A green-white-checker restart at the end of the Kobalt Tools 500 race in Atlanta proved to be won by Kurt Busch taking four fresh tires to motor past Carl Edwards in a race that he had dominated all day long in as high of a groove as could possible be run.
(photo by MotorSportsNews Net(work) photographer Steve Langley
Busch, Kurt Busch, that is, ran the high grove a little too high when he said at the press conference afterwards, ”I don’t know how many times I actually hit or scraped the wall, but I did hit really hard on two different occasions”.
“My car was loose all day but we just kept running the high line because we had better grip up there” Asked if he would have had enough gas to finish the race if it were not for the caution, he and his crew chief, Pat Tryson, both said with smiles on there faces, “sure we would have”. But in all actualities they would not have made it to the finish without running out of fuel.
Edwards only took two tires during the final pit stop which may have cost him the race. Even Jeff Gordon got around him on the last lap to finish second and Carl finishing third. Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers finished out the top five. Clint Bowyer, with a strong sixth place finish was steady all day but the one who was looking really strong was Kasey Kahne. He got back in the field at one time but quickly made it up through the field but ran out of time to get to the front.
Tony Stewart had another good finish in eighth. Jimmy Johnson, who battled with Jeff Gordon all day long made a fair showing in ninth, and Martin Truex Jr. had another great finish in the tenth spot. Twelve cars finished on the lead lap with some of them being caught in the pits when an early caution came out that they were not able to recover from.
Thirteen lead changes among eight different drivers but the one who out ran them all the entire day was Kurt Busch. When he got out in clean air, he was gone. He was asked if they had planned to run the top grove as they did Kurt replied “I went where the car wanted to go with the setup we had, we didn’t plan it that way, it was just the way it turned out.” But running the high line at Atlanta can have it’s down side, as Darrell Waltrip said, “it will wear you out physically and mentally, he must be in great shape to be able to do that all day long.”
There was eleven cautions for a total of fifty four laps, the worst one taking up seven laps off the scheduled 325 laps. Three for debris on the track and one for a tire that got away from a crew member, who tried to recover the tire in the infield grass.
Next up will be the Bristol race after a deserved week off for the race teams which have been from one end of the country to the other since the seasons start and it will be the fifth and final race that teams can rely on last years owners points. It may be interesting at the end of the Bristol race to which teams will be out of the top 35.
Busch has a good history at the Thunder Valley track and with his newfound success, momentum may be a factor to win yet again.
Hot ‘Lanta!!!!!