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Fantasy Preview: Atlanta

by Tim Zaegel on March 6th, 2008

Unlike the previous three tracks that the Sprint Cup Series has visited so far this year, Atlanta Motor Speedway has not been trademarked – or branded, rather – by the dominance of just one or two teams in the garage. Instead, while there are certainly a small handful of drivers that have had a dominant presence over the track in recent years, the real story to Atlanta is the all of the drivers that are able to post consistent finishes there, as well as the drivers whose numbers would suggest that they run in streaks at Atlanta.

The thing that should make this Sunday’s race is the current status of the routine major players at Atlanta. Carl Edwards has the highest average finish amongst average drivers at the track and won here twice in 2005. One would think that with two consecutive wins coming into this weekend he would have all of the momentum one could hope for, but after getting hit with the loss of 100 driver points by NASCAR on Wednesday and Crew Chief Bob Osborne being handed a six-race suspension, one has to wonder if this will in any way take some of the wind out of those sails. Then, you have Jimmie Johnson who won both races here last year and also won one in 2004. He has nine Atlanta finishes of 6th or better in thirteen tries, so one would automatically want to consider him a heavy favorite to win this weekend. Yet, Johnson is currently only 14th in the points standings and is coming off of a terrible Las Vegas run – a track that he had won the previous three races at. Going down the list, you’ll find Jeff Gordon. He hasn’t won in Atlanta since 2003, but also hasn’t finished worse than 12th in the last five races. Somehow, though, Gordon isn’t a name on people’s minds this weekend as he enters the race 23rd in points after suffering a hard wreck in Vegas last weekend. Finally, most would typically consider Tony Stewart a favorite to win this race as he’s won here twice – including in the Fall of ’06 – and, more impressively, has 11 top-ten’s in his last 13 Atlanta runs. Then again, Smoke was a little shaken up last weekend at Vegas and took a huge hit in the points standings.

With the loss of momentum from the four favorites, it could open up the door for some of the less-dominant and more consistent drivers – or, the streaky guys – to shine this weekend. Some of the drivers to keep an eye on this weekend will be Dale Earnhardt Jr, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Burton.

TZ’s Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner – Kasey Kahne
2nd Place – Jimmie Johnson
3rd Place – Carl Edwards
4th Place – Greg Biffle
5th Place – Tony Stewart
6th Place – Matt Kenseth

Lock of the Week – Carl Edwards
Sleeper Pick – Reed Sorenson
Steer Clear of – Martin Truex Jr.

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POSTED IN: Fantasy Preview / Follow-Up, NASCAR