Rating the Race: Kobalt Tool’s 500
After 500 miles of hard racing, Kyle Busch pulled his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry into victory lane after picking up the checkered flag in the Kobalt Tool’s 500. The win not only increased Kyle’s spread amongst the top of the points standings in the Sprint Cup Series, but also permanently wrote his name into the history books by becoming the youngest driver to ever win a Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, as well as giving Toyota their first win in the series and becoming the first foreign model to do so since 1954.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the class of the field early on, leading 58 of the first 59 laps after starting on the outside of the front row next to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon. Busch took the lead away from Junior on lap 60 and proceeded to lead the next 90 laps of the race. Busch dominated the field during that field, putting all but 18 cars a lap down before losing the lead to Clint Bowyer on lap 151. Bowyer maintained control of the race through a round of green flag pit stops until the fourth caution of the day waived on lap 198 as a result of debris in Turn 4. With 121 laps left, Kyle Busch drove back to the front on the restart, but remained there for only another 25 laps.
Two more cautions waived during that period – both a result of Elliott Sadler spinning around, and with 86 laps left and 13 cars on the lead lap, Carl Edwards took the green flag on the restart and pulled away from the field. Edwards appeared to have the race well-in-hand until his car started smoking heavily as he continued to log laps. He was finally black flagged by NASCAR, and pulled his car to the garage with a broken transmission with only 50 laps remaining, surrendering the lead back over to Kyle Busch once again.
The 8th and final caution of the day came out shortly after when NASCAR spotted oil in Turn 3 from the Edwards incident, but Busch was able to maintain the lead throughout the stops and the restart. With ten laps remaining, Busch had about a 3 second lead and his only threat on the track appeared to be Greg Biffle, who had moved into second place and was briefly closing in on him. The threat was short-lived, however, as Biffle’s car began to fade about five laps later, giving up second back to Tony Stewart, and eventually third to Earnhardt Jr. As Busch came around to pick up the checkered flag, Biffle was able to maintain fourth position, and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five.
The defending race winner and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson had his struggles throughout the day. Despite starting up in the 11th position, Johnson had fallen off of the lead lap with 138 to go. He regained his lap by being the recipient of the lucky dog award the second time Sadler spun, only to lose his lap again – and, regain it again – the third and final time Sadler spun with 64 to go. Johnson struggled his way to a 13th place finish. Matt Kenseth, on the other hand, had a reversal of fortunes by being able to turn around a potentially disastrous weekend. After changing transmissions Sunday morning before the race, Kenseth was forced to start the race in the back of the field way back in 42nd. He, too, went a lap down earlier in the day, but found himself back on the lead lap on lap 114 when Kasey Kahne spun his car around in the infield. He went onto finish in 8th.
The Dodge teams of Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman also experienced their share of heartbreak today. Kahne, who looked to be a race favorite early on and came into this weekend as the only driver to score top-ten’s in each of the first three events, lost his first lap due to a pit road miscue. He was running solidly in the top-ten when the first caution of the day came out on lap 38, but he wheel hopped the entrance to pit road and was forced to pit the second time around. This put him at the tail end of the field, and eventually a lap down after his car just wouldn’t get going. He lost his second lap when he spun on lap 114, and finally finished 3 laps down in 26th. Newman worked the track all day long and was finally able to crack the top-five with less than a hundred laps to go, only to make slight contact with Juan Pablo Montoya. The contact was enough to cause a fender rub on his left-front tire, forcing him to pit under green and putting him a lap down. He finished in 14th.
Also of note, Brian Vickers drove his Team Red Bull Toyota into a ninth place finish, giving him his first top-ten of the year and moving him up to ninth in points, giving Toyota three drivers in the top-ten. Their teammates in the no. 84 car made their first appearance in a Cup race this season after temporarily replacing AJ Allmendinger with Mike Skinner. Skinner qualified 34th and finished in 29th. Bobby LaBonte fell just shy of his first top-ten on the season, coming home in 12th and sits just 8 points shy of a spot in the Chase field, back in 14th.
Grades:
the Race: 70%
the Drama: 68%
Coverage: 87%
Pre-Race: 80%
Overall Grade: 74.0%
Complete Results (from nascar.com):
| FIN |
ST |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 |
6 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
Snickers |
195/10 |
325 |
Running |
| 2 |
32 |
20 |
Tony Stewart |
Toyota |
Home Depot “10 Years Strong” |
170/0 |
325 |
Running |
| 3 |
2 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
AMP Energy / National Guard |
170/5 |
325 |
Running |
| 4 |
13 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
Jackson Hewitt |
165/5 |
325 |
Running |
| 5 |
1 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
DuPont |
160/5 |
325 |
Running |
| 6 |
7 |
07 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
DIRECTV |
155/5 |
325 |
Running |
| 7 |
8 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Shell / Pennzoil |
146/0 |
325 |
Running |
| 8 |
38 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
DEWALT |
142/0 |
325 |
Running |
| 9 |
35 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
143/5 |
325 |
Running |
| 10 |
15 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
AT&T Mobility |
134/0 |
325 |
Running |
| 11 |
29 |
2 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
130/0 |
325 |
Running |
| 12 |
5 |
43 |
Bobby Labonte |
Dodge |
Cheerios / Betty Crocker |
132/5 |
325 |
Running |
| 13 |
11 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools |
124/0 |
325 |
Running |
| 14 |
12 |
12 |
Ryan Newman |
Dodge |
ALLTEL |
121/0 |
324 |
Running |
| 15 |
22 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
FedEx Ground |
118/0 |
324 |
Running |
| 16 |
19 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Dodge |
Wrigley’s Big Red |
115/0 |
324 |
Running |
| 17 |
39 |
5 |
Casey Mears |
Chevrolet |
Kellogg’s / CARQUEST |
112/0 |
324 |
Running |
| 18 |
28 |
66 |
Scott Riggs |
Chevrolet |
State Water Heaters |
109/0 |
324 |
Running |
| 19 |
20 |
15 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Energizer / Menards |
106/0 |
324 |
Running |
| 20 |
30 |
00 |
David Reutimann |
Toyota |
Aaron’s Dream Machine |
103/0 |
323 |
Running |
| 21 |
3 |
1 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Chevrolet |
Bass Pro Shops / Tracker |
100/0 |
323 |
Running |
| 22 |
10 |
8 |
Mark Martin |
Chevrolet |
U.S. Army |
97/0 |
323 |
Running |
| 23 |
14 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
AAA |
94/0 |
323 |
Running |
| 24 |
26 |
7 |
Robby Gordon |
Dodge |
Valvoline / Jim Beam |
91/0 |
323 |
Running |
| 25 |
33 |
77 |
Sam Hornish Jr. * |
Dodge |
Penske Truck Rental |
88/0 |
323 |
Running |
| 26 |
9 |
9 |
Kasey Kahne |
Dodge |
Budweiser |
90/5 |
322 |
Running |
| 27 |
42 |
28 |
Travis Kvapil |
Ford |
Zaxby’s |
82/0 |
322 |
Running |
| 28 |
43 |
44 |
Dale Jarrett |
Toyota |
UPS |
79/0 |
322 |
Running |
| 29 |
34 |
84 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
76/0 |
322 |
Running |
| 30 |
31 |
38 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
FreeCreditRep ort.com |
73/0 |
321 |
Running |
| 31 |
23 |
40 |
Dario Franchitti * |
Dodge |
Fastenal |
70/0 |
321 |
Running |
| 32 |
16 |
22 |
Dave Blaney |
Toyota |
Caterpillar |
67/0 |
321 |
Running |
| 33 |
27 |
55 |
Michael Waltrip |
Toyota |
NAPA AUTO PARTS |
64/0 |
321 |
Running |
| 34 |
25 |
41 |
Reed Sorenson |
Dodge |
Target |
61/0 |
321 |
Running |
| 35 |
37 |
96 |
J.J. Yeley |
Toyota |
DLP HDTV |
58/0 |
320 |
Running |
| 36 |
41 |
01 |
Regan Smith * |
Chevrolet |
DEI / Principal Financial Group |
55/0 |
320 |
Running |
| 37 |
17 |
78 |
Joe Nemechek |
Chevrolet |
Furniture Row Racing |
52/0 |
320 |
Running |
| 38 |
21 |
10 |
Patrick Carpentier * |
Dodge |
Cintas |
49/0 |
320 |
Running |
| 39 |