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March 20, 2007

Not So Hot Atlanta
Making the Grade-Atlanta Spring Races
By Dennis Michelsen

Hopefully NASCAR and Goodyear will learn from their experience of the last two weeks. Once again at Atlanta Motor Speedway teams encountered tire issues. But this week teams were able to make adjustments and drivers were able to drive the car differently to minimize those impacts to the quality of the racing. This is unlike the week before in Las Vegas when the tires were harder than anything Fred Flintstone ever had on his car! Hopefully NASCAR will not convince Goodyear to throw those tires made of granite on the cars at Texas Motor Speedway in a few weeks. Any time you give the racers a choice they will choose having options to deal with the tires! The resulting race was much better for the fans too.

Craftsman Truck Race-Atlanta Motor Speedway
1 5 Mike Skinner Toyota Tundra Toyota
2 30 Todd Bodine Lumber Liquidators Toyota
3 7 88 Matt Crafton Menards/Quaker StateChevy
4 14 Rick Crawford Power Stroke Diesel by Int'l Ford
5 2 Clint Bowyer Camping World Chevy
6 77 Brendan Gaughan South Point Hotel Chevy
7 75 Dennis Setzer Spears Mfg. Co. Chevy
8 9 Ted Musgrave Team ASE/Germain Toyota
9 9 Joey Clanton # Zaxby's Ford
10 21 Kelly Bires # Bush's Baked Beans Ford

F for Johnny Benson's Bad Luck
When you truck engine starts coughing and then erupts on pit road this might not be your year! This freak part failure has dug a hole for Benson making his quest for the title tough. In what promises to be a very competitive season Johnny has used his mulligan.

D for TJ Bell's Luck
This is the best equipment TJ Bell has had a chance to compete in on the NASCAR level so there was great anticipation for how well he would do. Unfortunately TJ was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the very first lap!

C for Tim Sauter
Dropping down to the Craftsman Truck series is a great idea for this sponsor and driver. This was the first lead lap finish in his three starts this season and shows this team will surprise a few people this year.

B for Kelly Bires
They say loose is fast and there was no doubt that Kelly Bires' truck was super loose at the beginning of the race at Atlanta! Bires made a great save when his truck got out of shape early in the event. He rallied for a strong tenth place finish, his first of his career!

A for Mike Skinner
Back to back wins is always a big deal but even more so when you consider just how tough the competition is this season in the Craftsman Truck series. Once again Mike showed that he might be challenging Ron Hornaday as the master of the restart!

Busch Series Race-Atlanta Motor Speedway
1 29 Jeff Burton Holiday Inn Chevrolet
2 21 Kevin Harvick AutoZone Chevrolet
3 5 Kyle Busch Garden Safe/SW & BG Conservation Fund Chevrolet
4 60 Carl Edwards Scotts Ford
5 24 Casey Mears National Guard Chevrolet
6 2 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet
7 9 Kasey Kahne Ragu Dodge
8 42 Juan Pablo Montoya # Texaco/Havoline Dodge
9 17 Matt Kenseth Arby's Ford
10 20 Tony Stewart Goody's Cool Orange Chevrolet

F for Michael Waltrip
Mikey's season from hell continues! This will go down a season to forget for Michael Waltrip and even when he drives someone else's car he seems cursed. About the only good thing about this performance is that the car passed technical inspection!

D for Steve Wallace
ESPN broadcasts have shown his car more often than the leader, but this has not been a good start to the season for the son of former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace. Steve Wallace's best finish in five starts this season is seventeenth.

C for Ron Young
Ron Young showed up with a knife at a gunfight but managed to survive! The Wyco Plumbing Chevrolet managed a thirty-second place finish going up against so many Nextel Cup teams and drivers. Imagine what this driver might be able to accomplish with better equipment.

B for Sam Hornish Jr
The best of the non-Cup drivers, Sam Hornish Jr came home fifteenth at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The IRL and Indy 500 champ looked good at times racing up in the top ten much of the day. Look for Hornish to snag a few top finishes this season in the Busch series.

A for Jeff Burton
Jeff Burton might be the smartest driver in NASCAR! When the money and the trophy were on the line Burton found that extra speed he needed to take control of the Nicorette 300. Chalk up back-to-back wins in the Busch series too!

Nextel Cup Series-Atlanta Motor Speedway
1 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevy
2 20 Tony Stewart Home Depot Chevy
3 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford
4 31 Jeff Burton Cingular Wireless Chevy
5 42 Juan Pablo Montoya # Texaco/Havoline Dodge
6 07 Clint Bowyer DirecTV Hot Pass Chevy
7 99 Carl Edwards Office Depot Ford
8 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats
9 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge
10 01 Mark Martin U.S. Army Chevy

F for Toyota
Their best finish barely cracked the top thirty and so many teams went home on Friday. Perhaps they will learn from these tough times and make a huge statement in the years ahead, but it looks like they picked the wrong teams to lead the charge in Cup.

D for Kasey Kahne's Luck
Thank goodness for adding two more cars to the Chase for the Championship because this is looking a lot like last season for Kahne. This time Kasey happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and falls to thirty-sixth in points!

C for Ryan Newman
The weekend started promising for the Alltel Dodge team with Ryan Newman grabbing the pole on Friday. But going to the back of the pack for an engine change doomed this team to struggle all race.

B for Tony Stewart
Smoke is showing every week that he will not miss out on the Championship Chase this season! Tony Stewart was smart not to force the issue when Jimmie Johnson forced him into the wall. Finishing second in this race rather than wrecking both of them shows that Tony learned from missing the Chase last season.

A for Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus
This two-some is showing every week why they have the best team in Nextel Cup racing right now. Knaus continues to tune on the car with every stop and made the right decisions at the end of the race for the short run. The two are on a different level still and grabbed back-to-back wins!