NASCAR News & Notes
Las Vegas and Atlanta
Las Vegas Post-Race Quotes
“Honestly, last week I agree with everybody — we were lucky. But where I think we were lucky was with the opportunity. Luck didn't allow us to win the race. Luck didn't keep me ahead of the 29 [Harvick] and those types of things. Luck didn't affect the great pit stop that put us in that position. We were lucky when the caution came out. I admitted that last week.
“If people are trying to find a way not to accept the quality of race team we have, that's cool. We'll just come back this week and take the trophy again.
“I have to say, that's a smart-a** remark, but truthfully from last week to this week there was nothing in my head that said I need to go prove something to someone. There was nothing in my head that said people are saying the 'lucky' comment.
“We knew we went out and won that race last week. Luck put us in the position. We still had to run 20 laps or 30 laps and hold off the 31 [Burton] and the 29. We slept great after the race Sunday night in California. [And we’re] very happy to come here and get it done again.”
— Las Vegas winner Jimmie Johnson, addressing the comments Kevin Harvick made after Johnson’s win the week prior that the 48 team was the beneficiary of luck.
“I didn't outsmart him. He did not make the wrong call. There wasn't a wrong call to make. They came in first. They wanted to maintain track position because track position is so critical. Only way for us to beat them was to do something different. I didn't know they were taking two tires. He didn't know we were taking four tires.
“So, you know, I went with my plan because I thought that's what we needed to do because I assumed a bunch of people were going to take two tires.”
— Race-winning crew chief Chad Knaus, on his late-race strategy to take four tires instead of two, a decision that won the race for the No. 48 team.
“They're really good, but they're really, really lucky, too. I mean, Jimmie is a good friend of mine, but there's no way of getting around how lucky they are. You don't win four championships and do all the things they've done.
“Chad studies the race as it goes along. I'm amazed at how quick he adapts, like the call on pit road in California, to go ahead and change the tires, know where everyone is, what he's got to do, what adjustments the car needs at the end.
“And Jimmie, he's the closest thing I've seen to a computer in the car. Two of them together have developed into an awesome combination. You know, really proud of 'em. They very seldom make a mistake.”
— Car owner Rick Hendrick, on the Chad Knaus/Jimmie Johnson pairing.
“I feel like the beginning of the run they [the No. 48 team] got out from us. I felt like at the end of the run we were just as good as they were. It's just a matter of we got a little bit looser than we had been all day long the last two runs.
“We can run with them and they know it.”
— Second-place finisher Kevin Harvick, who has consecutive runner-up finishes to Johnson.
“If we won the race we'd look like geniuses … Steve [Letarte, crew chief] would have. The fact that we lost the race, now Chad looks like a genius. That's how it goes sometimes. When you're leading, that's the toughest position to be in, to make that call.
“I talked to Steve briefly after the race. He's pretty upset obviously. I think he just felt like more people were gonna take two tires. Shoot, we were thinking for a split second to stay out. If we'd have done that, I think we would have finished 10th.
“You know, I felt like we needed to come in and get some tires, but I felt like two tires was the right call, too. We just needed the 48 to take two. They did the opposite of us. That won the race for them.
— Third-place finisher Jeff Gordon, who led a race-high 219 laps but faded at the end after taking two tires when Johnson took four.
Misc. Notes
Jimmie Johnson won the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The win was the 49th of his NASCAR Cup career and second in a row. Johnson now sits alone in 12th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, one victory shy of Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson. The win was Johnson’s fourth at LVMS (nine starts). All four have come in the last six visits.
Johnson, Matt Kenseth (2) and Jeff Burton (2) are the only drivers with multiple wins in Vegas.
Kevin Harvick’s runner-up finish was his second straight to Johnson. Harvick has three top 10s in three races this season. Harvick has five runs of seventh or better in the last six races dating back to last season.
Jeff Gordon recorded his first top-10 run of the young season with a third-place performance.
Mark Martin finished fourth for the second straight race. Matt Kenseth (fifth) has three runs of eighth or better this season.
Second-year driver Joey Logano followed up his sixth-place finish in California with a fifth in Las Vegas. Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle rounded out the top 10.
Harvick, Bowyer, Kenseth and Biffle are the only drivers to have recorded top-10 runs in all three events thus far.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 49 minutes, 53 seconds
Average Speed: 141.450 mph
Margin of Victory: 1.874 seconds
Caution Flags: 7 cautions for 29 laps
Lap Leaders: 18 lead changes among 9 drivers. Ku. Busch-pole, J. Gordon 1-52, Biffle 53-56, J. Gordon 57-89, Kenseth 90-98, J. Gordon 99-109, Speed 110-113, J. Gordon 114-160, Johnson 161, Harvick 162, Ky. Busch 163, Stewart 164-165, J. Gordon 166-213, Harvick 214, Stewart 215-219, J. Gordon 220-230, Bowyer 231-233, J. Gordon 234-250, Johnson 251-267.
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 1.54-mile, quad-oval; Banking/Turns: 24 degrees; Banking/Straightaways: 5 degrees
2009 Winners: Kurt Busch (March), Kasey Kahne (September)
Cup Practice Times (all times Eastern): Friday, March 5: 2:30-4:00 pm; Saturday, March 6: 11:00-11:45 am; Happy Hour: 12:20-1:20 pm. All practice sessions will be televised live on SPEED TV.
Cup Qualifying: Friday, March 5: 6:10 pm (SPEED TV)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500: Sunday, March 7: 1:15 pm (FOX). Coverage starts at 10:00 am on SPEED TV.
Still seeing full fields
For the third straight race, 46 teams are officially entered for this weekend’s event. Those that must race their way in (not in the top 35 in owners points): 09-Aric Almirola, 13-Max Papis, 21-Bill Elliott, 36-Mike Bliss, 46-Terry Cook, 55-Michael McDowell, 66-Dave Blaney, 71-Bobby Labonte, 82-Scott Speed, 87-Joe Nemechek, 90-Casey Mears. Elliott and Labonte have Past Champion’s Provisionals they can fall back on in the event they do not qualify on time. Labonte has the most recent title (2000).
Atlanta Motor Speedway Facts
Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted 101 Grand National/Cup races since 1960, when Fireball Roberts won the Dixie 300. At the time, the track was known as the Atlanta International Raceway and was a standard 1.5-mile oval. Its name was changed prior to the 1991 season to Atlanta Motor Speedway when bought by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. The track was reconfigured in 1997, when the frontstretch and backstretch were swapped and doglegs installed, making it a 1.54-mile quad-oval.
Dale Earnhardt is the all-time wins leader at AMS (9). Bobby Labonte (6), Bill Elliott (5), Jeff Gordon (4), Carl Edwards (3) and Jimmie Johnson (3) are the active drivers with the most wins.
Earnhardt, in 46 starts, also owns the most top 5s of any driver (26). Cale Yarborough (23) and Richard Petty (22) round out the top 3. Jeff Gordon (14) leads all active participants.
Petty leads a decorated cast of drivers with 33 top 10s at Atlanta. Earnhardt (30), Yarborough (29), Darrell Waltrip (28), Bobby Allison and Buck Baker (27) comprise the top 5. Mark Martin’s 23 top 10s in 48 starts lead all active drivers.
Ryan Newman and Buddy Baker lead all drivers with seven career AMS poles. Six of Newman’s poles came consecutively from 2003-05.
Mark Martin won his second career AMS pole last February. His mark of 187.045 mph was well short of the qualifying record set by Geoffrey Bodine. Bodine’s 197.478 mph was set in the circuit’s first trip to the newly-resurfaced speedway in 1997.
Kurt Busch is the defending race winner at AMS. Kasey Kahne won the September event.
