Bump-Drafts.com

(A Special Weekly Edition of bump-drafts prepared for NASCAR_Nation)

Up Next: The Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The green flag will drop at 2:25 p.m. Eastern, 11:25 a.m. for those of you in Rio Linda and points elsewhere in the Pacific time zone. Broadcast on FOX.

Track Trivia Atltanta Motor Speedway is 1.5 mile oval track with 24-degree banking in the turns. Geoff Bodine owns the fastest all-time qualifying speed on the “Peach Tree State” track at 197.478 m.p.h. back in 1997. Ryan Newman and Buddy Baker have the most
poles with 7 each. Greg Biffle was the last pole sitter here in October, 2007. Geoff Bodine ran the fastest qualifying time of 197.478 m.p.h. in 1997.

In 1997, Bobby Labonte set the race pace with an average speed of 159.904 m.p.h. in a Joe Gibbs Pontiac (the #18).

Labonte’s 6 AMS victories ar most among active drivers. Dale Earnhardt Sr. has the most victories overall at Atlanta with 9.

NASCAR racing began here in 1960, with Glenn “Fireball” Roberts clocking in the first victory.

Other Atlanta Trivia. One of the most famous races at A.M.S. occurred on March 11, 2001, when rookie Kevin Harvick went to Victory Lane, taking over the Mr. Goodwrench ride from Dale Earnhardt, who died on the final lap at Daytona just weeks earlier. It was an emotional win for mourners in Earnhardt Nation. Fittingly enough, Harvick just edged out Earnhardt’s last arch-rival, Jeff Gordon. The margin of victory? A mere .006 seconds.

“The Silver Fox”, David Pearson, famous for going easy on his car through much of the race so he could pounce at the end, won in Atlanta on September 17, 1961, having only led one lap! Once again, we’re reminded that the only lap where it really matters you lead is the final one. The November 7, 1982 event saw 45 lead changes- Bobby Allison took the checkered flag that day.

You won’t see this with the “new” car…..just 10 cars finished the first race in Atlanta in 1964. 41 finished the second race here in 2005.

Hopefully, we can expect fewer cautions this week…The track record for Atlanta in terms of cautions is 14 at the Fall, 2007 race. Twice Atlanta has had a race with just one caution flag- most recently in 1970.

The Craftsman Truck Series will run here Friday night, the Nationwide Series on Saturday afternoon.

What’s Up: The question right now is whether or not Carl Edwards can keep up his winning ways. During his great 2005 season, Cousin Carl swept the events here, just as Jimmie Johnson did last year.

You can be sure Johnson will look to rebound from his disappointing performance at Las Vegas last week. Johnson’s 14th place standing on the points chart is not a place he’s accustomed to being. We’ll also be looking for Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman to keep up their solid running, and I’m sure Tony Stewart will look to shake off the nasty crashes of last Sunday.

Atlanta is a fat track with the possibility of three lines to run. It will be pedal to the metal here with cars attempting to run wide open all day long.

NASCAR Speak Your chance to impress the uninitiated by dropping these terms.

“Main Switch Panel”- You ever wonder what that group of toggle switches were for to the left of the steering wheel? Those contain the switches for the starter, ignition, and cooling fans.

“Engine Guage Cluster”- While cluster may be a description of what happened in California, what we’re really talking about here is a group of gauges engine oil pressure, water temperature, oil temperature, voltage and fuel pressure.

“Master Switch”- This shuts down the electrical system in an emergency situation.

Special Thanks: There’s a lot that goes into making this little report happen. I want to thank Linda at NASCAR_Nation for providing the platform to share this post. It plays a big part in getting the word out. Thanks also to Kyle at FanZone for his role in making me a member of NASCAR media, opening up a world of up-to-date information for this and my radio gig. Thanks to people such as Linda, Kyle, Bob, and RevJim for the links, plus anybody else I don’t know about. Thanks to my friends at letsgoracingfans.com and NASCAR_Nation- two message boards I HIGHLY recommend for congregating with fellow NASCAR nuts.

Most of all, I want to thank my family- Lynnae, Hannah and Jonathan for their love and patience.

Thanks to God for all of this.

Enjoy the race.