Burton Ends Drought in Atlanta
Jeff Burton visited a place where he had not been in quite some time... victory lane. Today he ended a winless drought when he took his first NASCAR Busch Series victory since October of 2002 in winning the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Burton's win came after a stirring duel in the late stages of the race with Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth. It was Burton’s 21st career series victory - a number whch matched the 21 on the side of his Coast Guard-sponsored Chevrolet. The race was Burton’s first NASCAR Busch Series event at Atlanta since the track was reconfigured in 1997. Burton started in eighth spot as pole-sitter Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag. Busch led the first 25 laps of the race but was taken out after a flat right rear tire blew the right side body panels off his Chevrolet. He later returned to the event many laps down. The race saw several fender-bumping incidents between drivers in the early laps. J.J.Yeley bounced off the retaining wall on two occasions. The race was slowed to an average speed of 128 mph due to six caution flags with Scott Lynch bringing out the first on lap 12 due to a spin into the outside wall on turn 2. Tracy Hines and Ryan Newman both found the Safer barriers, however, no injuries were reported. Early contender Denny Hamlin lost several laps when his radiator was knocked out after he ran over debris from the Newman incident. Eight different drivers led the event with 20 cars finishing on lead lap. Burton led the field four times for a total of 75 laps, edging out Kenseth for the most laps lead. Burton’s win marks the eighth different winner in the last eight NASCAR Busch Series races at Atlanta. Kahne, last week’s winner in Vegas, finished 1.419 seconds behind Burton in second place while Greg Biffle came home in third. Kenseth and J.J. Yeley rounded out the top-five finishing positions as Nextel Cup regulars swept the top five.
Kyle Busch Captures NBS Pole in Atlanta
Kyle Busch put his Chevrolet on the pole position for today’s NASCAR Busch Series Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch put down a fast lap early and gave the rest of the field something to shoot for. No one could come close. Busch’s lap of 29.224 seconds, at an average speed of 189.707 mph, around the 1.54-mile oval put him solidly on the pole. Qualifying in the second position for the second day in a row was Ryan Newman, posting a qualifying time that was 0.056 seconds behind Busch. Brian Vickers will start from the third position, while Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin make out the top five on the starting grid.
