The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will drop the green flag on 43 cars this Sunday at the fastest track on their schedule: the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Going into Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 there really isn’t that many pre race story lines to track. However, this track has a habit of creating its own stories during the course of one of its races and it’s certain the race will be entertaining on and off the speedway.
THE STORY BREAKDOWN
We’re already hearing, and will continue to hear all weekend long, lengthy commentary on which teams are rolling in the right direction and which teams need to realign their tires.
Yes, the three teams from Richard Childress Racing are looking extremely strong at this point in time. Drivers Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer are one-two in the current points standings with team mate Jeff Burton in seventh.
Yes, it appears to be true that Matt Kenseth has relocated “his vibe” since the arrival of new crew chief Todd Parrott and is currently ranked fourth in the points standings.
It also appears that drivers Joey Logano and David Reutimann have found some early season “mojo” and there’s already talk of them becoming first time Chase contenders.
At the opposite end of the points chart there is pre season championship favorite Denny Hamlin who appears to be languishing.
Juan Pablo Montoya is already uttering emotional concerns regarding his Chase chances.
The same goes for Kasey Kahne who is additionally the subject of rumors regarding whether or not he will stay with Richard Petty Motorsports when his contract runs out at the end of this year.
Kurt Busch remains optimistic but even his fans are getting a little worried.
If the Busch fans are getting worried then one has to think that the “Junior Nation” is having upper respiratory problems right now while watching Dale Earnhardt Jr slide from second to 15th in the standings within the last two weeks.
It’s simply way too early to be seriously scrutinizing the numbers associated with these teams. Two races into a NASCAR season is not an accurate barometer towards determining a Chase championship. It’s akin to a national news agency projecting the results of a presidential election with only two percent of the vote in.
After two races in the books Jimmie Johnson, and that #48 team, is looking like a five time champion. But that doesn’t mean he will be a five time champion by the time the season is over in November.
We all need to wait until the weekend of May 2nd in Richmond-Virginia. That’s race number ten on the Sprint Cup schedule. That’s when we’ll see a more accurate picture of which direction the tires are rolling in for these teams.
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For those of you who will be at the Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, and for those you watching all of the television coverage, you may notice some drastic changes on some of the paint schemes on your favorite driver’s cars. It may be a little confusing for you at first.
For example, Jeff Gordon’s #24 Chevrolet will be carrying the colors of The National Guard during the Atlanta weekend. This will be the first of eight races when the Guard will be on the hood of the car. If the theory of raw numbers equals momentum still means anything at all then it could turn out to be a good thing for Gordon fans. During the 2009 season the National Guard was on the #24 for eight races. During that group of races Gordon had an average finish of 4.375 including a win at Texas.
David Reutiman’s #00 Aarons dream machine Toyota will also have a different look this weekend with Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America displayed on the car. Aarons stores, which is headquartered in Atlanta, is going all out for this weekend’s race and will be honoring Mitsubishi as their 2009 vendor partner of the year.
Don’t be searching for the Aflac duck on Carl Edwards’ #99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford this weekend. The Edwards car will have Scotts as the primary sponsor on the hood complete with a special retro look from 2005 commemorating the driver’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup win which, coincidentally, was at Atlanta.
Mark Martin fans looking for the bright green and black colors of the Go Daddy Chevrolet will also have to look again. Martin’s #5 will instead carry the blue and black colors of Hendick Cars Dot Com an online used car dealership owned by his boss Rick Hendrick.
Just when Matt Kenseth fans were getting used to seeing the purple and gold Crown Royal paint scheme on his #17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford comes word that the car will carry the bright blue and white colors of Valvoline this weekend. The sponsorship for the Atlanta event is part of a three race deal.
Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle’s #16 Ford will also have a new look for the next three races and will have the U.S. Census Bureau on the hood. Yes, that’s the federal government’s official head counting agency.
Elliot Sadler’s #19 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford will be pizza flavored this weekend. Atlanta is the first of six races that will feature Hunt Brother’s Pizza on the hood of the car.
Finally, don’t look for that bright yellow Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet this weekend. Clint Bowyer’s #33 will be featuring the burgundy, white and gold colors of BB&T for the next three races.
It’s a sign of the times racing fans. In this economic age it takes multiple primary sponsors, with multiple color schemes, to run NASCAR’s 36 race schedule.
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THE VEGAS BREAKDOWN
Here’s a new flash from the Las Vegas based World Sports Exchange-WSE that won’t surprise anyone: Jimmie Johnson is on top of the favorites list to win Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta at 5 to 1 odds. It should also come as no surprise that his Hendrick Motorsports team mates, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin, are lined up behind him at 8 to 1 this week. Where’s that fourth Hendrick team mate you ask? Dale Earnhardt Jr is not getting very much love from the WSE this week. They rated him at 22 to 1 to pull off a win at Atlanta. Sorry about that Junior Nation.
At a very healthy 10 to 1 ranking we have drivers Kyle Busch and the seemingly red hot Kevin Harvick. At 12 to 1 odds is a quartet of drivers that includes Kurt Busch, the defending race champion, along with Tony Stewart and the other two Richard Childress Racing cars driven by Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.
Leading five drivers in the 15 to 1 group is Kasey Kahne who won the second Atlanta race last September. Joining him in this group are drivers Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya. A possible dark horse wager could turn out to be Matt Kenseth at 18 to 1.
It’s time once again for the weekly disclaimer. NASCAR wants to remind you that these numbers should be viewed as entertainment and they neither encourage or condone the placing of wagers on their races.
You would probably be better spending your NASCAR budget on something like “Digger” souvenirs so Fox Sports can squeeze the last dime out of that animated fat rat before the fans finally scream “enough already!”
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THE RACE BREAKDOWN
Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 is 325 laps, 500.5 miles, around the Atlanta Motor Speedway’s 1.54 mile quad oval. This race comes with a $4,948,689 purse.
The race has 46 entries vying for the 43 starting positions. Nine of those entries are on the go or go home list meaning they do not have an guaranteed starting berth because they are outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points. These nine teams will have to depend on their qualifying speeds, Friday afternoon, to make the race.
Traditionally, qualifying has played a big role in the outcome of an Atlanta race. Kurt Busch won last year’s race from the second starting position. Kasey Kanhe won the September 2009 race also from the second staring berth. Over the years 14 Atlanta races have been won from the pole position. 58 races have been won from within the first five starting berths.
When it comes to winning at Atlanta, Bobby Labonte leads the list among active drivers with six trips to victory lane there. Dale Earnhardt Sr leads the all time list with nine Atlanta wins and the “Intimidator” also leads the top five finish category with 26. Over the years Atlanta has smiled on the bow tie brigade. Chevrolet has 35 wins at the track. However, it’s the Ford products from the Wood Brothers who has the most team wins at Atlanta with 12.
The Atlanta Motor Speedway has played a significant role in the history of NASCAR. The first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held there in July of 1960 and was won by the legendary Fireball Roberts who started from the pole position. There has been 101 Cup races at Atlanta since that time.
In 1997 the track was reversed and reconfigured to its present 1.54 mile D shaped quad oval. That reconfiguration created high speeds and the track is now regarded as the fastest speedway on the NASCAR circuit.
For the first time in 2010 weather is not expected to have a negative impact on a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. The race day forecast calls for sunny skies, seven MPH winds and a pleasant day time high of 66 degrees.
The Kobalt Tools 500 will be aired live by Fox Sports beginning at 12pm eastern time. The race re air will be on Wednesday, March 10th, on SPEED beginning at 12pm et.
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