NASCAR Wrecks: What To Watch For In Atlanta
By Greg Engle-Cup Scene Daily
The storylines for Atlanta:
-Will anyone have anything for Jimmie Johnson? Johnson has the strongest start to a season since Cale Yarbrough in 1977.
-Will Tony Stewart find the elusive decent finish that he’s struggled to score this season? The defending champ sits 19th in points and if he doesn’t score a decent finish soon and improve his points position the hole he’s fallen into may become a chasm he can’t climb out of. In 2005, eight of the top ten drivers in points after Las Vegas made the Chase for the Championship.
-Will the struggling Dodge teams score well here, or was Kasey Kahne’s fourth place finish last week at Vegas a fluke?
-If African-American driver Bill Lester makes the race, will he be competitive and if not how will fans react? Lester is a talented, deserving driver; hopefully if he makes the race but winds up not finishing well, some won’t label him as a ‘token’ driver.
-Can Carl Edwards defend his title here, the track where he scored his first ever Nextel Cup series win beating Johnson by mere inches?
-Will the race finish under a green-white-checkered flag? All three races so far this season have ended that way.
Here are your drivers to watch this week at Atlanta:
Jeff Gordon scored a fifth place finish last week at Vegas and that was actually a bigger story than was portrayed in the media.
Gordon has improved his finishes in each race; he ran 13th at the Auto Club 500 after finishing just 26th at Daytona and is now ninth in the standings with 374 points. That’s the first time Gordon has been in the top 10 since Bristol last August, ending a 14-race absence, the longest of his career.
This slow improvement for Gordon may be an ominous sign for the rest of the teams. He and his Hendrick Motorsports team may be putting themselves in position for Gordon’s elusive fifth title.
Gordon’s upward mobility has a pretty good chance of continuing this weekend here at Atlanta, a track where he has enjoyed tremendous success, capturing four checkered flags and 11 top-five finishes in 27 races.
Gordon says even now in his14th Cup season after winning four championships and 73 races he’s still learning. When he failed to make the 2005 Chase, Gordon and his team participated in several late-season tests. The tests included Atlanta, where he scored a second-place finish here the last time the series paid a visit in October.
That finish late last year helped provide a much-needed spark for the 2006 season and may give Gordon a shot at his ‘Drive For Five.’
Jimmie Johnson: there’s no one hotter than Gordon’s teammate. Johnson has dominated the Nextel circuit so far, racking up two victories and a second-place finish over the first three races.
Johnson gambled making a move in the last turn of the final lap last Sunday to pass Matt Kenseth and win the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. That was his second victory in three races to go along with a second-place finish at California. He leads Kenseth by 52 points in the standings.
Johnson will run his fourth consecutive race this week without suspended crew chief Chad Knaus and is confident heading to Atlanta:
"I'm looking forward to it. We're on a great roll here with another 1.5-mile track coming up. ... In general, we've had so much success at Atlanta that I'm not that worried about going to the track."
He has one win and five top-five finishes in the last nine races here and was runner-up to Edwards in this race last season.
Matt Kenseth will be looking to avenge his disappointing second-place finish at Las Vegas. Last Sunday he led for 146 laps and had the dominant car throughout the race before watching Johnson snatch the victory on the last lap.
Kenseth can hold his head high though, he captured the checkered flag at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on February 26 and is currently second in the standings, 52 points behind Johnson. One year ago Kenseth ranked 28th. Kenseth has led the most laps in Nextel Cup this young season with 214, 39 more than the 175 by teammate Greg Biffle
This isn’t Kenseth's best start to a season though. In 2003, after three races, Kenseth took over the top spot in the point standings and went on to win the championship.
Kenseth has competed in 12 races at Atlanta; scoring six top-10 finishes, but also has three DNFs (Did Not Finish) here. He finished 31st in this race one year ago and fifth there last October.
Kyle Busch finished third at Las Vegas last Sunday, his second straight top-10 finish. That finish wasn’t without a bit of controversy though after Busch tangled with Tony Stewart late in the event, raising Stewart’s ire.
Stewart led six times for 54 laps in last Sunday's race and with 40 laps to go, Stewart nudged his Chevrolet into Busch's rear bumper along the backstretch. Stewart later scraped the wall, most likely leading to a flat tire with nine laps to go and relegating him from a sure top-five finish to a dismal 21st place showing.
Stewart claimed that Busch held him up on an attempted pass and showed his displeasure with the young driver by gesturing out his window at him during a caution.
"With 80 laps to go, he's holding us up and we all have another pit stop to make," said Stewart, who is 19th in the standings, 236 points behind Johnson. "Work on your car and go on.
"There's just an etiquette. I'm frustrated with it and I honestly think I have every right to be. There's absolutely no reason to hold a driver up when there's 80 laps to go."
Busch said he didn’t know what he did to prompt Stewart's outburst.
"I guess we have to have one of our little chit-chats again," said Busch, who referred to Stewart's tendency to openly discuss his disagreements with other drivers. "But I had a blast out there. It was a lot of fun being able to race up front as we did and being able to race Tony the way that we did. It was clean, but I guess maybe I aggravated him in some sort of way."
The 20-year-old driver finished 10th in the Auto Club 500 and currently ranks sixth in the standings with 403 points, 137 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.
Busch has competed in just three races at Atlanta, posting his best finish of 12th in both races there in 2005 "Atlanta is the fastest race track on the circuit besides Daytona and Talladega," Busch said. "You can hit 210 (miles per hour) on the backstretch. I learned last year not to get into turn three too hot — I wrecked the car in qualifying. Our goal is to qualify well and be at the front throughout the race."
Carl Edwards hopes to rebound from a 26th-place finish at Las Vegas.
"It just didn't go as well as we planned," said a dejected Edwards. "We kind of had the wrong springs (on the car), I think, and struggled all day."
The popular Roush Racing driver ran third at the Auto Club 500 the week prior but was the first driver out of the Daytona 500 and ranks 23rd in the standings with just 284 points.
So Edwards must be happy to head to Atlanta this week. It was at this track a year ago that Edwards scored the first win of both his Busch Series and Cup career; that’s something no driver has ever done.
“I’m pretty excited about racing in Atlanta, to say the least,” he said. “Last year we had a great run and we hope to improve on that. Atlanta is a fast track with multiple grooves, which makes it easy to pass and a lot of fun.”
Greg Biffle finished eighth in last Sunday's UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 for his first top-10 finish of the season after capturing his second career Nextel pole Saturday. He jumped 13 places in the point standings, from 38th to 25th.
Biffle is trying to recover from a 42nd-place finish in Auto Club 500 on February 26, a race where he led 168 of first 215 laps before his engine expired.
He is 25th in the Nextel Cup standings with 269 points heading to Atlanta. Here he has scored four straight top-10 finishes, the best of all active drivers. In the spring race a year ago, Biffle led nine times for 151 laps before finishing third, his best finish at Atlanta
"Atlanta is one of the fastest tracks on the circuit and there's always good racing there,” Biffle said. “We're taking a car that is very similar to what we raced in Las Vegas and California. I think we've learned a few things these last couple of weeks that should help us out in Atlanta.
I've had a lot of success in Atlanta in the Busch series and we had two good runs there in the Cup car last season. We're looking for some solid top-five finishes and to make up some ground in the points during the next few weeks and I think we can definitely get it done."
Clint Bowyer has been the quiet rookie so far, although he’s making a lot of noise on the track. The Richard Childress Racing driver is seventh in the standings with 389 points after finishing 15th at Las Vegas on Sunday.
He leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with 35 points.
Bowyer started the year loudly with a sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500, his second career race on the Nextel circuit. He became just the eighth driver in NASCAR history to secure a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 in his rookie campaign.
This Sunday will mark his first Nextel Cup race at Atlanta and his fourth career start:
"Atlanta separates the men from the boys, that's for sure," said Bowyer, who has started two Busch races at Atlanta and had a best finish of 20th in 2004. "You've got to let it all hang out and go for broke. It's a very fast racetrack. The coolest thing about Atlanta is that it's fast, but it's not that one-groove fast, kind of like Texas. You can race there two- and three-wide."
Bowyer will be pulling double duty this weekend as he once again returns to the seat of RCR's No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet on Saturday in the Nicorette 300 NASCAR Busch Series race.
Kevin Harvick travels to Atlanta on the heels of an 11th place finish in Las Vegas.
Harvick ran in and out of the top-five for 202 of the 267 laps last weekend and was sitting in the third position with 30 laps to go before a tight racecar doomed his chances of a top-five finish. Nonetheless, Harvick was happy with his team's effort and looks to bring that success with them to another 1.5-mile track this weekend.
He’s also on firmly in control and on top of the Busch Series standings and will wear two hats, one as driver and the other as team owner as he pilots his own car in Saturday’s Busch Series race. This will make just his second start in a Kevin Harvick Incorporated car. Harvick’s first start was three weeks ago at California Speedway where he finished eighth.
“It was pretty cool being able to drive a KHI Chevrolet in the Busch Series a few weeks ago at California. I’m really proud of the hard work that the guys have put into all the teams and their efforts on and off the track. It was cool to able to driver for the team I own, and get to experience first-hand what we’re (KHI) putting on the track each week. ”
Harvick always travels to Atlanta with the poignant memories of his first ever Nextel Cup win. In just his third race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by mere inches to win at AMS in March of 2001.
One of the most memorable wins in the history of NASCAR, the victory brought a small amount of joy to a grieving Richard Childress Racing organization, following the passing of legendary driver Dale Earnhardt. Harvick continued his success at AMS in the fall event of that year finishing third and solidifying the No. 29 team as a force to be reckoned with at the 1.5-mile track.
"I remember how emotional it was for everyone, including myself, and RCR,” Harvick said. “It almost felt like a dream. I think that race was very important to the beginning of the healing process that still goes on to this day."
Dale Earnhardt Junior was on the brink of a top-15 finish at Vegas last week when he was assessed a pit-road speeding penalty during the caution flag before the green-white-checkered flag finish. That led to a 27th-place finish, which dropped him out of the top 10 in the point standings, although only four points out. "This one stings," said Earnhardt. "I am not sure what to even say or think."
Earnhardt is still convinced that his team is a much better one than the one he had in 2005. "We've gained a lot of ground," says Earnhardt. "This is the best opportunity I've had as a driver when it comes to driving good equipment and having a team that's really capable from top to bottom."
This week Earnhardt heads to the track where he has finished seventh or better in seven of the last nine races at Atlanta, including a win in 2004. He has led in nine of his 13 career races there for a total of 474 laps.
“Atlanta is a track me and Tony (Eury) Jr. have always ran great at. I think he’s the best guy at Atlanta as a crew chief. We always go in feeling like we’ve got something to work with and a good chance to win. His cars are fast. The last time we were there we led the most laps and hung around the top-five the entire day. That felt good.”
Mark Martin ran sixth last week at Las Vegas to follow a ninth-place finish at the Auto Club 500. The veteran driver has placed in the top 12 in each of the first three races this season and is currently fifth in the standings with 430 points. Martin will be retiring from full-time Nextel Cup competition this year and hopes to go out with a bang; those stats at this point in the season show he may be gearing up to do just that.
"Our car at Las Vegas was really awesome and it was probably the best car that I've had in a long time," Martin said. "I'm very pleased with the way that we have run in all of the races this year, and if we can keep up that level of performance we are going to be in really good shape this season."
Martin has shined at this track, capturing two checkered flags and registering 12 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s; He finished fourth in this race one year ago and third there last October. His average Atlanta finish is 16.05. Martin has competed in 40 races at Atlanta, scoring two victories (November 1991 and 1994) and 20 top-10 finishes, the most among active full-time drivers here.
He will have another chance to add to his Atlanta accolades when he starts his first Craftsman Truck Series race here this Friday night as well. By the way, Martin, a ‘rookie’ in the series has won both truck races he’s competed in so far this year.
“We’ve had a blast in the truck this season and it’s going to be a lot of fun to get out there in the No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150 at Atlanta,” added Martin. “We’ve really set the bar there and you have to realize that we can’t win every race. There is really some great competition in that series, but we are sure going to try and make it three in a row.”
Others:
Kasey Kahne has competed in four races at Atlanta; scoring top-five finishes in his first three events. Casey Mears, who ranked 15th in the point standings at this time last year, joins Jimmie Johnson as the only drivers to start the season with top-10 finishes in each of the first three races.
Jeff Burton is making his first appearance in the top 10 in points since Pocono in July 2003, ending a 90-race absence. He ranked 21st in the standings at this point one year ago. Burton has competed in 23 races at Atlanta, scoring 10 top-10 finishes. He finished 15th in this race one year ago and eighth there last October.
Ryan Newman has won six straight poles at Atlanta. However, his best finish in that remarkable string has been fifth. In fact, Newman has only two top-10 finishes in those six races. Nevertheless, Newman calls Atlanta "one of my favorite places to race, just because it's so fast."
Tony Stewart has finished outside the top 10 only once in the last nine races at Atlanta. Included in this streak were four straight top-five finishes topped by his victory in the spring of 2002. Stewart, the defending Nextel Cup champion, needs another top-five run to get back in the hunt for the 2006 title.
Jamie McMurray has two top-10 finishes in the last three races at Atlanta and like Stewart needs another top-10 run to get back in the hunt for a spot in the Chase.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
The storylines for Atlanta:
-Will anyone have anything for Jimmie Johnson? Johnson has the strongest start to a season since Cale Yarbrough in 1977.
-Will Tony Stewart find the elusive decent finish that he’s struggled to score this season? The defending champ sits 19th in points and if he doesn’t score a decent finish soon and improve his points position the hole he’s fallen into may become a chasm he can’t climb out of. In 2005, eight of the top ten drivers in points after Las Vegas made the Chase for the Championship.
-Will the struggling Dodge teams score well here, or was Kasey Kahne’s fourth place finish last week at Vegas a fluke?
-If African-American driver Bill Lester makes the race, will he be competitive and if not how will fans react? Lester is a talented, deserving driver; hopefully if he makes the race but winds up not finishing well, some won’t label him as a ‘token’ driver.
-Can Carl Edwards defend his title here, the track where he scored his first ever Nextel Cup series win beating Johnson by mere inches?
-Will the race finish under a green-white-checkered flag? All three races so far this season have ended that way.
Here are your drivers to watch this week at Atlanta:
Jeff Gordon scored a fifth place finish last week at Vegas and that was actually a bigger story than was portrayed in the media.
Gordon has improved his finishes in each race; he ran 13th at the Auto Club 500 after finishing just 26th at Daytona and is now ninth in the standings with 374 points. That’s the first time Gordon has been in the top 10 since Bristol last August, ending a 14-race absence, the longest of his career.
This slow improvement for Gordon may be an ominous sign for the rest of the teams. He and his Hendrick Motorsports team may be putting themselves in position for Gordon’s elusive fifth title.
Gordon’s upward mobility has a pretty good chance of continuing this weekend here at Atlanta, a track where he has enjoyed tremendous success, capturing four checkered flags and 11 top-five finishes in 27 races.
Gordon says even now in his14th Cup season after winning four championships and 73 races he’s still learning. When he failed to make the 2005 Chase, Gordon and his team participated in several late-season tests. The tests included Atlanta, where he scored a second-place finish here the last time the series paid a visit in October.
That finish late last year helped provide a much-needed spark for the 2006 season and may give Gordon a shot at his ‘Drive For Five.’
Jimmie Johnson: there’s no one hotter than Gordon’s teammate. Johnson has dominated the Nextel circuit so far, racking up two victories and a second-place finish over the first three races.
Johnson gambled making a move in the last turn of the final lap last Sunday to pass Matt Kenseth and win the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. That was his second victory in three races to go along with a second-place finish at California. He leads Kenseth by 52 points in the standings.
Johnson will run his fourth consecutive race this week without suspended crew chief Chad Knaus and is confident heading to Atlanta:
"I'm looking forward to it. We're on a great roll here with another 1.5-mile track coming up. ... In general, we've had so much success at Atlanta that I'm not that worried about going to the track."
He has one win and five top-five finishes in the last nine races here and was runner-up to Edwards in this race last season.
Matt Kenseth will be looking to avenge his disappointing second-place finish at Las Vegas. Last Sunday he led for 146 laps and had the dominant car throughout the race before watching Johnson snatch the victory on the last lap.
Kenseth can hold his head high though, he captured the checkered flag at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway on February 26 and is currently second in the standings, 52 points behind Johnson. One year ago Kenseth ranked 28th. Kenseth has led the most laps in Nextel Cup this young season with 214, 39 more than the 175 by teammate Greg Biffle
This isn’t Kenseth's best start to a season though. In 2003, after three races, Kenseth took over the top spot in the point standings and went on to win the championship.
Kenseth has competed in 12 races at Atlanta; scoring six top-10 finishes, but also has three DNFs (Did Not Finish) here. He finished 31st in this race one year ago and fifth there last October.
Kyle Busch finished third at Las Vegas last Sunday, his second straight top-10 finish. That finish wasn’t without a bit of controversy though after Busch tangled with Tony Stewart late in the event, raising Stewart’s ire.
Stewart led six times for 54 laps in last Sunday's race and with 40 laps to go, Stewart nudged his Chevrolet into Busch's rear bumper along the backstretch. Stewart later scraped the wall, most likely leading to a flat tire with nine laps to go and relegating him from a sure top-five finish to a dismal 21st place showing.
Stewart claimed that Busch held him up on an attempted pass and showed his displeasure with the young driver by gesturing out his window at him during a caution.
"With 80 laps to go, he's holding us up and we all have another pit stop to make," said Stewart, who is 19th in the standings, 236 points behind Johnson. "Work on your car and go on.
"There's just an etiquette. I'm frustrated with it and I honestly think I have every right to be. There's absolutely no reason to hold a driver up when there's 80 laps to go."
Busch said he didn’t know what he did to prompt Stewart's outburst.
"I guess we have to have one of our little chit-chats again," said Busch, who referred to Stewart's tendency to openly discuss his disagreements with other drivers. "But I had a blast out there. It was a lot of fun being able to race up front as we did and being able to race Tony the way that we did. It was clean, but I guess maybe I aggravated him in some sort of way."
The 20-year-old driver finished 10th in the Auto Club 500 and currently ranks sixth in the standings with 403 points, 137 behind leader Jimmie Johnson.
Busch has competed in just three races at Atlanta, posting his best finish of 12th in both races there in 2005 "Atlanta is the fastest race track on the circuit besides Daytona and Talladega," Busch said. "You can hit 210 (miles per hour) on the backstretch. I learned last year not to get into turn three too hot — I wrecked the car in qualifying. Our goal is to qualify well and be at the front throughout the race."
Carl Edwards hopes to rebound from a 26th-place finish at Las Vegas.
"It just didn't go as well as we planned," said a dejected Edwards. "We kind of had the wrong springs (on the car), I think, and struggled all day."
The popular Roush Racing driver ran third at the Auto Club 500 the week prior but was the first driver out of the Daytona 500 and ranks 23rd in the standings with just 284 points.
So Edwards must be happy to head to Atlanta this week. It was at this track a year ago that Edwards scored the first win of both his Busch Series and Cup career; that’s something no driver has ever done.
“I’m pretty excited about racing in Atlanta, to say the least,” he said. “Last year we had a great run and we hope to improve on that. Atlanta is a fast track with multiple grooves, which makes it easy to pass and a lot of fun.”
Greg Biffle finished eighth in last Sunday's UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 for his first top-10 finish of the season after capturing his second career Nextel pole Saturday. He jumped 13 places in the point standings, from 38th to 25th.
Biffle is trying to recover from a 42nd-place finish in Auto Club 500 on February 26, a race where he led 168 of first 215 laps before his engine expired.
He is 25th in the Nextel Cup standings with 269 points heading to Atlanta. Here he has scored four straight top-10 finishes, the best of all active drivers. In the spring race a year ago, Biffle led nine times for 151 laps before finishing third, his best finish at Atlanta
"Atlanta is one of the fastest tracks on the circuit and there's always good racing there,” Biffle said. “We're taking a car that is very similar to what we raced in Las Vegas and California. I think we've learned a few things these last couple of weeks that should help us out in Atlanta.
I've had a lot of success in Atlanta in the Busch series and we had two good runs there in the Cup car last season. We're looking for some solid top-five finishes and to make up some ground in the points during the next few weeks and I think we can definitely get it done."
Clint Bowyer has been the quiet rookie so far, although he’s making a lot of noise on the track. The Richard Childress Racing driver is seventh in the standings with 389 points after finishing 15th at Las Vegas on Sunday.
He leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with 35 points.
Bowyer started the year loudly with a sixth-place finish in the Daytona 500, his second career race on the Nextel circuit. He became just the eighth driver in NASCAR history to secure a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 in his rookie campaign.
This Sunday will mark his first Nextel Cup race at Atlanta and his fourth career start:
"Atlanta separates the men from the boys, that's for sure," said Bowyer, who has started two Busch races at Atlanta and had a best finish of 20th in 2004. "You've got to let it all hang out and go for broke. It's a very fast racetrack. The coolest thing about Atlanta is that it's fast, but it's not that one-groove fast, kind of like Texas. You can race there two- and three-wide."
Bowyer will be pulling double duty this weekend as he once again returns to the seat of RCR's No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet on Saturday in the Nicorette 300 NASCAR Busch Series race.
Kevin Harvick travels to Atlanta on the heels of an 11th place finish in Las Vegas.
Harvick ran in and out of the top-five for 202 of the 267 laps last weekend and was sitting in the third position with 30 laps to go before a tight racecar doomed his chances of a top-five finish. Nonetheless, Harvick was happy with his team's effort and looks to bring that success with them to another 1.5-mile track this weekend.
He’s also on firmly in control and on top of the Busch Series standings and will wear two hats, one as driver and the other as team owner as he pilots his own car in Saturday’s Busch Series race. This will make just his second start in a Kevin Harvick Incorporated car. Harvick’s first start was three weeks ago at California Speedway where he finished eighth.
“It was pretty cool being able to drive a KHI Chevrolet in the Busch Series a few weeks ago at California. I’m really proud of the hard work that the guys have put into all the teams and their efforts on and off the track. It was cool to able to driver for the team I own, and get to experience first-hand what we’re (KHI) putting on the track each week. ”
Harvick always travels to Atlanta with the poignant memories of his first ever Nextel Cup win. In just his third race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by mere inches to win at AMS in March of 2001.
One of the most memorable wins in the history of NASCAR, the victory brought a small amount of joy to a grieving Richard Childress Racing organization, following the passing of legendary driver Dale Earnhardt. Harvick continued his success at AMS in the fall event of that year finishing third and solidifying the No. 29 team as a force to be reckoned with at the 1.5-mile track.
"I remember how emotional it was for everyone, including myself, and RCR,” Harvick said. “It almost felt like a dream. I think that race was very important to the beginning of the healing process that still goes on to this day."
Dale Earnhardt Junior was on the brink of a top-15 finish at Vegas last week when he was assessed a pit-road speeding penalty during the caution flag before the green-white-checkered flag finish. That led to a 27th-place finish, which dropped him out of the top 10 in the point standings, although only four points out. "This one stings," said Earnhardt. "I am not sure what to even say or think."
Earnhardt is still convinced that his team is a much better one than the one he had in 2005. "We've gained a lot of ground," says Earnhardt. "This is the best opportunity I've had as a driver when it comes to driving good equipment and having a team that's really capable from top to bottom."
This week Earnhardt heads to the track where he has finished seventh or better in seven of the last nine races at Atlanta, including a win in 2004. He has led in nine of his 13 career races there for a total of 474 laps.
“Atlanta is a track me and Tony (Eury) Jr. have always ran great at. I think he’s the best guy at Atlanta as a crew chief. We always go in feeling like we’ve got something to work with and a good chance to win. His cars are fast. The last time we were there we led the most laps and hung around the top-five the entire day. That felt good.”
Mark Martin ran sixth last week at Las Vegas to follow a ninth-place finish at the Auto Club 500. The veteran driver has placed in the top 12 in each of the first three races this season and is currently fifth in the standings with 430 points. Martin will be retiring from full-time Nextel Cup competition this year and hopes to go out with a bang; those stats at this point in the season show he may be gearing up to do just that.
"Our car at Las Vegas was really awesome and it was probably the best car that I've had in a long time," Martin said. "I'm very pleased with the way that we have run in all of the races this year, and if we can keep up that level of performance we are going to be in really good shape this season."
Martin has shined at this track, capturing two checkered flags and registering 12 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s; He finished fourth in this race one year ago and third there last October. His average Atlanta finish is 16.05. Martin has competed in 40 races at Atlanta, scoring two victories (November 1991 and 1994) and 20 top-10 finishes, the most among active full-time drivers here.
He will have another chance to add to his Atlanta accolades when he starts his first Craftsman Truck Series race here this Friday night as well. By the way, Martin, a ‘rookie’ in the series has won both truck races he’s competed in so far this year.
“We’ve had a blast in the truck this season and it’s going to be a lot of fun to get out there in the No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150 at Atlanta,” added Martin. “We’ve really set the bar there and you have to realize that we can’t win every race. There is really some great competition in that series, but we are sure going to try and make it three in a row.”
Others:
Kasey Kahne has competed in four races at Atlanta; scoring top-five finishes in his first three events. Casey Mears, who ranked 15th in the point standings at this time last year, joins Jimmie Johnson as the only drivers to start the season with top-10 finishes in each of the first three races.
Jeff Burton is making his first appearance in the top 10 in points since Pocono in July 2003, ending a 90-race absence. He ranked 21st in the standings at this point one year ago. Burton has competed in 23 races at Atlanta, scoring 10 top-10 finishes. He finished 15th in this race one year ago and eighth there last October.
Ryan Newman has won six straight poles at Atlanta. However, his best finish in that remarkable string has been fifth. In fact, Newman has only two top-10 finishes in those six races. Nevertheless, Newman calls Atlanta "one of my favorite places to race, just because it's so fast."
Tony Stewart has finished outside the top 10 only once in the last nine races at Atlanta. Included in this streak were four straight top-five finishes topped by his victory in the spring of 2002. Stewart, the defending Nextel Cup champion, needs another top-five run to get back in the hunt for the 2006 title.
Jamie McMurray has two top-10 finishes in the last three races at Atlanta and like Stewart needs another top-10 run to get back in the hunt for a spot in the Chase.
Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com
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