Johnson Wins Atlanta Race

Johnson Celebrates * CIA Stock Photo

One minute Jimmie Johnson was riding along in fourth spot, worried whether he'd have enough fuel to finish the race. Next moment he found himself in first place in a green-white-checkers finish that gave him the victory in the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. With seven laps to go Kyle Busch was leading the race, Martin Truex Jr. was second, Kurt Busch third and Jimmie Johnson was fourth. Johnny Sauter blew a right front tire and smacked the wall, bringing out the 12th caution of the event. Everyone was short on fuel and all the leaders made a pit stop, all except Denny Hamlin. He stayed on the track to take the lead. Some drivers took four tires, some took two. Johnson took two tires and came out in second place for the restart. When the race restarted Hamlin failed to go, out of fuel and cars were stacking up behind him. Martin Truex Jr. who had led the most laps, crashed into Hamlin, putting both of them out of the race and setting up the green-white-checkers finish.

On the first lap of the final restart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., running third, had a left rear wheel come off. He smashed hard into the outside wall and collected Jamie McMurray in the process -- and the race was essentially over at that point. Johnson was in the lead and all he needed to do was to complete the remaining green-white-checker laps under yellow. This is the 31st victory of Johnson's career, his eighth of the 2007 season and third at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is Johnson's second consecutive victory, he also won last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Johnson credited the victory to the team only taking two tires on the last pit stop.

Carl Edwards finished second with local favorite Reed Sorenson in third. Matt Kenseth brought his Ford home in the fourth spot and Jeff Burton was fifth. Rounding out the top-ten were Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers. With Johnson's victory, the Nextel Cup point tightened up considerably. Jeff Gordon now leads Johnson by nine points in the standings with three races remaining on the 2007 schedule. The Nextel Cup Series moves to the Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Dickies 500. The race is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Eastern time and will be covered by ESPN on ABC.
To read the full article...     (Insider Racing News)
For full final race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)

Bud Man Injured
Budweiser team's car chief Mike Moore, who mans the pit sign as Dale Jr. comes into his pit box, was struck in the mouth by a lugnut that had been shot like a bullet from underneath the spinning tire of a car leaving the pits two stalls in front of the Bud pit area. A bloodied Moore was taken to the infield care center where he was given four stitches in his upper lip. He was taken to a dentist immediately after the race to have his loose front teeth treated. Despite the injuries, Moore returned to the Bud pits after being released from the care center, and resumed his duties for the final 130 laps.

Testing Starts Monday
In a season filled with firsts for NASCAR’s “new car” – NASCAR’s safety-oriented, next-generation race car that will compete fulltime in 2008 – another awaits at Atlanta Motor Speedway. NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams will test at Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday, after competing in today’s Pep Boys Auto 500. It’s the series’ seventh and final NASCAR-sanctioned test of the season. More significant: It’s the first full-scale test for the new car at a 1.5-mile track.

“It’s the first opportunity for everyone for be on that size race track at the same time at those speeds,” said NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton. “It’s also the first opportunity for some new combinations of drivers and crew chiefs to work together.”

This test will be the fourth this season dedicated to the new car (previous tests for the new car took place at Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway). Teams are phasing in the new car by running it in 16 of 36 scheduled events this year. The last of those 16 will be Nov. 11 at Phoenix International Raceway.

The Phoenix event will be the ninth race in the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup – the battle for the series title that takes place during the season’s final 10 events. Five of those events are being run with the new car. The new car’s last milestone test took place Sept. 10-11 at Talladega, a 2.66-mile superspeedway where restrictor plates are used on the engines. NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams raced there on Oct. 7. The series won’t compete with the new car on 1.5-mile tracks until next season.

Sospenzo Back To Work
Peter Sospenzo was back in the garage at Atlanta Motor Speedway less than a week after being hospitalized because of dizziness. The 50-year-old crew chief for Robby Gordon said doctors still are unsure what caused the dizziness last Sunday. He went to the infield care center at Martinsville Speedway when the dizziness didn't go away, and the doctors were concerned that he was having a transient ischemic attack, a condition created when a blood clot temporarily clogs an artery.

"I wasn't feeling right," Sospenzo said Saturday following practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "I knew something was wrong. When your body tells you something is not right, especially when it comes to dizziness and everything like that, it's not worth taking the chance. I said, I could go back and do the race and they said 'No.' We don't want to take the chance.'"

Sospenzo had a CAT scan Sunday and an MRI on Monday and both were negative. He took a couple of days off and was back at the shop Thursday. (scenedaily.com)