From the high desert to Hot-lanta NASCAR goes for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500. The high speeds and high banking should make for hot racing.
TRACK FACTS
For NASCAR competition, Atlanta Motor Speedway debuted on July 31, 1960. The late, great Glenn “Fireball” Roberts won the Dixie 300.
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 at AMS in March of 2009. Kasey Kahne was the winner in September.
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 two times, the most recent being last Macrh.
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.
When, Where, And What Time To Catch It
The conversation begins with SPEED, and their NASCAR Race Day pre-race show, at 10:00 am Eastern and 7:00 am Pacific. John Roberts, Kenny Wallace and Kyle Petty anchor the show.
FOX gets the pre-race show started at 12:00 pm Eastern, 9:00 am Pacific. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond opine from the Hollywood Hotel.
The race itself gets going at 1:16 pm Eastern, 10:16 am Pacific. Mike Joy, Larry Mc Reynolds and Darrell Waltrip make the call from the booth. Krista Voda, Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum and Steve Byrnes are your pit reporters.
Our Pick To Win It?
To me, it comes down to five guys. First of all, there’s the last driver to win here, Kasey Kahne. He turned it around in Vegas with a top ten and he needs to get going, and he knows it. He’s certainly capable, having two career wins at AMS.
How about Tony Stewart? Ol’ Smoke also has a pair of wins and 13 top tens in 22 career starts. With that Hendrick horsepower under the hood, he has to like his chances.
Jeff Gordon is due. Jeff Gordon has four career wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway, to go with 14 top fives and 23 top tens in 35 races. Has he really been around that long?
Dare I bring it up? Jimmie Johnson has won here thrice. He also has the best average finish among all active drivers. He can’t win three in a row THIS early in the season, can he? Uh…..yeah….
But I’m not going to go with those guys. I’m going to go with a driver who got his first career win in Atlanta, after he took over for a legendary driver who also got his first career win at AMS.
Not only does this driver have a good history at Atlanta, he comes in with momentum as the points leader for the season. Two races in a row, Jimmie Johnson has won. Two races in a row, Kevin Harvick has been in his mirror.
You see, Kevin Harvick won in Atlanta in just his third career start, taking over the ride once occupied by a driver who drove the number three. The man was Dale Earnhardt.
Harvick won in a side-by-side battle that day. This Sunday, history may repeat itself.
I’m going with Kevin Harvick.
{ 1 comment }
The race is now over and Kurt did it.Carl Edwards was parked and told to come to see BigDaddy in the trailer,as Larry Mac” said watch those hands thru the windshield,another wrecked car for this moron and a totaled car for Kid K…if I was Jack Roush I would call him into the office tomorrow and tell him he’s FIRED . This is uncalled for and he’s tore up a million dollars in equipment the last few years..talk about a Punk,Carl is a punk.
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