* Kurt Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway after starting second. Busch posted his 19th career series victory in 296 races. His last victory came at Loudon on June 29, 2008, 23 races ago. This was his third top-10 finish in four races this season. Busch moved to 33rd on NASCAR’s all-time win list, tying Davey Allison, Buddy Baker and Fonty Flock.
* Busch posted his third victory in 79 races on 1.5-mile tracks. Busch has scored 28 top-10 finishes in 79 races on 1.5-mile tracks (35 percent).
* This is just the second win by a Dodge at Atlanta since Richard Petty won here in March 1977. Kasey Kahne won in a Dodge in this race in 2006.
* This was Busch’s second Atlanta victory in 17 races. Crew chief Pat Tryson posted his seventh Cup career victory in 377 races. Four of his crew-chief victories have come with Busch.
* Busch led six times for 234 laps, including the final two laps. This is the most laps that he has led in a Cup race.
* This is the second victory for Penske Racing at Atlanta. Penske’s other Atlanta win came in November 1993, with Rusty Wallace.
* Jeff Gordon leads the series points standings by 43 over second-place Clint Bowyer. Race-winner Busch is third in points, just three points behind Bowyer. Gordon finished second, posting his fourth top-15 finish in 2009, the only driver to do so. Gordon extended his winless streak to 45 races, since October 2007 at Lowe’s.
* Carl Edwards (finished third) posted his 125th lead-lap finish in his 161 career races (78 percent).
* Brian Vickers (fifth) scored his third straight top-10 finish. He finished 10th at California and eighth at Las Vegas. This marks just the third time in his career that he has scored three straight top-10 finishes.
* Clint Bowyer (sixth) extended a 77-race streak of running at the finish that began at Homestead in November 2006. Bowyer’s last DNF came at Phoenix on Nov. 12, 2006, when he finished 33rd due to an oil-pump failure
* Jimmie Johnson finished ninth at Atlanta and was running at the finish. His crew chief, Chad Knaus, marked his 250th career race of running at the finish in 280 career races (89 percent).
* #20 Joey Logano (30th) was the highest-finishing rookie contender among the two rookies in the race. Scott Speed finished 35th.
* David Reutimann (32nd) ended a streak of three top-15 finishes.
* The top 10 consisted of six Chevys, two Dodges, one Ford and one Toyota.(ESPN)(3-10-2009)