This Week in Auto Racing March 6 - 8

This Week in Auto Racing March 6 - 8
Tue 3rd, March 2009

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - After two weeks on the West Coast, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns east to one of the fastest tracks on the circuit, Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Camping World Truck Series kicks off the Atlanta weekend.

Sprint Cup Series

Kobalt Tools 500 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA

Despite a winless streak that has now reached 44 races, Jeff Gordon is back in a familiar place - atop the point standings. Gordon captured the points lead after finishing sixth in the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also finished 13th at Daytona and second at California to help secure the position.

Gordon, a four-time Cup Series champion, has not been the top-ranked driver in the standings since the October 2007 race at Atlanta. He currently holds an 18-point advantage over Clint Bowyer.

Gordon made his series debut at Atlanta in November 1992, and since then has scored 81 victories, including four at Atlanta, second-best among active drivers.

"The entire No.24 team deserved a win last week (at Las Vegas)," Gordon said. "We had a great race car, but I just locked up the left front tire coming onto pit road and then it blew. It tore up the left front fender, but the team did a great job fixing it. We were fortunate to finish sixth with the damage.

"Man, it's so much fun going to the race track when you're running in the top- five each week and have a shot at the victory. I can't wait to get to Atlanta."

Bobby Labonte leads all active drivers with six wins at Atlanta.

Last weekend, Gordon recorded his 20,000th career lap led among the 17 laps he ran in front.

Matt Kenseth wasn't so fortunate in Las Vegas as the Roush Fenway Racing driver blew an engine on the seventh lap and ended up with a 43rd-place finish. After winning the first two races of the season, Kenseth dropped from first to third in points (-40).

After a late-season slump took him out of contention to win the 2008 Sprint Cup championship, Kyle Busch has stormed back with an impressive victory at Las Vegas. Busch won the pole but was forced to start in the back of the field due to an engine change. He patiently made his way through the field, and then took command when he passed Jeff Burton on lap 227.

Busch gave up the lead during a late round of stops, but grabbed it for the final time when he moved ahead of Clint Bowyer with 17 laps to go. He held off Bowyer and Burton in a three-lap shootout to the finish to capture his first victory at his hometrack.

Busch has moved up to sixth in points (-54) since he was involved in "the big one" at Daytona, which started his season with a 41st-place finish.

"We didn't let Daytona haunt us," Busch said. "We went to California and ran a smart race and finished third. We came (to Las Vegas) and ran a smart race and won. This could have been a 1-3-1 season thus far, but it is what it is. We're really looking forward to getting back to Atlanta this weekend and defending our race title."

One year ago, Busch led a race-high 173 laps in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta en route to his first of eight victories during the 2008 Sprint Cup season. He also gave Toyota its first-ever victory in Cup competition. In fact, it was the first win for a foreign manufacturer since Al Keller drove a Jaguar to Victory Lane in 1954 at Linden, NJ.

Richard Childress Racing is coming off a strong run at Las Vegas with Bowyer, Burton and Kevin Harvick finishing in the top-12. All three drivers also finished in the top-10 in last year's spring race at Atlanta.

Harvick began the season with a victory in the Budweiser Shootout and then finished second in the Daytona 500. His streak of running at the finish for a modern-era record 81 Sprint Cup races came to an end at California when engine failure sent him into the wall, ending his day prematurely with a 38th-place finish. Harvick rebounded in Las Vegas with a 12th-place run.

"We've obviously started off the year with running the Bud Shootout, ran great in the 500, had a decent week in California, and had a little problem there at the end," Harvick said. "We ran decent in Vegas. "I think winning is around the corner for us. Obviously we've done it already in the Shootout. I think we just got to keep the consistency level."

Harvick has not won a points race in Cup since the 2007 Daytona 500.

In only his third career start, Harvick recorded his first victory in March 2001 at Atlanta, beating Jeff Gordon to the checkered flag by just six one- thousandths of a second.

"Atlanta Motor Speedway is a special place for me to go back to every time just because that was the place of my first Cup win," he said.

AMS is starting its 50th season of hosting Sprint Cup Series races. Since there were three events at the track during the 1961 season, Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 will be the 100th Cup race there.

Camping World Truck Series

American Commercial Lines 200 - Atlanta Motor Speedway - Hampton, GA

Kyle Busch and Todd Bodine are off to an identical start from 2008, as they sit one-two in the point standings, respectively. With each driver recording a victory and a second-place finish after the first two races (Daytona and California), Busch holds a five-point advantage over Bodine as the Camping World Truck Series heads to Atlanta for the American Commercial Lines 200.

Busch, a three-time race winner at Atlanta, drives the No.51 Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports. He gave the team its 11th victory in the series two weeks ago at California.

Ballew, who resides in the Atlanta area, returns to his hometown track where he made his entrance into motor racing by fielding a car at the 1.54-mile venue in an ARCA Series event in 1996. Ballew started competing full-time in the Truck Series in 2002, and has since grown into a two-truck operation.

"I'm always excited about going back to Atlanta," Ballew said. "We've had some great finishes in both the No.15 and No.51 trucks, and of course Kyle winning in three of the four races he's run there for us. It's always nice to race at the hometown race track, but I think it adds some pressure as well, wanting to succeed."

Shane Sieg is behind the wheel of the No.15 Toyota for Ballew. Sieg is currently 15th in points.

Meanwhile, Bodine's team continues its sponsorship search in hopes of continuing their season efforts. Bodine won at Atlanta in 2006, holding off Mark Martin and Johnny Benson in a thrilling last-lap battle.

Busch and Kevin Harvick are those Sprint Cup regulars pulling double duty at Atlanta this weekend. Harvick will compete in a truck race at Atlanta for the first time, driving his No.2 Chevrolet. Ryan Newman, in his first career series start, drove the same truck to victory in last October's E-Z GO 200 at Atlanta.

Ricky Carmichael, a newcomer to the series, is driving Harvick's No.4 Chevrolet in a majority of truck events this year.

"He wasn't actually scheduled to race in Atlanta this week, but we're going go ahead and race him," Harvick said. "I was scheduled to run the (No.4), and we're going to move that to the (No.2) truck, let him keep going."

After finishing eighth at California, Carmichael sits 14th in points.

Rick Crawford plans to celebrate a career milestone this weekend as he is expected to make his 300th start in the series. Crawford has spent all of 13 seasons with the same team, Circle Bar Racing, and team owner, Tom Mitchell. The team made its 300th start at California.

"I think about our first start at Walt Disney World," Crawford said. "We were there on a wing and a prayer. One truck, one motor, and our All Pro Late Model team was my crew. It's hard to believe we've been here ever since."

Crawford currently holds the series record for most starts with 299, followed by Jack Sprague (297), Terry Cook (292), Dennis Setzer (269) and Ron Hornaday Jr. (227).

Crawford, a Mobile, AL-native, has collected five wins, five poles and 150 top-10 finishes so far. He finished a career-best second in points in 2002.

"The perfect ending to start 300 would be to deliver another trophy to the Circle Bar Truck Corral in Ozona, TX," he said.