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Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 - Atlanta Motor Speedway
Labonte Continues Dominance of Atlanta
Newman on Pole in Hotlanta
To no one’s surprise, Bobby Labonte continued to dominate Atlanta Motor Speedway. Labonte survived a late charge by Jeff Gordon and pulled away to a 1.274-second victory. Labonte led nine times for a race-high 172 of the event’s 325 laps to claim his sixth career win at the Atlanta Speedway. Labonte’s win was his first with new crew chief Michael “Fatback” McSwain and the 20th victory of his career. Gordon finished in the second position, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. came home in third, giving Chevrolet the top-three spots in the finishing order. Matt Kenseth, last week’s winner and new Winston Cup point leader, finished fourth. Kenseth has a 49-point lead over Tony Stewart, who finished in the fifth position, in the battle for the championship. The race featured 23 lead changes on the day.
This season the roles are reversed. Last spring, Bill Elliott had the pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway while Ryan Newman qualified second. This time the Dodge duo swapped positions. Newman grabbed the top starting spot for the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 with a lap of 28.963 seconds, at an average speed of 191.417 mph, his eighth career pole and first of the season. Elliott just missed his 56th career pole, taking the outside pole for the race on Sunday. Elliott Sadler will start from the third spot, while Bobby Labonte starts fifth.
