Kurt Busch Celebrates Kobalt Tools 500 Victory

Normally, I would look at a race like Atlanta as being an opportunity to get in a good nap.  Not this week.  The Kobalt Tools 500 was a very exciting race, with story lines throughout the field.  So many, I can’t begin to cover them all.  I will mention the stories that I noticed, and followed.

Let’s start with Hendrick Motorsports.  Don’t leave just yet, this isn’t your typical HMS story.  Going into the race, Hendrick was riding a two race win streak from four time champion Jimmie Johnson, and an Atlanta pole from Dale Earnhardt Jr.  The first story line(s) I looked to follow were if Johnson could bring home three in a row, and if Dale Jr. could capitalize on his pole start.

Earnhardt Jr. failed to lead a lap in the race, his fate all but sealed after a bizzare tire issue mid-way through the race which left him 2 laps down.  Neither HMS or Goodyear could figure out what caused his tire issue.

Jimmie Johnson was strong early, and often.  He ran in the front third of the field all day, and looked to be a threat for the win.  As his race wore on, however, he began to fade, but climbed back up to finish 12th.

Another story line I followed through the course for the race was Kevin Harvick’s run.  Coming into the weekend as the series points leader, he has been one of the drivers to watch in this early season.   His weekend started off great with a win in the Truck Series on Saturday.  Sunday, however, would be a struggle.  Harvick raced most of the day in middle of the field, but clawed his way to a very impressive 9th place finish, far better than expected by the way his day looked.

His Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammates would would also struggle throughout the race.  33-Clint Bowyer was as low as 42nd at one point after a tire failure, and 31-Jeff Burton raced mid-pack.  Bowyer and Burton did find themselves at the front of the field on occasion, but would wind up finishing in the twenties.

One of the biggest stories I followed this race was that of the Underdogs.  The earliest race of the day wasn’t up front, instead it was between the Prism Motorsports teammates of 66-Dave Blanney and 55-Michael McDowell.  NASCAR recently announced that they would tear down the motor of the first team to fall out of a race that was not part of a clear wreck or obvious failure.  This means that the “start and park” teams cannot simply pull off track, unless they want to be torn down in inspection.  McDowell raced a total of 37 laps and finished in 42nd place.  I challenged wether or not the 55 team was trying to come back on track late to avoid the NASCAR tear down.

In a response tweet McDowell posted, “We are working on the car. Trying to get back out before the end. Making big adjustments.”

Whether or not this was in an effort to avoid the tear down is unclear, but it looks as though they could be that team (that gets torn down).

As the end of the race drew near, the clear favorites were 2-Kurt Busch and 42- Juan Montoya.  Montoya came with mere car lengths of Busch with a hand full of laps remaining when all hell broke loose.

99- Carl Edwards got into the rear quarter panel of 12-Brad Keselowski, sending him around, and over in much the same fashion as last year at Talledega.  Keselowski’s car flipped into the catchfence, destroying his car and ending his day.  This was clear pay back for an earlier incident involving the two drivers that sent Edwards behind the wall.  Keselowski recovered from the early accident and was poised for a top five finish before the Edwards pay back.  Keselowski emerged from his mangled car a little dazed, very mad, but okay.  Edwards admitted to the pay back, but said that he was expecting his (Keselowski) car to flip.  After the wreck, Edwards was parked for the balance of the race and sent to the NASCAR hauler.

After that dramatic turn of events, the race was set up for Overdrive.  The first Green, White, Checkered attempt.  I say first because before the field finished the green flag lap, half the cars had spun, wreck, or slid through a mess started by Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray.

A little clean up later, the race restarted with the second Overdrive attempt.  Kurt Busch held off a charging Juan Montoya to claim the victory, his 21st career Cup Series win.

What a race!  No way this could be considered a snoozer!  What did you think of the Kobalt Tools 500?  Post your comments bellow.