The racing season may be too young to draw conclusions, but there have been enough miles to suggest nobody may dominate the way Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards did a year ago.
Kurt Busch led 234 of 330 laps during Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway to keep Johnson and Edwards winless this season. And in the process, it proved some teams may be erasing the discrepancy between the premier teams and everyone else.
“I think over the offseason, I complained about not having testing, but I’m glad we didn’t because we worked on some of the things we needed,” said car owner Roger Penske. “To me, it was coming together. Kurt didn’t lose faith. I know sometimes last year we wondered whether we’d fallen off the train.
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“We’re back in business. It takes execution. To me that’s what happened today. I take my hat off to Kurt to lead that many laps.”
Matt Kenseth didn’t win a race in 2008, but he came back to win the first two races this year. Kyle Busch won a week ago at Las Vegas. None of those drivers were among the top-nine drivers in 2008.
Edwards won a series-best nine races a year ago. He led with two laps to go on Sunday, but he was passed by Busch and Jeff Gordon to finish third. He left Atlanta ranked fourth.
“They’ve been working hard,” Edwards said of the competition. “We’re all in such a tight box (with the rules) that if you can figure something out, it doesn’t matter how big your shop is to go fast.”
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