September 2010

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Race Recap | Atlanta
10 Marcos Ambrose
9 Juan Pablo Montoya
8 Ryan Newman
7 Clint Bowyer
6 Kurt Busch
5 Kyle Busch
4 Jeff Burton
3 Jimmie Johnson
2 Carl Edwards

Victory Lane

1 Tony Stewart ends a 31 race winless streak with his first win of the 2010 season and 38th career win

Other Stories on the day

For the first pit stop of the night Kyle Busch was caught speeding, then reported a vibration a few laps later, requiring another pitstop going a lap down.

Pole sitter Denny Hamlin led 73 laps until the engine blew on his 11 car. He finished 43rd

Joe Gibbs Racing had a dismal night with the 20 of Joey Logano also had engine problems

Points leader Kevin Harvick had a broken valve stem requiring another pit stop and later blew a left front tire, ripping the 29 to shreds

Greg Biffle got tapped by Ryan Newman and wrecked hard with Elliott Sadler

Jamie McMurray cut a tire down while running top 10

Kasey Kahne had a certain top 10 until a run in with Kurt Busch on a late restart

The Top 10 in points have clinched a spot in the chase

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Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

When someone asks the front desk manager at my office how she’s doing she invariably answers, “Fine. I hope you are, too.”

Let’s go ahead and establish one thing up front so we don’t have to come back and argue about it later.

I have worked in Darlington, S.C. in various capacities for 15 years. I love Darlington Raceway, and I will always consider the former Southern 500 Labor Day weekend as one of NASCAR’s most-respected traditions. It’s right up there with the green courts of major tennis tournaments and knicker-wearing gents on the golf courses of the PGA.

These things are dear to us, deeply ingrained in our sports memories and psyches. But for the most part they are gone now, replaced by long pants, the blue-court battleground of the U.S. Open and yes, Labor Day weekend NASCAR racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The atmosphere surrounding the initial announcement in June 2003 that Darlington would host its final Labor Day weekend event that year was as gloomy as the set of a Tim Burton film. Some fans reacted the way they would upon suddenly being told their parents were breaking up after 50 years of marriage. We weren’t simply surprised; we took it personally.

Mom stuck around and the annual Mother’s Day race weekend at Darlington has gone on to become one of the most popular stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule.

Dad headed out to California for a while to ‘find himself’ before eventually heading back home. Atlanta Motor Speedway welcomed Labor Day weekend racing like the prodigal son, dressing him up in fancy trappings and generally making a very big deal about his new residence in town. You can probably even find fatted calf on the concession stand menu if you look hard enough. AMS knows how to throw a party.

Still, every year around this time we hear that inevitable grousing about the way things were. It certainly would be a lot more productive, not to mention more fun, to focus on the way things are.

Atlanta is a terrific location for a Labor Day weekend, for a number of reasons. Its inland location means the track isn’t plagued by the threat of impending hurricanes, a constant issue at Darlington. He turned northward and dropped by North Carolina’s Outer Banks for a visit, but just this week Hurricane Earl threatened the East Coast. That could easily have affected South Carolina.

Atlanta is a ‘destination’ city, with plenty for those visiting on a holiday to do and see and eat. There’s plenty of room for everyone.

But when you get right down to it, the best reason to host a Labor Day weekend race at Atlanta is the quality of action on the track. The movie masterpiece “Gone With the Wind” taught us three important things — that tomorrow is another day, that raw radishes don’t sit well on an empty stomach … and if you’re looking for a battle royale, Atlanta is the place to find it. In 50 years of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing, the track has crowned an amazing 42 different winners, proving you just never know what might happen.

Atlanta Motor Speedway has been the site of some of racing’s most famous feuds and finishes. This is the place where Dale Earnhardt spanked Bobby Labonte by .010 seconds to claim his ninth win at the track.

Richard Petty ran his final Cup Series race in Atlanta, and Jeff Gordon ran his first. Just two weeks after Earnhardt’s death at Daytona in 2001, Kevin Harvick renewed the spirit of his team by taking his first Cup Series checkered flag, at Atlanta.

The most recent AMS buzz, of course, centered around Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski in March. Both drivers will be competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Great Clips 300 as well as the Emory Healthcare 500 at AMS, turning the weekend into something resembling an ad for Doublemint gum — “Double your pleasure; double your trouble.” Or something like that. It should double your interest.

NASCAR fans seem to have a very specific wish list where Labor Day weekend is concerned. We want nice weather and a Southern location. We want to see a great race offering close competition and the ever-present possibility of controversy. We want to have a memorable experience; we want to have fun. We want an annual racing tradition at a place with many decades-worth of character, history, and respect.

The Atlanta Motor Speedway offers us all these things, and more.

I’m fine with that. I hope you are, too.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

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McMurray Holds Off Kyle Busch for NASCAR Nationwide Series Win

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photo

(September 4, 2010)

HAMPTON, Ga.—Jamie McMurray held off Kyle Busch and stopped Busch one spot short of a historic win Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Driving JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet, McMurray asserted his superiority over the final 40 of 195 laps to win the NASCAR Nationwide Series Great Clips 300 at the 1.54-mile racetrack. The victory, the eighth of McMurray’s NASCAR Nationwide career, was his first since November 2004 at Darlington.

Busch is tied with Sam Ard for the series’ single-season wins record with 10.

Carl Edwards ran third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth. Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top 10. Series points leader Brad Keselowski finished 12th.

Harvick took four tires under caution on Lap 62, while Busch and most other contenders chose to restart on old rubber when the field came to green on Lap 65. After restarting 12th, Harvick passed McMurray for the lead on Lap 70.

By Lap 112, he had the rest of the field at least one lap down, after Busch and other drivers on old tires came to the pits under green. Harvick gave up the lead to Busch when he made a green-flag stop for tires and fuel on Lap 120.

Harvick left the pits eight seconds behind Busch but cut that margin in half before Ryan Newman spun Trevor Bayne on the backstretch to cause the third caution of the race and bunch the field. McMurray was first out of the pits under caution and led the field to a restart on Lap 153.

McMurray stayed out front until contact from Stenhouse sent Reed Sorenson’s Toyota hard into the outside wall on Lap 168. Keselowski and 11th-place finisher Josh Wise stayed on the track under the caution, but they quickly surrendered the top two spots when the field restarted.

McMurray surged to the front with Busch in pursuit, but Busch was unable to make up significant ground in the closing laps and finished .286 seconds back.