March 20, 2005
- #5 Team allowed to work on car: Though NASCAR Nextel Cup cars were impounded [see full rules below] this weekend after qualifying Friday, Kyle Busch’s team on Saturday was allowed to prepare a backup car for today’s race at Atlanta after the 19-year-old Cup rookie wrecked his primary car in qualifying. It’s a good thing crew chief Alan Gustafson is allowed to work while his suspension is being appealed.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(3-20-2005)
- Lepage gets a sponsor for Atlanta: The #37 with driver Kevin LePage, which has full sponsorship for only five races this year, will carry the colors today of Newell Recycling of Atlanta.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(3-20-2005)
- Last Time a win was stripped for an post-race inspection violation? The last time NASCAR [Cup Series] disqualified a winner for failing a post-race inspection was in 1955, according to an official in NASCAR’s statistical services. Fireball Roberts won the Daytona Beach race, but had the win taken away for an engine modification. NASCAR gave Tim Flock the win. Since then, drivers have kept wins regardless of the infractions. NASCAR stripped Rudd of a victory at the Sears Point (now Infineon) road course in 1991 for rough driving. Rudd made contact with leader Davey Allison before the final lap and caused Allison to spin. Rudd crossed the finish line first but was not given the checkered flag. That waved as Allison passed.(News and Record). No Petty was not stripped in 1983, no Mayfield was not stripped in 2002, Skinner and Jarrett had Busch wins stripped NOT Cup.(3-20-2005)
- Race Penalties Now Less Severe: Beginning with Sunday’s Golden Corral 500, eight infractions that used to bring a stop-and-go penalty will now be addressed with a pass through the pits. They include a crew member jumping over the wall too soon, too many crewmen in the pit service area, using more than two air wrenches during a stop, and tossing the fuel or catch cans. Other violations now covered by a pass-through penalty are: crew members returning from the equipment side of the wall, illegal use of extension poles, failing to carry the front air wrench to the pit wall side, and noncompliant refueling. A stop-and-go requires a car to return to its pit box for 15 seconds, while the lesser penalty is merely going back through pit road at the required speed limit.(FoxSports/AP)(3-20-2005)
- A Few Stats to Gnaw On:
* Six of Bobby Labonte’s 21 Cup victories have occurred at Atlanta.
* No driver has swept both races in a season Atlanta since Bill Elliott in 1992.
* In the last 29 races at Atlanta, only once has pole winner gone on to win.
* Tony Stewart has finished in the top 10 in seven consecutive AMS races.
* Jimmie Johnson has led at least one lap in every race so far. Here’s a surprise: The only other driver who can make that claim is Kyle Petty.(Gaston Gazette)(3-20-2005) - Atlanta Post Race Notes:
• Carl Edwards won the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, scoring his career-first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in his 17th career start.
• Edwards won both the NASCAR Busch Series and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Joe Nemechek was the last driver to win both races in a weekend (Kansas October 2004).
• Edwards became the first driver ever to post both his career-first NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series victories in the same weekend.
• Edwards became the seventh different race winner in the last seven races Atlanta Motor.
• Edwards begins the 2005 season with two top-five finishes and top-15s in four races.
• Edwards posted his second top-five finish in two races at Atlanta. He finished third at Atlanta last October.
• Edwards scored the second victory in four races in 2005 for car owner Jack Roush. It marked Roush’s fourth victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
• Greg Biffle was the most recent first-time winner when he won at Daytona in July 2003.
Notebook Items
• Jimmie Johnson (second) posted his fifth top-five finish in eight races at Atlanta. Johnson has scored top- 10 finishes in the 10 races since Charlotte last fall. Johnson is the only driver that has led at least one lap in all four races in 2005.
• Greg Biffle (third) scored his third top-10 finish in five races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He posted his third straight top-10 finish of the season. This is the first time in his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career that he has posted three consecutive top-10s.
• Mark Martin (fourth) scored his 19th top-10 finish in 39 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Martin has scored three top-10 finishes in four races this season. Martin has been running at the finish in 26 consecutive races, the longest current streak.
• Kasey Kahne (fifth) scored his third top-five finish in three races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kahne scored his first top-10 and best finish in 2005.
• Dave Blaney (eighth) scored his second top-10 finish in 11 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His last top- 10 finish came at Pocono (ninth) in July 2003.
• Kyle Busch (12th) was the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender for the third time in 2005.
• Mike Garvey started 43rd and finished 41st in his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start.
• Robby Gordon failed to qualify for the 2005 Daytona 500 and has finished 35th, 39th and 34th in the three races he has competed in this season.
• All 10 of the top-10 positions in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings changed at Atlanta.
• Just one race remains before 2005 owner points set the guaranteed starting positions at Martinsville. Noted car owners/drivers ranked outside the top 35 include: Joe Gibbs/Bobby Labonte (37th), Greg Pollex/John Andretti (38th), Leonard Wood/Ricky Rudd (39th) and James Smith/Robby Gordon (40th).
• Looking ahead to the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup…. 18 drivers are already more than 400 points behind the leader. Included in those 18 are Mike Wallace, Bobby Labonte, John Andretti, Ricky Rudd and Robby Gordon plus 13 others.
• The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Leader Bonus will be worth $20,000 Bristol Motor Speedway.
(Information Provided by NASCAR Statistical Services)(3-20-2005) - StockCarFans – Rumblings – Atlanta: 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)
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997