Kyle Busch Dominates At Atlanta Motor Speedway

by Josh Cagliani
03/10/2008

Kyle Busch and Toyota could not have asked for a much better weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga.

Busch, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, was up front all day long and pulled away from fellow teammate Tony Stewart in the closing laps.

The No. 18 car has seen its share of victories at AMS. Bobby Labonte won in that car six times while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“That’s amazing,” Busch said. “The No. 18 has always been the car to beat here at Atlanta with Bobby Labonte.

The win marks the first time Toyota has been in victory lane since it entered the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last year. It is the first win by a foreign manufacturer since Al Keller won in a Jaguar in 1954.

It took Toyota 40 races to enter winner’s circle. When Dodge came back to NASCAR after being gone from the series for over 15 years in 2001, it was 26 races before Sterling Marlin was able to get to victory lane for the automaker.

Even though it took Toyota longer to get their first win, they have something that Dodge did not. They have a proven winner in the Joe Gibbs Racing team.

The Gibbs team has combined for two NASCAR championships and 40 wins between Stewart, Busch and Denny Hamlin. Gibbs has three championships in total: Stewart has two and Labonte has one. They also have the backing of Toyota’s seemingly endless resources.

When Sunday came around the early favorite had to be Jimmie Johnson following his season sweep of the Atlanta races a year ago. The good news for the rest of the field was Johnson was a non-factor in the race on Sunday.

Johnson’s teammates were a different story, especially Dale Earnhardt Jr. Junior and Jeff Gordon started the race on the front row. Junior jumped out to the early lead and finished the day with 62 laps led and a third-place finish.

“We drove hard and worked hard,” Junior said. “That’s what it’s all about. This is how they ought to be.”

It was not all fun and games for Junior however. Both Junior and Stewart complained about the tire that Goodyear brought to the track.

“That’s the most pathetic racing tire I’ve ever been on in my professional career,” Stewart said.

He went on to say the tire brought to Atlanta should embarrass Goodyear and it was ridiculous to race on that type of tire.

The tire seemed to play right into Busch’s hands. Busch is known for liking his cars loose and he showed it by dominating all weekend.

Busch wasn’t just the class of the field on Sunday when he led 173 laps but also on Friday and Saturday.

In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday, Busch started in the third position for the American Commercial Lines 200. After making a long pit stop early in the race, he had to restart at the back of the field. He seemed to toy with the field as he weaved in and out of cars using every inch of the track following the stop, even using the apron to pass. In the end, he was able to hold of Ron Hornaday Jr. for the win, his second consecutive win in the Craftsman Truck series.

Busch was driving away from the competition on Saturday in the Nationwide Series race until a blown tire ended any chances of him winning. Before the blown tire, Busch had led 153 of the first 170 laps.

The race weekend included 653 combined laps between all three series. Busch led 365 of those laps which means he led 56 percent of the total laps run.

Busch will look to continue the success he had over the weekend as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway next week. The race will mark the one-year anniversary of the Car of Tomorrow, which was a race won by…Kyle Busch.

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