Carl Edwards and the No. 60 Scotts Bonus S Max team went into Atlanta with the overall Busch Series Points lead. They had a very fast Ford Fusion on the 1.5-mile oval, but had to conserve tires the majority of the 195 laps. Edwards and the rest of the 43-car field had to set their strategies for tire wear. Edwards increased his lead in the Busch Series Championship standings after finishing 4th for his fourth top-five in the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Going into the Atlanta race, Edwards was leading Denny Hamlin by 68 points. Edwards finished 4th and Hamlin skipped the event so he now leads second place Kevin Harvick by 144 points after the fifth race of the 2007 season.
“This was fun. I hope the fans enjoyed the race. My Scotts Bonus S Max guys did a great job,” commented Edwards. “We had a little bit of trouble with the tires all day. They had a lot of grip and they would come apart so we just had to be a little cautious. I think everybody did a good job being patient. I was surprised that the thing ran through a whole pit cycle under green and that nobody blew a tire and had to come in. We ended up with a great finish. I had a great race with Kyle Busch even though he got shuffled back. I had a great time.”
Next week Edwards and the No. 60 team change gears for their first short track race of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway. The No. 60 team is determined to keep extending their lead in Bristol. Edwards and the No. 60 team will be running the Scotts Moisture Control colors.
and that could result in him leading after Bristol. Stop discussing it. Mark Martin will not be there. The threads have been fun while they lasted but it is over and the fat lady is singing on that one. Mark is going out on top as far as full time racing but not ready for the rocking chair yet. Besides, he still can race for that owners championship and not have that pressure on him. And that is opening the door wide open for Mr. Gordan.
It has been stated that if you finish twelfth or better in all the Nextel Cup races, you will win the championship. It's that simple, well, not simple, but if you want to be Mr. Consistency and can pull that off, then you can be a Cup champion. That's exactly what Gordon did on Sunday.
Gordon Digs From Behind After Pit Problems To Finish 12th At AMS
"We were awesome. I'm very disappointed obviously. We had a couple of issues we'll have to work through. We had a crush panel come loose and we're getting to the bottom of that and we made little mistakes where we got a lap down in the pits. That shouldn't have ever happened. We all recognize it.
We make mistakes and we learn from it but what an incredible race car we had. Man, that thing was fast. I know we had a shot at certainly a top three but I think we had a shot at winning. It doesn't matter. We came out of here 12th, got the best finish we could. We're still second in points so in some ways we were fortunate."
"Well, it (the last caution) kept us from finishing in the top five. The neat thing about this race track and today is that even though we had a lot of green flag laps and we didn't have many cautions, we still saw great racing throughout the entire race all the way down to the end and that's what makes Atlanta such a great race track. I wish we had more race tracks like this out there but typically it's boring when you see that but it wasn't today. There was just racing going on constantly. Tire wear was an issue and you saw cars drive to the front and fade to the back and that's the way racing should be."
The top 14 finishers in the Busch Race on Saturday in Atlanta were Nextel Cup regulars or Buschwackers. I'm throwing them out. Who won the BUSCH race? Sam Hornish Jr.,.
Wait. He is an Indy Racing League (IRL) regular. Does that make him a Buschwacker?
Let's see, who's blog is this? Mine damn it! I am making the rules here.
HORNISH WINS!
"HAMPTON, Ga. (March 17, 2007) – Sam Hornish Jr. came from one lap down in his Penske Truck Rental Dodge Charger to post his first-ever top-15 finish in the Busch Series in Saturday's Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hornish, who ran in the top 15 for most of the 195-lap event, lost a lap on lap 128 when he received a pass-through penalty for speeding into his pit during a green-flag stop. That dropped him outside the top 20, but he remained in the top 25.
"That’s really my first green-flag pit stop in these cars and it takes some getting used to," said Hornish, who qualified fifth for his fifth Busch Series race. "It’s more difficult than what we have with Indy Cars. Of course, we drive Indy Cars in there a lot harder and they slow down quicker, but you have the pit speed limiter. It was real close, but I knew there might be an opportunity to get black-flagged there.""
Wallace’s veteran experience helped him "methodically move forward from his 40th starting position. A combination of patience on the race track by Wallace and speed by the Phoenix Racing team during pit stops would help move the #7 GEICO Chevrolet to the front of the field. Wallace would run as high as 3rd, while also leading a lap for the 4th time in 5 races, resulting in 20 bonus points this season. When the checkered flag waved at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, Wallace would finish on the Lead Lap in the 17th position, a substantial improvement over his 40th place starting spot. In 2007, Wallace has been nothing less than consistent, as his finish in Atlanta moved him up to 8th position in driver points. He sits just 35 points removed from the Top 5, after being 54 points removed just a week ago.
Fresh off of a top-10 finish at Las Vegas, Shane Huffman finished 19th "at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the No. 88 Navy Accelerate Your Life Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS in the NASCAR Busch Series Nicorette 300."
Jon Wood loves a challenge. That’s why Saturday’s Nicorette 300 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway is so important to him. With 25 fulltime NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers on an entry list of 45, Wood understands the difficult challenge for his No. 47 Armor All Ford Fusion team. But it’s the type of challenge he loves.
“There’s been a lot said about the number of Cup drivers racing in the Busch Series. To me, it’s a way to learn. If you can run with the best and beat them, it makes you and your entire race team better. If you approach it as a challenge the way our Armor All team does, I believe you benefit from the experience. Jon Wood is sixth in the NASCAR Busch Series standings
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