* Carl Edwards won the Pep Boys 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He posted his 14th career victory in his 154th career race [9.1% winning %]. It was his seventh victory in 2008, second only to Kyle Busch, who has eight wins. * Edwards posted his third career weekend sweep. He also won the Nationwide race at Memphis on Saturday. His other two sweeps came at Atlanta in 2005 and Michigan in ’08. * Edwards has scored three victories (Las Vegas, Texas, second Atlanta) and five top-10 finishes in the eight races on 1.5-mile tracks in 2008. He posted his third win in nine races at Atlanta and his seventh top-10 finish in nine races there. Edwards won the race from the fourth-place starting position. * Edwards posted his fourth win in 47 Chase races. It was his 12th career victory in 102 superspeedway races. He led six times for 98 laps, including the final 16. * Roush Fenway Racing posted its sixth Atlanta victory. Its most recent Atlanta victories came in 2005 when Edwards swept both races. It marked Roush Fenway’s 13th Chase victory since ’04, second only to Hendrick Motorsports, which has scored 18 wins in the 47 Chase races. * Points leader Jimmie Johnson (second) has scored top-10 finishes in the past nine races, extending a streak that began at California in August. Johnson has led in 27 of the 33 races this season, more than any other driver. He led 28 laps Sunday. Johnson has led 738 laps in the seven Chase races. Matt Kenseth is second in laps led at 327 laps. * Jeff Gordon (ninth) has gone 38 races without a victory, his longest streak between victories. * Denny Hamlin (third) scored his first top-5 finish in seven races at Atlanta. * Kevin Harvick (13th) has been running at the finish in the last 77 races, the longest current streak by any driver. * Clint Bowyer (20th) ended a nine-race streak of top-15 finishes that began at the second Bristol race. * This was the ninth win for Ford in 2008. Chevrolet and Toyota each have 10 and Dodge has four. The top 10 consisted of five Fords, two Chevrolets, two Toyotas and one Dodge. * Michael Waltrip, who made his 1,000th NASCAR start, finished 37th after suffering radio problems, tire issues and a bout with the wall on Lap 168 and an accident on Lap 209. * The top five finishers were Chase drivers. Seven of the top 10 were Chasers. * Greg Biffle won the first two Chase races, Tony Stewart won at Talladega, Jeff Burton won at Lowe’s, Jimmie Johnson won at Kansas and Martinsville and Carl Edwards won at Atlanta. * Six of the 12 Chase drivers each earned lap-leader bonus points at Atlanta by leading at least one lap: Johnson, Edwards, Kenseth, Biffle, Earnhardt Jr. and Hamlin. * Eight of the 12 Chase drivers changed positions after Atlanta. * Johnson now leads second-place Edwards by 183 points, the biggest lead ever in the Chase (since 2004) with three races remaining. * The biggest points deficit overcome with three races remaining occurred in 1990 when Dale Earnhardt was 49 points behind Mark Martin and won that season by 26. * Johnson is the only driver to score top-10 finishes in the first seven races of the Chase. He also is the only Chase driver to lead in all seven Chase races.(ESPN)(10-28-2008)
