Atlanta Motor Speedway Truck Series Bits

The Race: American Commercial Lines 200
The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway
The Date: Sat., March 7, 2009
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 200.2 miles / 130 laps
TV: SPEED, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SIRIUS XM. Listen locally on WEKS-FM 92.5
Track Layout: 1.54-Mile oval
2008 Winner: Kyle Busch
2008 Pole: Ron Hornaday, Jr.
Schedule:
Friday: Practice 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.; 1:30 - 2:50 p.m.;
Saturday: Qualifying, 9:35 a.m.


source: nascar press release

The Truck Series at Atlanta

Did you know that Billy Ballew, the owner of the No. 15 and No. 51 Toyota trucks, has a condominium at Atlanta Motor Speedway? He's had it since 1994 and it has been the party house after his victories over the last two years with driver Kyle Busch.

That would be a blast to own a condo at a track! Few neighbors, great views and a few times a year, your condo association treats you to NASCAR races as part of the association dues! Can you imagine pulling your chair up to your window and watching it all, while you have the TV or the radio on in the background? Too cool.

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Did you know that Rick Crawford will be making his 300th career start in the Truck Series on Saturday night. This will make him the series' start leader.

Crawford has also spent all of his 13 seasons with Mitchell and Circle Bar Racing. Now that's like a flashback to the days before musical chairs with the contracts kicked in! Crawford has five wins, 72 top fives, 150 top 10s, and five poles.

“As I look back, I think I’m proudest of the fact that I’ve reached 300 with one owner and one manufacturer,” Crawford said. “Mr. Mitchell and I have one of the longest driver-owner relationships in the sport. He’s much more than an owner to me, he’s made me part of his family and I could not be here without him.”

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Todd Bodine (No. 30 Germain Toyota) and Kyle Busch are off to identical starts compared to last year. They're one-two in point standings, respectively.

Matt Crafton (No. 88 Menards Chevrolet) is third while Timothy Peters (No. 17 Toyota) makes his debut in the top 10 in the standings. Peters and his Premier Racing team have collected top-10 finishes in the season’s first two races.

Also new to the top 10 are T.J. Bell (No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota) and rookie-of-the-year contender J.R. Fitzpatrick (No. 7 Mammoet Chevrolet). After an 11th-place finish at Daytona and a fifth at Auto Club Speedway, Bell sits sixth in the standings.

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This is Matt Crafton's favorite track because of the ability to run 2 and three wide. He realizes handling is pretty important here because the tires wear out quickly.. so keep your eyes on Matt and see if he takes advantage of this unique comfort zone of enjoying the venue he's racing on!

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Wonding how the rookies are doing? Check out the NASCAR Raybestos Rookie Contender standings after two races of the 2009 season:

1. J.R. Fitzpatrick 26
2. Ricky Carmichael 22
3. Tayler Malsam 17
4. James Buescher 17
5. Chase Austin 16
6. Johnny Sauter 15

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Kyle Busch at Atlanta in the Truck Series:
In the last four races, Kyle Busch owns series-high statistics in
Driver Rating (131.2),
Average Running Position (3.4) and
Laps in the Top 15 percentage (97.9%).

He's also posted 84 Fastest Laps Run.

Busch’s prime competition this weekend is expected to be Todd Bodine and Ron Hornaday Jr. – both past winners at Atlanta.

~Bruce

Fast Facts For Atlanta, NASCAR Cup Series

The Race: KOBALT Tools 500
The Date: Sunday, March 8
The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway; 1.54-mile tri-oval
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
The Distance: 325 laps/500.5 miles
TV: FOX , 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN and Sirius Satellite; (Local PRN affiliate WEKS-FM 92.5)
2008 Polesitter: Jeff Gordon
2008 Winner: Kyle Busch
Schedule: (All times local ET)
Friday—Practice, 3-4:30 p.m.;
Qualifying, 6:45 p.m.
Saturday—Practice, 11-11:45 a.m.;
Final Practice, 12:20-1:20 p.m.

-Bruce

Cousin Carl Gets Another Win at Atlanta

It wasn't as exciting as when he rub passed Jimmy Johnson in previous years, but with Jimmie Johnson getting fresh tires with 8 to go, and after having sped on pit road earlier, Johnson showed why they are in contention for the Cup by finishing 2nd as Carl Edwards fought his Roush Fenway Ford up to the win in the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Johnson almost got taken out by Denny Hamlin when Hamlin slid up the track sideways a bit into Johnson, but Hamlin saved it and Johnsons day!

Matt Kenseth was 4th,
Kyle Busch was 5th.

It wasn't a good day for some of the Cup chasers.

On lap 302 we saw a multi-car crash with Jeff Burton slipping up a notch and bumping Dave Blaney, but that was all it took to start the incident that collected Juan Montoya, Reed Sorenson and Joe Nemechek.

Michael Waltrip just disintegrated through out the day with a tire issue and then ensuing debris calls from car parts flying off his call. Mikey was the yellow flag on three different occasions.

We saw a lot of coverage of the chasers and a lot of coverage on the wrecks with good lists of who was involved in the incidents.

The chaser finished in the following spots:

• Edwards - 1st
• Johnson - 2nd
• Hamline - 3rd
• Kenseth - 4th
• Ky Busch - 5th
• Jeff Gordon - 9th
• Biffle - 10th
• Earnhardt Jr. - 11th
• Harvick - 13th
• Stewart - 17th
• Burton - 18th
• Bowyer - 20th

What this did was keep Jimmie Johnson in first in the standings by 183 points,
Carl Edwards moved up 2 posts into 2nd,
2 points behind Carl is Greg Biffle,
Jeff Burton slipped a spot into 4th, 218 points behind Johnson.
Harvick moved up one spot into 5th - 312 points behind Johnson.

Though nobody is mathematically eliminated yet, it seems that unless something happens to the top 5 drivers in each of the next 3 races, inevitability is starting loom on the horizon. For one moment, after Jimmie Johnson got nailed for speeding on pit road and had to take a green flag drive through penalty, it looked like a chink in the championship armor but the Hendricks No. 48 Lowes Chevy team proved why they are in first place in the standings today.

Today, the track that was acting more like a large version of Martinsville than a speedway.

Cup Series Results
Cup Series Standings

Atlanta Motor Speedway Driver Ratings

Curious about some numbers from Atlanta for the upcoming PepBoys Auto 500? Check 'em out here:





Atlanta Motor Speedway Data
Race #: 33 of 36 (10-26-08)
Track Size: 1.54 miles
Race Length: 325 laps/500.5 miles

• Banking/Corners: 24 degrees
• Banking/Straights: 5 degrees
• Frontstretch: 2,332 feet
• Backstretch: 1,800 feet

Driver Ratings at Atlanta
Jimmie Johnson 113.4
Tony Stewart 104.4
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 103.6
Carl Edwards 102.8
Greg Biffle 102.3
Jeff Gordon 96.6
Matt Kenseth 94.1
Jeff Burton 92.8
Clint Bowyer 89.4
Kyle Busch 88.5
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2008 races (7 total) at Atlanta.

Qualifying/Race Data
2007 pole winner: Greg Biffle, 192.453 mph, 28.807 secs.
2007 race winner: Jimmie Johnson, 135.260 mph, 10-28-07)
Track qualifying record: Geoffrey Bodine (197.478 mph, 28.074 secs., 10-21-05)
Race record: Bobby Labonte (159.904 mph, 11-16-97)

Estimated Pit Window: Every 48-52 laps, based on fuel mileage.

Image and data source: NASCAR Press Release
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Weather for Hampton, (Atlanta) Georgia

At the moment that I wrote this, rain is predicted for Hampton on, guess what day? Friday. A 70% chance of rain.

Then partly cloudy for Saturday and Sunday.

See Wunderground Weather for more details.

Why Wunderground? Because places like AccuWeather confuse me while they report light rain on Tuesday when there's nothing but blue skies above me! I couldn't help myself. I took screen shots and outside pictures just say "Hey!"