Kobalt Tools 500 Race Preview

Atlanta Motor Speedway -- 03/8/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Wednesday Mar 4 2009 9:52pm

This Sunday will be an auspicious one in Atlanta. It is the 50th Anniversary of Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the “Kobalt Tools 500” will be the 100th Cup race held here since the first one back in 1960 which was won by Fireball Roberts.

That’s a lot of statistics to sort through, so let’s start with active driver wins in Atlanta. Bobby Labonte leads all active drivers in the win category with six, his last coming in 2003. Labonte turned heads with a strong run at Las Vegas last weekend in his new 2009 ride with Hall of Fame Racing. Bill Elliott has five wins, Jeff Gordon, four, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards, three, and Mark Martin and Tony Stewart, two. Single race winners include Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch.

Atlanta will be the second 1.5-mile track in as many weeks for the Cup Series, and that might not be good news for teams hoping to challenge Kyle Busch for wins this year after he came from the rear of the field to win in Vegas last week. Busch won this race last year as well, giving Toyota its first win at the Cup level at that time.

Specifically, Atlanta is a 1.54-mile quad oval with 24 degrees of banking in the turns and 5 degrees on the straights. Kasey Kahne, who won the March race in 2006, describes Atlanta this way: “Atlanta is one of my favorite race tracks. It’s a fast track and it’s wide enough so there are multiple grooves for racing. I like the fact that it lets the driver figure out where the car is handling best. It makes it a little more challenging but it’s also a lot of fun. Your car may be good on the bottom early in the race, but as the track changes the car may work better up top. It's important to move around to make sure you are running the quickest line. A line that didn't work early may be the right line later in the race. Just because another driver is having success with one line doesn't mean the setup you have in your car will automatically produce the same kind of results.”

Tire wear was an issue here last year, particularly after Tony Stewart called out tire manufacture Goodyear, stating, `That was the most pathetic racing tire I've ever been on in my professional career.” For its part, Goodyear defended the tire and blamed much of the problem on the Car of Tomorrow.

Although most drivers list Atlanta as one of their favorite tracks, for the same reasons Kasey Kahne did above, the tire situation a concern on many minds. “The track is really old and there’s not a lot of grip and it’s real rough, so you’ve got to have a good balanced race car that’s comfortable and where you’re not taking a lot of risk and have a safe event,” said Jimmie Johnson, who swept here in 2007 and has three wins overall. “I think early in the race and early in the weekend we’ll see excessive tire wear until the track starts to rubber up. Hopefully, there are no big issues there.”

Johnson leads all drivers in the average finish category – the only driver in the single digits with a 9.1 in 15 starts. Along with his three wins, Johnson has five top 5s including three second-place finishes. Following Johnson in average finish are Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.

Those same five drivers make the list for most points accumulated over the last five races with the exception of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is supplanted by Matt Kenseth. Though Earnhardt had a string of six straight top 10s from 2001-2003, he’s only had one top 10 in his last four Atlanta starts, while Kenseth has five top 5s and six top 10s in the last seven Atlanta races.

Current odds for select drivers for the `Kobalt Tools 500` at Atlanta Motor Speedway:

Jimmie Johnson +500
Carl Edwards +500
Kyle Busch +500
Jeff Gordon +700
Greg Biffle +800
Matt Kenseth +800
Kurt Busch +1500
Tony Stewart +1800
Dale Earnhardt Jr. +2000
Mark Martin +2000
Kevin Harvick +3000

Of note: Race title sponsor Kobalt Tools is also a sponsor of Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 car.

Check back before the race for our practice and qualifying update.

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User	Comment
2nd Place	Looking back I don`t believe anyone would have picked Kurt Bush to win this race before seeing the ugly truth of the matter as it happened. It was pure luck in my opinion that allowed him to lead as he did.
FastTrack	I never expected Kurt Busch to win this race. I mean look at his odds as it was stand at this point and time. Not exactly sure what happened to Jimmie Johnson but he really did sucky in this race.
jamming	I had to come back and see if you had predicted anything great for Kurt Busch but you hadn`t. I didn`t find one person who thought he was going to take this race but he sure managed to do it. So far, this season has been surprising.
OGr8ty8	How exciting that at 50 years old that Mark Martin won the pole. This should have an effect on the betting odds. No matter the track surface issues and how that will effect the cars, I`m still putting my money on Dale Jr.
Cal	I think everyone on the east coast is going to be cheering for this on and you will hear the fan base all the way up the coast line. I know many people are excited and one friend was about to go but she broke her leg and shes very peeved about missing this one.
ryder_29	If the drivers are concerned with the tire issues, then the whole track in Atlanta Motor Speedway needs to be repaired. But then this isn`t necessary for the skilled Nascar drivers out there, it`s better to race in a rough track than drive in a road full of thumbtacks.
brownlee59	I`m a Kahne fan too. Last weeks race had way to many cautions for me. The week before was worse because of the rain. Tony Stewart will always find something or someone to blame when he doesn`t win.
RIRmama	I had completely forgotten that Kahne won this race a few years ago! I`d like see a race without a bunch of cautions. Keep those tire issues to a minimum please! Go Gordon!
brix12	I hope there would be no tire problems in the upcoming race in Atlanta Motor Speedway. Obviously Kasey Kahne doesn`t have a problem racing their since he stated that AMS is one of his favorite race tracks. I`m going to cheer on Jimmie Johnson, I admit that he`s a joy to watch.
OGr8ty8	I`m hoping that Tony has no reason to complain about tires this weekend. Even if there are track issues causing tire wear, I hope Tony, the driver, concentrates on winning the race and not on Goodyear`continuing, perceived tire woes.
NapaFave55	I`m cheering on Jimmie Johnson this week. He`s my pick because I think he`s got a lot of momentum after leading a good part of the race at Las Vegas. He has such focus and is a joy to watch. It doesn`t hurt that this race`s sponsor is also a sponsor of his car!
RaceFan88	Let`s hope that there are no tire issues that take away from the racing experience at Atlanta this weekend. Although the track is older adding to potential tire issues, I would suspect that the teams have acquired enough knowledge over the years to be able to adjust to those conditions.