photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Leading twice for a race-high 97 of 150 laps, Clint Bowyer easily beat Kyle Busch to the finish line by a little over a second.

“Everybody back at the shop did such a great job building this thing,” Bowyer said. “They were excited about it before we came down here, and any time these guys get excited about building a truck back at the shop, you know as a racecar driver that you’re going to have a good hot rod, and we certainly did.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-T1ISzrFSM

“I love this series,” Bowyer said. “I think this is some of the best racing we have in NASCAR. It’s fun to be back in it.” This is Bowyer’s second series victory in only starts. His last win in the series came at Texas Motor Speedway in November of 2006.

In a race that only saw four leaders, Busch was out in front for 25 laps.

“The guys gave me a great Z-Line Designs Tundra, but the 2 (Clint Bowyer) was the class of the field tonight,” runner-up Busch said. “We had a great points night tonight. Obviously, there are two winners here with Bodine and Clint, but maybe next week will be ours.”

In his first year as an owner and driver, Busch with Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) leads the series owners standings by 120 points over champion Todd Bodine’s #30 Germain Racing entry.

Johnny Sauter finished third followed by Matt Crafton, Aric Almirola and Mike Skinner.

Starting from the pole, rookie Austin Dillon led the first 24 laps and finished solidly in the top-10, going home 7th.

David Starr, Justin Lofton and Bobby Hamilton Jr rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 27 laps: 18-23 (#89 accident Turn 4); 54-59 (Fluid on track); 62-66 (#4,9,25 accident Turn 2); 90-95 (#72 accident Turn 4); 115-118 (#3, 33 accident Turn 2)

There were 4 lead changes among 4 drivers: A. Dillon # 1-24; C. Bowyer 25-66; K. Busch 67-91; J. Buescher 92-95; C. Bowyer 96-150

Because Todd Bodine leads the standings by 202 points over 2nd place competitor, Aric Almirola, Bodine officially clinched his second series championship with one race remaining. Bodine becomes just the third driver in truck series history to win multiple championships behind Ron Hornaday Jr and Jack Sprague. He’s also the third driver to win the championship with one race left in the season behind Greg Biffle and Ron Hornaday Jr.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YNP3Epr6xE

Next:
Friday, November 19th -- Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (season finale)

photo credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images

“This Tundra was awesome tonight,” Busch said. “I can’t thank all the guys on this KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) team enough. They did an awesome job. It’s fun to be able to have the success we’ve had and hopefully we can continue to get some more for next year.”

Busch dominated leading three times for 80 of 147 laps including the last 20 after passing points leader and rival Todd Bodine on the final restart.

“On that last restart there I got a good jump,” Busch said. “I got a good jump and didn’t beat Todd (Bodine) to the line and ended up kind of being alongside him into Turn 1, and I don’t know if my lane just had a better draft or what—we pulled away down the backstretch and held on there.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLJWsX_ZWmE

“I don’t know whether I got a better push from behind, I had a better lane that we drafted, or what happened there, but he didn’t stay next to me as well as I expected him (Todd Bodine) to,” Busch said. “I got clear of him, and I was like, Man, this right here was fortune. I wasn’t expecting to be clear so quick. I figured I’d have to race him.”

This is the second victory for Busch at Texas after winning last year’s fall truck race there. What’s an even more impressive stat is Busch picked up a series-high seventh win of the season in 14 starts. He’ll be busy this weekend as Kyle will compete in all three NASCAR races at Texas.

Johnny Sauter was a tough contender leading 31 laps in the race himself.  With 55 to go, Sauter ran out of fuel and had to spend the rest of the night having to make back ground. Still, Sauter scored a runner-up finish.

“We just ran out of fuel,” Sauter said. “The upside of it is we had the dominant truck here tonight. We passed Busch on the track for the lead and we held them all off. We needed a caution to get the track position we lost after that stop and I couldn’t believe we got it. We had a shot at the end but it’s still frustrating.”

Matt Crafton won the pole, but had to start the race from the back due to unapproved changes his team made to the truck after qualifying. Crafton fought back for a third place finish.

“I have no idea what happened to the truck over night,” Crafton said. “It looked like someone sat on it, leaned on it, or dropped something heavy on the bed at the base of the spoiler. We had to go in and do some welding and NASCAR said we had to go to the back. I was anxious because this is a fast track and there were some drivers in the field that had never been here before. And, just as I expected, there was some trouble on the first lap and it was right in front of us. I barely got by, but we could have been knocked out of the race on the very first lap when we should have been up there leading.”

Todd Bodine finished fourth followed by Elliott Sadler, James Buescher, Aric Almirola, Mike Skinner, Parker Kligerman and Ricky Carmichael.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 4 caution flags for 22 laps:  3-5 (#7,20 accident Turn 4); 42-48 (#3 accident Turn 1); 53-59 (#11, 25, 33 accident Turn 2); 122-126 (#6 spin Turn 2)

There were 10 lead changes among 7 drivers:  0; K. Busch 1-7; R. Hornaday Jr. 8; K. Busch 9-60; J. Sauter 61-91; T. Bodine 92-98; A. Almirola 99-100; J. White 101-102; B. Hamilton Jr. 103-110; T. Bodine 111-126; K. Busch 127-147

Todd Bodine leads the driver standings by 230 points over 2nd place driver, Aric Almirola. With just two races remaining, Bodine can clinch his second championship next Friday at Phoenix International Raceway if he: finishes fourth without leading any laps; finishes fifth and leads at least a lap or finishes sixth after leading the most laps.

“I think that just shows how good our guys are and how good Jr (Mike Hillman Jr, crew chief) and the team have been getting the truck setup,” Bodine said. “I’ve said quite a few times, the first five races we struggled with making them drive good and then went to work and figured it out and they’ve been driving great — that’s what allows you to keep that consistency. Even on a bad night and a bad run like tonight, bad tires at the end and pushing like crazy, we still finished fourth. I think it just shows how good the team really is.”

Kyle Busch has a shot to win the 2010 owners championship for his own racing organization, Kyle Busch Motorsports. With his second consecutive race win, Busch extended his lead in the owners standings to 72 points over Germain Racing’s #30 entry driven by Bodine.

“The cool thing about it is it’s our first year and we’re in the running for it,” said Busch. “We’ve got a great opportunity to go to Phoenix and to go to Homestead and score enough points to win this deal. We also can give it up, too. We’ve got to be careful in what we do and make sure the preparation is there. For our first year to come out here and be so strong and have the guys that I have pulling every single week for us, working as hard as we work and having the partners that we have, they’re pumped about it. They love every minute of it. It’s been fun. We’re still looking for more next year and secure some bigger sponsors for some more races, but hopefully we can get some of that done during the off-season and go to Daytona and look forward to the full year.”

Next:
Friday, November 12th -- Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

A photo finish? Yes. Controversial? Perhaps.

Busch beat out Aric Almirola by a mere .002 seconds. It will go down in series history as the closest finish ever since the advent of electronic scoring. Call it deja-vu at Talladega. It came down to a photo finish between Busch and Almirola last year for the race win.

“That was cool,” Busch said. “Man, Aric (Almirola) deserved to win the race and deserved it from last year. I had Johnny (Sauter) pushing on me and I was getting loose through the tri-oval -- just trying to stay with the 51 (Almirola). I turned it back to the bottom to try to straighten it back out and I was still loose alongside of him. I thought the 13 (Sauter) was going to my bottom so I wanted to block him. It was just crazy there at the end. I can’t thank Traxxas, Toyota Tundra -- these guys do an awesome job here at Kyle Busch Motorsports. M&M’s, Flexco, NOS Energy Drink, Gillette and my good friend Jim Hunter who passed away this morning. Thoughts go to him and his family and everybody. Real proud of all these guys and this is a cool one.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRvdyIeY4EQ

Kyle Busch: “That’s exactly what I thought -- I was like, I just want to push him (Aric Almirola). I got under his back bumper off of four and we came to the tri-oval and I started getting loose. I thought I had Johnny (Sauter) pushing me so I kind of steered up a little bit to try to save it. I couldn’t go too high because Johnny was going to go to my bottom so I had to bring it back down. I got underneath Aric and at that point you just have to stay in the throttle and keep digging. I don’t even know where the yellow line was. For as loose as my stuff was through there, I was trying to save it and get away from those guys and not spin out. All in all, great job by these guys. Everybody with Camping World and all the great folks -- the fans in the stands is cool too.”

Aric Almirola: “I was at his (Kyle Busch) mercy. He could have went to my outside, he could have went to my inside. I tried to do everything I could to try to protect as long as I could. I think NASCAR maybe should look at that. It looked like he went below the yellow line right there before the start-finish line. It was really close, but I hate to lose one like that. These guys work awfully hard on our speedway stuff. To lose one like that is bad. He’s below the yellow line.”

Johnny Sauter: “When you’re at the end of these races you have to get aggressive. The give and take that you do in the first 80 laps is out the window and it’s about taking whatever you can get. Almirola pushed us to the front and he did what he had to do to get hooked up with the guy he said he’d work with so he hung us out to dry. If I didn’t go with him we’d have been shuffled back to the end of the line and our day would have been done.”

With Busch on the yellow line, Almirola met with NASCAR officials following the race to discuss the finish.

“The reason they gave me was that Kyle’s truck was sideways when he was next to me, and that’s what made him go below the yellow line,” Almirola said. “I didn’t force him below the yellow line, they didn’t tell me that I did. They said that he went below the yellow line because he was trying to regain control of his truck. I guess they’re going to have to do a better job elaborating in the driver’s meeting on what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable.”

It’s the second consecutive series victory for Busch at Talladega and a series-leading sixth win of the season. Busch has now scored 83 victories in NASCAR competition across the top three touring series: Sprint Cup Series -- 19, Nationwide Series -- 42, Camping World Truck Series -- 22.

The “Big One”, typical to racing on the big track, happened with just three laps remaining which took out the series points leader and the pole sitter.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBPnzkEWk6Y

“That’s a shame that things like that happen,” Bodine said. “I think the 95 (Grant Enfinger) just gave me the shove from hell and thought he was going to bump me somewhere. Turned me sideways and caused a big wreck. My guys being the great crew they are were trying to put the truck back together to pick up a few spots.” Bodine finished 18th.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbxzY4w_HO8

Ron Hornaday Jr. was holding the steering wheel when he walked out of the infield care center. “Harvick always told me that if I couldn’t win to make sure I brought the steering wheel home so here it is,” he joked referring to his team owner, Kevin Harvick. Starting from the pole, Hornaday lead three times for a race-high 49 laps and will be credited with a 21st place finish.

Matt Crafton finished 4th followed by Ricky Carmichael, James Buescher, Timothy Peters, rookie Austin Dillon, Jason White and Craig Goess Jr. rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 19 laps: 24-32 (#6, 7 accident turn 1); 61-64 (#9 accident tri-oval); 75-77 (#17, 84 accident turn 1); 87-88 (#57 stopped on track); 93-93 (#2, 5, 30, 33, 60, 95 accident turn 1)

There were 15 lead changes among 8 drivers: R. Hornaday Jr. 0; J. White 1-9; R. Hornaday Jr. 10-52; K. Schrader 53; R. Hornaday Jr. 54-58; C. Fontaine 59-61; M. Skinner 62; C. Fontaine 63-64; M. Crafton 65-68; K. Busch 69-74; J. White 75-77; R. Hornaday Jr. 78; C. Fontaine 79-88; K. Busch 89; A. Almirola 90-94; K. Busch 95

Todd Bodine continues to lead in the standings by 216 points over 2nd place driver, Aric Almirola.

Next:
Friday, Nov. 5th -- WinStar World Casino 350k at Texas Motor Speedway

photo credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

Hornaday took the lead with 3 to go and held off Kyle Busch after a green-white-checkered finish for his second win of the season.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNAWFZzuMh0

Surprisingly enough, it’s the first race win for Hornaday at Martinsville even though he has won more short-track races than any other driver in the series.

“This is unbelievable! I won at Martinsville fair and square,” the four-time series champion exclaimed.

Well, Hornaday has won more races than any other driver in the series -- period. This is his series-leading 47th victory with 23 of those races wins coming on tracks less than a mile in length.

Starting from the pole, Kyle Busch soon began to battle an ill-handling truck, but made it to the lead for 28 laps over the closing laps in the race.

“It was normal Martinsville, just don’t know how to find speed when you need it,” Busch said. “Overall, just a good day. We ran real competitive. We were right behind the 2 (Kevin Harvick) and the 33 (Hornaday) for most of it, trying to make our way back up to the front. Once getting there, just too tight. We just couldn’t get the thing to roll the center of the corner the way it needed to roll the center of the corner. Just got beat. We’ll go on to next week, I guess.”

Busch posted his 10th top-10 finish of the season. He has won more poles and the most races so far this truck season, however Busch is only running a partial schedule. He is in contention for the owners championship trailing Germain Racing by 39 points for the top spot.

It was the series points leader’s race to lose. Todd Bodine led a race-high 83 laps, but had to settle for a 3rd place finish.

“It was a little eventful for us -- not a normal, typical Martinsville for us,” Bodine said. “We had a really, really good truck. It kind of went away a little bit at the end. I was overdriving it a little bit probably. This was one of the wild cards we were worried about with the points race and anything can happen like in the spring time. A guy stopped in front of me in the middle of the back straightaway and I ran into him, popped the radiator and blew the motor. Stuff that you can’t control. To come out of here third is a great day, a good run for us. We’ve got a lot of good runs at Martinsville -- we finally led some laps and ended up leading the most laps today so that was good points wise. I’m proud of everybody at Germain Racing for sticking with me and doing a great job every single week.”

No problem for the points leader, though. Leaving Martinsville, Bodine has a commanding 282-point over his nearest competitor, second place driver Aric Almirola.

There were just five leaders during the Kroger 200 including Johnny Sauter, who was out in front for 49 laps. Sauter was involved in a couple late-race incidents and finished 21st.

“We probably had one of the three best trucks here today and we’re leaving here 21st,” Sauter said. “We got up and led some laps and drove away from most of the guys who came in and got new tires. That’s how good we were today. We were a little too tight and that’s why we pitted again. I couldn’t get up there and race for the win the way it was so we gambled on an adjustment and new tires. I think we could have raced back into the top five but we got wrecked. Even after that we raced back into the top ten, but we had some bodywork come off and had to pit to fix it. I knew we had a great truck to come here and we did. Circumstances worked against us. But I know we have four more races left and a truck just as good as this one to go to each of them so we’ll put this behind us and go on to Talladega.”

Hornaday’s team owner, Kevin Harvick was also in the field for Saturday’s race. Harvick led 35 laps, himself and finished 15th after causing some controversy. Drivers Justin Lofton and Timothy Peters blamed Harvick for their 13th and 34th place finishes.

“I kind of knew it was coming but you know what, just because you’re a Cup driver doesn’t mean that you get any special opportunities out here or anything,” Lofton said. “It was one of those things I just got off the 13 (Sauter) truck and I was all squirrelly and he was just there. It was just the circumstance that he put himself in and it’s his own fault.”

“We had a flat tire, got into the 17 (Peters) and got spun out,” Harvick said. “It was an eventful day.”

Jason White went home 4th followed by Aric Almirola, Mike Skinner, David Starr, Stacy Compton, Ricky Carmichael and Matt Crafton rounded out the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 11 cautions for 59 laps: 10-14 (#92, 97 accident turn 3); 26-28 (#24 spin frontstretch); 41-46 (#01, 24 accident turn 2); 59-62 (#01, 46 accident turn 4); 92-98 (#97 spin turn 2); 149-154 (Debris); 159-163 (#13, 31 accident turn 1); 165-173 (#17, 88 accident turn 3 [Red Flag: Lap 168, 8:14]); 183-186 (#3, 13, 15 accident turn 1); 193-195 (#2, 3, 7 accident turn 4); 198-204 (#24 spin turn 3)

There were 5 lead changes among 5 drivers: K. Busch 1-7; K. Harvick 8-42; J. Sauter 43-91; T. Bodine 92-174; K. Busch 175-195; R. Hornaday Jr. 196-206

A new record was set for four women qualifying for Saturday’s race.

Next:
Saturday, October 30th -- Mountain Dew 250 fueled by Fred’s at Talladega Superspeedway
TV coverage starts at 3 pm on SPEED Channel

photo credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

With two to go, Busch held off James Buescher on the final restart to score the victory by .280 seconds.

“On that last restart, I knew I needed to have a good run through (turns) one and two,” Busch said. “If I didn’t clear him (Buescher) off of (turn) two, he was going to run all the way down the back straightaway and side-draft me and get back alongside of me and get me loose in (turn) three. I knew I had to clear him regardless of what was going to happen, I had to clear him. I tried rubbing off on him and he was still there a little bit and it turned me into the wall. It was a hard hit. It knocked my helmet crooked. I wasn’t sure what I had getting down into turn three, but those guys got to racing back there and the truck felt fine through three and four. I was surprised, really, that it felt the way it did and we were just able to mosey around for the next couple of laps and bring it home. I was glad that it was okay enough to drive. I’m sure after 30 laps or so it would get tight because it knocked the fender in pretty bad. Overall, it wasn’t that bad, but you have to do what you have to do in order to win the races coming down toward the end and, the last restart on a green-white-checker, you’ve got to go.”

“We got a good restart and beat Kyle down into (turn) one and he beat me off (turn) two. He just went to the fence. He wasn’t clear at all. He drove like he had no truck on his outside, and he hit my left front and ended up in the wall. He just drove us dirty and got the win, but we hung in for a second-place finish.”

Actually, it was the Kyle Busch-Kevin Harvick show for much of the day until Buescher became involved in the end. Here’s what Harvick had to say about the Busch-Buescher duel at the end, “this is a short track and everybody’s digging for everything that they can get. I bounced off Kyle as much as he bounced off everybody else. Y’know, it’s not anything any of us would’ve do to the other ten times over again.”

Busch, Harvick and Buescher were the only leaders during the race and swapped the lead sixteen times.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6zeXEQNtLM

Busch started from the pole and led eight times to dominate 156 of 175 laps. It’s his 21st series victory and 5th of the season. Busch also won the truck race last year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. If you’re counting, Busch has now won 80 races across NASCAR’s top three touring series.

Harvick started second to Busch and the two rode 1-2 throughout the race. Harvick led for eleven laps himself but had to settle for a third place finish. “We had a good day despite the fact that we didn’t get the win today,” Harvick said. “We put on a really good show with the 18 (Kyle Busch), and we were evenly matched throughout the race. We were a little tighter than I wanted to be at the end and I just couldn’t get by him. I’m really glad we were able to give JEGS.com a great showing today, even though it wasn’t the result we wanted.”

Matt Crafton left fourth followed by rookie Austin Dillon, Timothy Peters, Johnny Sauter, Aric Almirola, Todd Bodine and Bobby Hamilton Jr completed the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 8 caution flags for 32 laps and 16 lead changes among just 3 drivers: K. Busch 0; K. Harvick 1; K. Busch 2-45; K. Harvick 46; K. Busch 47-49; K. Harvick 50-52; K. Busch 53-67; K. Harvick 68; K. Busch 69-91; K. Harvick 92; K. Busch 93-128; K. Harvick 129-131; K. Busch 132-163; K. Harvick 164; K. Busch 165; J. Buescher 166-173; K. Busch 174-175

Todd Bodine continues to lead in the standings by 257 points over 2nd place driver, Aric Almirola.

For the (unofficial) point standings, click here (nascar.com)

Next:
Saturday, Sept. 25th -- Smith’s Food & Drug Stores 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

2009 Atlanta Motor Speedway
photo credit: Darrell Ingham/Getty Images for NASCAR

a/k/a Fastlanta

A lot of attention will be paid to the drivers looking to make it into the championship hunt. Points leader Kevin Harvick and second-place driver in the standings, Jeff Gordon have already clinched their spot in this year’s Chase. Three drivers have a realistic shot to secure their berth while three other drivers have a remote chance to seal the deal this Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Current Driver Standings – Top 12

- Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin have favorable chances of locking into the Chase after Atlanta.

After his dominant win at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch only needs to finish 40th or better without leading any laps to clinch his spot in The Chase or 42nd or better with at least one lap led or 43rd or better with the most laps led.

“We’re working really hard,” Busch said. “Bristol was a big confidence booster for this team, so were hoping it gives us some momentum that we need during the Chase.” In his 12 Atlanta races, Busch has 1 win, 2 top-5 and 2 top-10 finishes (with an average finish of 18.333).

Carl Edwards -21st or better, no laps led; 23rd or better, at least one lap led; 25th or better, most laps led

“I can’t wait to go to Atlanta,” Edwards said. “It’s multi-grooved, fast, fun and has a lot of history. I got my first win there back in 2005 and sure would like to get another one this weekend. We need a solid run to get locked into the Chase at Atlanta so we can go to Richmond next week and just focus on winning the race. We’ve got a sizeable lead on 13th place which is what we need with just two races remaining before the Chase.” In his 12 races at Atlanta, Edwards has scored 3 wins, 6 top-5 and 8 top-10 finishes (with an average finish of 15.250).

Denny Hamlin – 20th or better, no laps led; 22nd or better, at least one lap led; 23rd or better, most laps led

“We’re in the position where if we don’t win, this weekend really doesn’t mean that much to us,” Hamlin said. “Our attitude is to throw whatever we can at the car. If we feel like we’re off, we’re going to take some risks and maybe run terrible, but maybe hit that magical setup and go out there and win and get 10 more bonus points for the Chase. Right now, it’s more about building momentum than anything.” Hamlin has yet to win at Atlanta after 10 races. He has posted 1 top-5 and 3 top-10 finishes (with an average finish of 15.900).

- Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth have the potential to lock into the Chase leaving Atlanta.

Tony Stewart – 19th or better, no led; 21st or better, at least one lap led; 23rd or better, most laps led

“Everybody understands the system,” Stewart said. “We know that if the Chase were to start tomorrow, we’d start behind. So, it’s not a situation where you try to make up for it. That’s when you get yourself in trouble. It’s no different than gambling when you get off your game and you try to do something to get yourself back square, that’s when you get in trouble. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing. That’s what got us here.” Stewart has won three times at Atlanta in 23 races with 8 top-5 and 13 top-10 finishes (and an average finish of 12.043).

Jeff Burton – 17th or better, no laps led; 19th or better, at least one lap led; 21st or better, most laps led

“Well, I was hoping that we could clinch a spot way before Atlanta,” Burton said. “It would be really nice to go to Atlanta and not worry about making a mistake and costing us the chance at making the Chase. It is what it is. But, our main goal every week is to race for the win. We’re certainly going to focus on that on Sunday but, at the same time, we’ll have to race smart to get locked in (the Chase) heading to Richmond. Then, that will be our complete focus at Richmond to win.” Burton hasn’t won at Atlanta after 32 tries, but he’s scored 7 top-5 and 13 top-10 finishes (with an average finish of 17.156).

Matt Kenseth – 15th or better, no laps led; 17th or better, at least one lap led; 19th or better, most laps led

“We need to get running better and get running more consistently in the top 10 ,” Kenseth said. “I mean, we finished 10th (at Bristol) but that needs to be your worst finish if you’re gonna ever contend for a championship, so we need to keep working on it and get a little better.” Kenseth is another top-12 driver who hasn’t yet won at Atlanta, but he has posted 8 top-5 and 12 top-10 finishes in 21 races (with an average finish of 13.143).

Current Driver Standings – Outside the Top 12

Several drivers are on the directly on the outside looking in which includes this year’s Daytona 500 winner, Jamie McMurray.

“It certainly is a better position to be in right now for us because there only is one person we have to pass,” McMurray said. “When you have three or four in between you, you have to hope all of them have something bad happen to all them.” McMurray has posted four top-10 finishes in 16 races at Atlanta.

“Anything can happen,” Martin said. “Where we are now, it would be a surprise to make up that kind of ground in two races. It would come at Clint’s (Bowyer) expense for sure. But, it’s important to us to continue to work on trying to get our cars faster and get stronger and better as a team. That’s the most important thing on our agenda. If we were able to go out and win Atlanta then we might think going into Richmond that we could get back in the Chase. Realistically it seems like we’ve got some work to do before we’re going to be a contender to win races. Really, that’s more important than talking about the Chase.” At this point last year, Martin had already won four races whereas this season he remains winless. In his 49 races at Atlanta, Martin has scored 2 wins, 14 top-5 and 23 top-10 finishes.

“We know we have a lot of ground to make up, and after the last race in Bristol, it looks like we need a win to gain in points,” Newman said. “We finished sixth in Bristol and went backwards in the standings. That’s a pretty good indicator about how fierce the competition is week in and week out.” Newman leads all active drivers with seven pole awards at Atlanta, but has yet to win there. In 17 starts, Newman’s posted 1 top-5 and 5 top-10 finishes.

Jeff Gordon leads all of the top-12 drivers with four Atlanta wins while Bobby Labonte leads all active drivers with six wins at the fast 1.54-mile track. This weekend bodes well for Gordon, Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers with the most wins at Atlanta with 35.

Kurt Busch is the only repeat winner in the past five races at Atlanta. He won the past two spring races there. There have been 42 different winners in Atlanta’s 50-year history of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing. Kasey Kahne is the defending race winner.

TV coverage of the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway starts at 7 pm this Sunday night on ESPN.

The Nationwide Series also race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. TV coverage of the Great Clips 300 begins at 7 pm on ESPN2.

The Camping World Truck Series will race at Kentucky Speedway on Friday night. TV coverage of the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers will begin at 7:30 pm on SPEED.

photo credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

With the Sprint Cup Series off this weekend, what’s a racer to do other than race?!

Starting fourth, it didn’t take Busch long to get to the lead. Try lap 13. Busch dominated the night leading three times for 121 laps.

“It was really fun out there tonight. This Toyota Tundra was awesome tonight,” Busch said. “It’s just real fun to drive these trucks. I love coming to Chicago. It’s kind of like a second home for me. I look forward to coming back here next year.”

The race wasn’t a little drama. The race was sent into four laps of overtime after Timothy Peters blew an engine which brought out the final caution of the night. Busch had to hold off points leader Todd Bodine on the green, white, checkered finish.

“I was concerned. I remember last year it was real tough to get away from side-by-side,” Busch said. “This year, I got clear on him (Todd Bodine) just going down the front straightaway getting into turn one there. From there on out I was worried that he would get a draft on me. These trucks, man, they draft so easy. That’s how I ran him down and got to him the first time. He just didn’t quite have enough to pass us. He had enough to hang with us all night and it was fun man. Really cool to be out here.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRHvawnRcvY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of6Nyy0lw7s

This is the second consecutive truck race win for Busch and his fourth of the season. Busch swept all three national series races last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s his 17th NASCAR win this season across the top 3 touring seasons: 3 Sprint Cup Series wins, 10 Nationwide Series wins and 4 Camping World Truck Series wins.

“We’re going for five in Kentucky next week -- so watch out,” Busch said.

It’s the second time in Busch’s NASCAR career that he has won four consecutive races. He accomplished the feat in May. Busch ties that four-time winning record with Billy Wade (1964), David Pearson (1966, 1968), Cale Yarborough (1976), Darrell Waltrip (1981) and Mark Martin (1993). Richard Petty’s 10-race win streak in 1967 is the longest winning streak in NASCAR history.

Starting from the pole, Todd Bodine lead three times for 17 laps.

“It was good racing with him,” Bodine said about Kyle. “It’s fun to race with a guy you can trust. Of course, he was having to trust me because I was one the behind. It was a good night. I can’t complain. I built the points lead back up to where it was before Bristol. Another good run. You hate to run second, especially to Kyle (Busch), but we’ll take it and we’ll go to the next one.”

Bodine leads the standings by 236 points over 2nd place driver Aric Almirola.

Ron Hornaday finished third followed by Johnny Sauter, Justin Lofton, Aric Almirola, Matt Crafton, Rick Crawford, Austin Dillon and David Starr completed the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 5 cautions for 21 laps and 9 lead changes among 5 drivers: Bodine 1-6, Dillon 7-12, K. Busch 13-80, Starr 81, Bodine 82-83, Hornaday Jr 84-88, Bodine 89-97, K. Busch 98-126, Hornaday Jr 127-130, K. Busch 131-154

Next:
Friday, Sept. 3rd -- Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway
TV coverage begins at 7:30 pm on SPEED