was the highest finishing Dodge driver in 11th. Jimmie Johnson, who won both Atlanta races as part of his 10-win season last year, again struggled with his car's handling Sunday as he did last week in Vegas. Johnson finished the race 13th and is also 13th in the standings.

This week the circuit heads to Bristol for the first short-track race of the 2008 season. Interestingly, NASCAR's two hottest drivers - Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards - were both race winners at Bristol last year.