Pep Boys Auto 500 Race Preview

Atlanta Motor Speedway -- 10/26/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Tuesday Oct 21 2008 7:43pm

It seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for Speedweeks 2008. Now, here we are with just four races left in the 2008 NASCAR season.

This week, the circuit heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway, known for its high speed, high banked, multi-groove nascar racing and dramatically close finishes.

NASCAR has been Cup nascar racing at Atlanta since 1960 with a total of 98 races now in the record book. It is an intermediate track, 1.54 miles in length, with 24 degrees of banking in the turns and 5 degrees on the straights.

`One of the most exciting things you’re going to see during the race is that top side of turn 4,` said driver-turned-broadcaster Rusty Wallace, a two-time Atlanta winner. `It seems like the guys that have been winning the races lately really get that momentum built off of turn 4. That turn, in my mind, has become one of the most exciting corners in all of motorsports because it seems that the guy who wins there always wins by inches. He’s running second going into turn 3 and when he comes off turn 4, he wins the race by just a little bit. Atlanta’s been able to create that excitement in that particular corner. Because of turn 4 really opening up due to the tri-oval, it gives you a lot more real estate and you’re in the gas. When you’re wide open in the center of turns 3 and 4, the corner doesn’t keep turning - it opens up and gives you more room to stay in the throttle, and because of that it creates so much more speed and so much momentum off of turn 4 and gives you those exciting finishes at the line.`

The Sprint Cup series last raced at Atlanta in March in just the fourth race of the season. Kyle Busch (+650) was the winner, leading 173 of 325 laps - almost three times as many laps as the next closest driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1200).

But tires were an issue last time we were here, with drivers combating extremely loose conditions and a hard right side tire that failed to grip the track. Despite finishing second in the race, Tony Stewart (+1050) described it at the time as `the most pathetic nascar racing tire I've ever been on in my professional career.`

No doubt Goodyear has been working on a better tire compound for the return trip to Atlanta. But, as we've seen at other tracks this year, the tire itself is not always the problem, as teams work to understand NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow in its first full year of competition.

Matt Kenseth's (+1200) crew chief Chip Bolin explains, `Since we raced (at) Atlanta in March, we’ve learned a lot about these cars. Unlike the old cars, we can't change anything on the body, so aerodynamically we're stuck with what we have. But certainly the areas that we are allowed to work on, we're trying to fine-tune to make better, and I think we're improving. This weekend we’re bringing a brand new car that we built applying a lot of the information we’ve gained over this last year. Hopefully, we’re a lot smarter now than we were a year ago and we’ll have a car that is capable of winning.”

Along with the tire issue in March, weather was also a concern with cold temperatures and even a bit of snow. Although the forecast for this Sunday is better, Friday is predicted to be cold again, with highs in the 50s and a 70% chance of rain. If Friday's qualifying gets rained out, it will be the 10th time in 33 races this year and will put none other than points leader Jimmie Johnson (+450) on the pole yet again.

Though Kyle Busch won here in March, Johnson had three victories in the previous seven races, including the sweep in 2007. Carl Edwards (+400) swept Atlanta in 2005, while Kasey Kahne (+1550) and Tony Stewart won a race a piece in 2006.

Bobby Labonte leads all Cup drivers with wins at Atlanta, though his last one was in 2003 with Joe Gibbs Racing. Bill Elliott has five wins, Jeff Gordon (+1350) has four, and Johnson, three.

Along with Carl Edwards, other two-time Atlanta winners are Mark Martin (+2500) and Tony Stewart, while single-race winners include Ken Schrader, Kevin Harvick (+2500), Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kurt and Kyle Busch.

Jimmie Johnson has the best average finish at Atlanta among active drivers, an 8.6 with three wins, eight top 5s and nine top 10s in 14 starts, though he finished 11th here in March.

Following Johnson in the average finish category are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards.

Looking at the points accumulated in the last five Atlanta starts, including bonus points, Johnson also dominates that category, followed by Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr. In fact, Johnson leads the points report here whether you narrow the data to just two races or expand it to ten.

The top five finishers at Atlanta in March were Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle (+800) and Jeff Gordon.

If qualifying is rained out on Friday, the Chase drivers will once again line up in order in the top 12, and a majority of them will likely finish there as well.

Other current betting nascar odds of note:

Brian Vickers +2000
Denny Hamlin +2000
Jeff Burton +2000
David Ragan +2500
Clint Bowyer +3500
Martin Truex Jr. +4000