Labor Day weekend racing returns to the south as NASCAR prepares to drop the green flag Sunday in Atlanta- where the motto is “Real Racing. Real Fast.” No doubt about this, the track offers an entirely different type of race than their most recent stop at Bristol.
With Atlanta, you get triple the mileage from Bristol, loads of banking and plenty of running room. While there’s no telling what the race will look like, there will be plenty of drama as eight drivers vie for six spots in the “chase for the championship.”
TRACK FACTS
For NASCAR competition, Atlanta Motor Speedway debuted on July 31, 1960. The late, great Glenn “Fireball” Roberts won the Dixie 300 in a car owned by John Hines.
The track measures 1.54 miles. It started out at an mile and half, later re-measured to 1.52 miles in 1970, reconfigured to it’s present length in 1997- with backstretch the start-finish line. The track has 24 degrees banking in the corners and 5 degrees on the straightaways. The front stretch is 2,332 feet with the back stretch 1,800 feet.
Grandstand seating is 124,000 for the Hampton, Georgia track.
TOP PERFORMANCES
Kurt Busch unveiled the “unwind lap” victory celebration when he won the most recent at AMS last Spring. Last fall’s race was won by Carl Edwards, one of his nine victories for 2008.
Dale Earnhardt is the all-time leader in wins at AMS with 9. Among active drivers, Bobby Labonte leads with way with 6, Bill Elliott has 5, Jeff Gordon has taken the checkered flag on 4 occasions.
Ryan Newman is tied with Buddy Baker for the pole record in Atlanta with 7. In fact, Newman captured 6 pole awards in a row, sweeping 2003- 2005.
The fastest qualifying lap was run by Geoff Bodine in 28.074 seconds at a speed of 197.478 miles per hour on November 15, 1997.
Bobby Labonte ran the fastest race in a Joe Gibbs Pontiac on November 16, 1997 in 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 48 seconds. The speed? 159.904 miles per hour.
The record for lead changes is 45 on November 7, 1982. Bobby Allison was the winner. The Atlanta record for the fewest is 6, and that happened 3 times. The most recent in Fred Lorenzen’s June 30, 1963 victory.
On two occasions, only one caution flag fell. The most recent was on August 2, 1970. 11 is the record for the most, that happened three times, the most recent being the November 14, 1993 Hooters 500 won by Rusty Wallace.
A track record 41 drivers have finished the race here 3 times. The most recent being the March, 2008 won by Kyle Busch. In the 1964 running of the Atlanta 500, only 10 finished the race won by Fred Lorenzen.
WHERE TO SEE IT AND HEAR IT
The green flag flies Sunday, September 6, 2009 at 7:46 PM Eastern, 4:46 PM Pacific. NASCAR Countdown kicks off on ESPN at 7:00 PM Eastern, 4:00 PM Pacific.
Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree and Dr. Jerry Punch make the call from the booth for ESPN.Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch report from pit road. Allen Bestwick, Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty and Tim Brewer host from the studio.
SPEED also provides pre-race coverage starting at 5 PM Eastern, 2 PM Pacific. Jimmy Spencer, Kenny “The Hermanator” Wallace and John Roberts host.
Radio coverage is provided by Performance Radio Network and XM Sirius Satellite.
THE PICK TO WIN
The challenge in picking this race are the number of good picks to choose from. Over the past five seasons, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon have put up the best average finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Johnson is a tempting pick because even though his recent races have provided some struggles, the truth is his cars have been pretty darn good. The nature of the track requires a smart of approach, and you can’t much better than crew chief Chad Knaus for your brain trust. They’ll be hungry after watching their last couple of races get away. Tony Stewart is another driver looking to rebound with a pair of rough runs in his rear view mirror.
Roush Fenway’s Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth are another pair to look at.
Edwards is hungry for a win and I’ll say once again, he is in a position to let it all hang out a bit- though you have to wonder how that broken foot might affect him. Besides winning last fall, Edwards has two other wins at AMS.
Hanging on in 12th place, Matt Kenseth needs a good night. As I said a couple of days ago, I see a good night in store for Kenseth and the “Killer Bees.
Kenseth isn’t the only driver needing a good race. Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya all teeter precariously above NASCAR’s “Mendoza Line.” Kahne has to hope there’s no Bristol hangover, JPM needs to be thinking that he can get it going again and also overcome a less than stellar performance record at Atlanta. The good news for Montoya, 2009 has just been a different kind of year and his EGR cars have been pretty racy for the most part.
Kyle Busch is trying to break into the chase, and has “mighty mo” on his side at the moment after the Bristol win. You have to figure he and his brother Kurt are in the mix. A good dark horse is another “outside the chase” driver on the verge, Brian Vickers. He, too, has had muscular cars unloaded for him by Red Bull Racing.
Any of these drivers could be a contender, and if you wanted to go “outside the box”- there are signs of life being shown by Dale Earnhardt Jr. He’s also got this penchant for racing well where his father raced well.
This time around, I’m going with Carl Edwards. Broken foot or not, Cousin Carl will be a force to be reckoned with. Atlanta just not a place for points driving, and with nothing to lose, guys that are either safely in side the top 12 or guys with nothing to lose can let it all hang out. Given that, I would not be shocked by a Dale Jr. victory, while a Jimmie Johnson victory borders on a no-brainer.
Last spring’s race was dominated by Kurt Busch, who sits in a similar position to Edwards, so he may also look to dominate again and he certainly can. I’m just hoping that fans get treated to something more entertaining than a blow out, here’s hoping the double file re-starts help that on some level.
Happy racing, gang. Have an enjoyable and safe holiday weekend!
PHOTO CREDITS- Atlanta Motor Speedway Grandstands by Adam’s Shoebox. Visit flickr.com to see more. Edwards’ AMS car courtesy of Action Sports Photography.
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The $25.00 gift certificate I won from you on Aug. 25 was invalid….but thanks anyway
@Wendell. Let me get with you “off board.” If for nothing more than the principle of the matter, I want to find out from the NASCAR.com folks why that happened. I am sorry that happened and I want to straighten that out.