Kurt Busch drove the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Supercharger to victory lane in Atlanta, but it took a little extra work. Scheduled for 325 laps, the Kobalt 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway turned out to be the Kobalt 507.7 after a late caution forced five extra laps and a green, white, checkered flag “overdrive” finish. Busch had the best car on the track Sunday, but he had to work for his first victory since June of 2008 when he won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After winning the race and achieving a perfect driver rating of 150.0, he celebrated by throwing the car into reverse and backing his way around Atlanta Motor Speedway — a move that Busch would like to call “The Hot Rod” but his friends have dubbed “The Donkey.” Donkey may be more appropriate since it was a rough ride around the track at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Pressed about the unique victory lap Busch said it was, “Something me and my buddies brewed up after a few too many Miller Lites. It lets the car relax. Kind of like cooling down a horse after a good Kentucky Derby run.” Whatever the reason, a tradition was born Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway after the “overdrive” finish instigated by a blown tire.
Before Robby Gordon’s No. 7 Jim Beam Toyota blew a tire with four laps remaining, bringing out the 11th and final caution of the day, Brian Vickers was closing in on Busch, who had dominated the track by running a high groove and leading 235 laps. Vickers’s No. 83 Red Bull Toyota was running well as the track’s surface changed in the afternoon cool-down. He closed on Busch, narrowing his lead from more than a second to just three car lengths. But once the flag came out with four laps to go, the race went from a 500-mile test of tires and patience to a pit stop and a three-lap finish. And while Atlanta was robbed of an exciting, green flag photo finish, it was rewarded with a star-studded ending.
A final pit stop for fresh tires and a splash of fuel would decide the starting order of the three-lap finish. Busch and Vickers headed into the pits in first and second place, but it was Carl Edwards in the No. 99 Aflac Ford who came out of the pits in the lead. Edwards was followed by Busch in second and Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet in third. Vickers would fall to sixth coming out of the pits and finish the race out of contention in fifth place.
Edwards jumped to the front by choosing to put on two new tires instead of the four taken by most teams. When the green flag dropped and the race restarted, Edwards was forced to try to hold off the superior car and fresher tires of Kurt Busch. Busch slid to the high side immediately, got help from Gordon, and drove past Edwards easily. Gordon tried to pass Edwards with Busch, but Busch’s car was too much for Gordon, who couldn’t follow and was left to duel Edwards for second place. Eventually Gordon did pass Edwards, but was unable to make a run at Busch before they reached the checkered flag.
In the end, Kurt Busch had the best car and drove a near-perfect race to be rewarded with his first win of 2009. Busch started the race on the front row after qualifying second with a time trial speed of 186.365 mile per hour, just .108 miles per hour slower than pole-sitter Mark Martin, who ran well all day before his No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet had tire trouble on lap 217 and brought out the eighth caution of the day.
Busch withstood challenges from Gordon, Edwards, and Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, all of whom led multiple laps. He was able to avoid getting caught up in the events leading to all of the 11 cautions and caught a big break when the third caution of the day, and by far the most unconventional, transpired. A member of Marcos Ambrose’s pit crew chased an errant tire into a restricted area of the track creating a caution that split the field significantly leaving only a handful of racers on the lead lap. Busch was one of those racers. He would go on to brush the wall, as Busch put it, “more times than I can count on with one hand” during the course of the race, yet hang on to win.
Gordon, who finished second, and Edwards, who finished third, both raced in the top 10 for most of the day and in falling to Busch provided NASCAR and Atlanta Motor Speedway with a great finale.
Even Tony Stewart driving the No. 14 Office Depot Chevrolet made his presence known when he tapped rookie Joey Logano’s bumper late in the race. Logano, who was not on the lead lap, just happens to drive Stewart’s old car the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota for his old owner Joe Gibbs. “I’m 100 percent sure it’s not intentional,” Logano said after the race.
With this win, Kurt Busch caps off back-to-back wins for the Busch brothers in two ways. Kyle Busch was last year’s winner at the Kobalt 500 and last week’s winner of the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Heading into the race Kurt was just looking for a good showing. “We came through round one California without a scratch,” he was quoted as saying before getting to Atlanta for Sunday’s race. “We got put up against the ropes in Las Vegas, but made it back to our corner only bloodied. We need to come back at Atlanta and at least hold our own.”
Not only did Busch hold his own, but he landed a serious uppercut on the chin of the early season Sprint Cup points standings moving into third position. If he can keep it up, NASCAR will all have to get used to the sight of the Miller Lite car doing “The Donkey.”
Lentz can be reached at zlentz@scoreatl.com.
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