We had a phenomenal finish to a fantastic weekend as Carl Edwards grabbed his first-ever Nextel Cup victory by a whopping .02 seconds over the ultra-consistent Jimmie Johnson in today’s Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In a 25 lap shootout to the end, Edwards ran down Johnson coming off turn four and we had our classic AMS finish as Edwards squeezed through on the outside to make his weekend complete….he scored his first Busch Series win yesterday.
Saw some empty seats today….and you gotta wonder why. An entertaining Busch race yesterday and Friday’s CTS race was just as close as today. The weather couldn’t be blamed, either.
I won’t say that early carnage was due to the new impound rule, but I hope that thought at least passed through NASCAR’s mind. After all, everybody knows no practice makes you better, right? The guys in the booth touched on the fact this new rule could bode poorly for the Busch regulars. With the chance to learn the new tire and the track changes (since the impound at certain tracks means absolutely no action on Saturday for the Cup cars) expect to hear some more complaining about the “Busch” whackers.
This was win #76 for Roush Racing, and Carl Edwards becomes a member of a very elite club of racers. He’s the 167th different winner in NASCAR’s top division, and you’d be hard-pressed to find another driver as humbled and overcome by the experience. It was worth $165,450 for Edwards (btw, Jimmie Johnson got over $173K for running second).
Brian Vickers (6th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 7th when we were here last October.
Michael Waltrip (7th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Loudon last July.
Dave Blaney (8th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Darlington in March of 2003!
Jeremy Mayfield (13th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Martinsville last October.
STREAKIN….Jimmie Johnson has 10 Top-10’s in a row.
Greg Biffle has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the week is a tie between Michael Waltrip (+30) and Kyle Busch (+30), followed by Jeff Burton (+23) and Sterling Marlin (+23). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Bobby Hamilton Jr (-36), followed by Joe Nemechek (-28), Shane Hmiel (-22), and Travis Kvapil (-20).
Jimmie Johnson lost the points lead mid-week but regains it today. He’s now 82 points ahead of new second place driver Greg Biffle. We’ve got 35 drivers still in the hunt for the “Chase”.
The best move forward today belongs to Kasey Kahne (38th to 28th), while Jeff Gordon (4th to 12th) and Kyle Petty (16th to 24th) fell the most spots.(StockCarFans.com)(3-20-2005)
