NASCAR Sprint Cup – Kobalt Tools 500 Preview
Well, it appears that Jimmie Johnson has it made thus far this year. He has won two of the three first races this season consecutively. Will he be the one that pulls into Victory lane at Atlanta this weekend or will it be another driver to share the fame this year with Jimmie Johnson? Let’s take a look at the favorites at Atlanta.
Let’s first take a look at Jimmie Johnson. He has won a total of three races at Atlanta in the 17 race starts. Looking further, Johnson also has seen almost ten Top 5 finishes in addition to the 11 Top 10. However, if you take a look at last year – he barely placed in the Top 10 in the first race during the Spring and found himself in 36th place for the Fall race.
Carl Edwards. Aflac Guy. Back flip Guy. Whatever it is that you know him by – he has always had a fast car when it comes to Atlanta Motor Speedway. During his 11 starts at Atlanta, he has been to Victory Lane twice in addition to his initial Cup win. In addition, he completes 6 Top 5’s and 8 Top 10’s. Looking back at last year, he didn’t make it to Victory Lane; however, he did finish in third. He is definitely a favorite this weekend.
Now, Jeff Gordon. He almost had a win last week at Vegas, but was overpowered by Jimmie Johnson near the end with 16 laps to go. However, Jeff Gordon held his ground pretty well and although he didn’t find himself in Victory Lane, he seems to have the power this year to be a threat to Johnson and other drivers. He has four wins at Atlanta.
A couple other drivers to watch would be Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne. Busch is a defending winner and has a total of two wins for Atlanta. In 18 starts, he has two Top 5’s and 6 Top 10’s. Busch lost out in the race last week because of a wreck, so I look for him to try and make up for last week this week. Kahne won the race here last September where he led 60 laps total. He has one pole at Atlanta and one other win that came in 2006. Since last year, Kahne has switched makes from Dodge to Ford; however, I don’t think that the switch is going to keep him from finding himself in Victory Lane and if it does, he’ll be near the top.
Finally, Mark Martin. Thank God he didn’t retire, right? He has great dominance when he is racing – he knows exactly what he is doing…but still hasn’t been able to steal that win just yet. He has two wins in the 48 starts here at Atlanta with almost 15 Top 5’s and more than 20 Top 10’s. He found himself sitting in the pole position just last year…let’s see if he can make it to the top and win this race.
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