Hot off the hauler, leading more laps in one race than he did in 2008, Kurt Busch is the winner of the 2009 Kobalt Tools 500. The 4th race of the young season was a day of dominance for the car known as the “Blue Deuce”- it was a battle against and worn and warm Atlanta Motor Speedway track.
And the track often won.
The 2004 Nextel Cup champion seized the lead from pole-sitter Mark Martin on the re-start shortly after Reed Sorenson brought out the first caution of the race when he ran into trouble in Turn One. The elder Busch brother led 235 of a possible 330 laps on the day.
Bobby Labonte’s carriage shortly turned into a pumpkin, spinning out to bring out a second caution. The 2000 champion reported a re-current complaint heard from drivers all weekend long- he was “loose, loose, loose.” Labonte followed his 5th at Vegas with a 40th place performance in Atlanta- joining another Roush/Yates casualty Travis Kvapil in the garage. The former CTS champ finished 42nd with engine troubles.
Not all Fords struggled. By lap 32, Carl Edwards vaulted from 29th on the
starting grid to 6th. Edwards joined Busch and points leader Jeff Gordon as lap leaders on the day. Cousin Carl ended up 3rd on the day after he attempted to catch Busch on the final re-start. His ultimate 3rd place finish boosted the “99″ to 4th place in the standings.
Poor Jimmy Watts. I’m quite sure the Marcos Ambrose crew member thought he was doing a good deed when he chased down a stray tire headed for the track on lap 67. The move brought out a caution flag, and would ultimately put a number of drivers a lap down. A note to Jimmy: May I suggest the Witness Protection Program? His indiscretion has drawn quite a bit of fire from fans and drivers, giving him a place in sports lore alongside Steve Bartman (if you don’t know who he is, ask for local Cub fan).
Other than that, most of this race generated as much TV-watching
excitement as a congressional hearing on C-SPAN. Kyle Busch lamented a lack of grip throughout the day and wound up 18th. Sam Hornish blew a tire and collected Bill Elliott in the process, and Mark Martin- who had been running top 5 much of the day blew a right rear would end up 31st.
Later in the race, a wreck involving Greg Biffle and Scott Speed would bring out a caution and bring their race day to a premature end.
At this point- the #2 was getting a challenge from Brian Vickers. It looked like a tug of war with the “83″ appearing to close in on Busch and Busch pulling away to gain breathing room.
Just when it looked like fuel and tire strategy might come into play- an 11th caution was brought out by Robby Gordon to set the stage for a furious finish.
Vickers lost time in the pits with Edwards, Busch, Gordon Martin Truex and Kevin Harvick leading the race off pit road.
It would ultimately proved to be a battle for second between Edwards and Gordon. Kurt was able to pull away for his 19th career win. Busch was quick to thank his team to put him in a position for the victory, without a doubt the ride once occupied by Rusty Wallace was the class of the field.
Busch gets points for doing something different with his backwards victory lap.
Props also have to be given to Gordon for another brilliant run. Edwards effort was a definite improvement over last week, and how about Kevin Harvick? Happy was stealth- winding up 4th on the day. The upstart Brian Vickers finished 5th, and he was joined in the top 10 by Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex.
Truex gets my “Rocky Balboa Award” for racing the day after he passed a kidney stone. OUCH!
Other random thoughts……You’ll notice we didn’t see any crowd shots today. Care to guess why?…….David Reutimann had engine issues of his own, and he’s fallen to 12th in the points…. After 3 weeks of downforce tracks, it will be fortuitous for NASCAR to head for a battle at Bristol in 2 weeks.
PHOTO CREDITS- Busch by plstt. Gordon car by liontattoo. Bowyer by Infinity Fotos. To see more, visit flickr.com, or click on hte hyperlinks.
