a day late but Kasey Kahne certainly wasn’t a dollar short today at Atlanta Motor Speedway as he captured the Golden Corral 500 by daylight. Kasey’s win from the pole (he’s the first driver to do that since Matt Kenseth accomplished that feat at Bristol last August) was the second of his NEXTEL Cup career (he’s tied for 92nd on the all-time win list) and the 8th for Ray Evernham. This victory was worth $203,664 from the over $4.8M in posted awards and puts the #9 Dodge on the Winners Circle Plan this season. Most of the action today came on pit road. We had loose lug nuts, accidents, a crew member run over, and the seemingly ever-present tire problems.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (3rd) had his best finish since he won at Chicagoland last July.
Paul Menard (7th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 27th at Watkins Glen last August.
Kyle Petty (8th) had his best finish since he was 8th at Dover last September.
Reed Sorenson (10th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 21st at California last month.
Scott Riggs (11th) had his best finish since he was runner-up at Michigan last August.
STREAKIN….Jimmie Johnson has 6 Top-10’s in the last 7 races.
Mark Martin has 4 Top-10’s in the last 5 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Kyle Petty (+24), followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr (+23), Dale Jarrett (+22), Terry Labonte (+21), and Jamie McMurray (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Bobby Labonte (-39), followed by Kevin Harvick (-33), Kurt Busch (-28 ), Denny Hamlin (-24), Jeff Burton (-22), Carl Edwards (-22), and Jeremy Mayfield (-21). Petty Enterprises captures both ends of a very busy “Shaft” today.
Jimmie Johnson retains the points lead after today….but new second place man Kasey Kahne is just 50 markers in arrears. Kyle Petty (33rd to 24th) made the best move forward this week, while Carl Edwards (23rd to 30th) went seven spots in the wrong direction.(StockCarFans.com)(3-21-2006)
