March 8, 2010
By Ron Felix
In an overtime race (two green-white-checkers) Kurt Busch held off Matt Kenseth to win the Kobalt Tools 500, his second consecutive spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the third victory at NASCAR's fastest track.
It was Busch's first victory this year and the 21st win in a 332 career races. Busch also moved from 19th to 10th in Sprint Cup points.
“We were able to get it right and hit just perfect with the marks today,” Busch said. “Even on all the restarts at the end, I just felt like we had the car to beat.”
CIA Stock Photos
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Kurt Busch Celebrates Atlanta Win
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Kenseth was happy with his second place run.
“That is the best finish we have had here ever, so I am really proud of my team," said Kenseth. "They did a great job today. We qualified really well and it translated to the race today."
Juan Pablo Montoya was third followed by Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard for fourth and fifth.
On the last restart Kurt Busch got a really great restart and it surprised Montoya.
“I was hoping we would finish second but he caught me by surprise. You know we have those two lines -- we are supposed to start with -- and he went for it like 40 yards before the first one," Montoya explained. "It really surprised me. It is not a big deal, he deserves to win. I am not going to say, oh we should have won because he did that here. I just want to make sure for the next time NASCAR knows about it, but it is OK."
Rounding out the top ten were A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Scott Speed.
The most dramatic event in the closing laps was an incident between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards, who had been locked in a shoving match for several laps. As the duo streaked across the start/finish line with two laps to go, Edwards appeared to intentionally nudge Keselowski’s left rear quarter-panel, propelling Keselowski into the wall and then airborne before ferociously smashing his upturned car into first the wall and then the track surface.
“The No. 99 just wrecked me intentionally on the straightaway,” Keselowski said as he left he infield care center, where he had been seen and released. “I was cutting him some slack because I knew he was angry, but I guess it wasn’t enough slack, and he about killed me.”
Edwards was promptly black-flagged and ordered to the NASCAR hauler.
“Brad knows the deal between him and I,” Edwards said. “The scary part was his car went airborne, which was not at all what I expected. I wish it wouldn’t have gone like it did, but I’m glad he’s okay … maybe him and I won’t get in any more incidents together.”
Montoya was ahead of the incident and said he didn’t see what happened, but he wasn’t surprised that Keselowski was involved.
“He wrecked a lot of people (last year),” Montoya said as he watched the replay. “I’m sure a lot of people wanted to pay him back. Looking at the TV, somebody did.”
The Sprint Cup Series is off next weekend but returns to Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee on Sunday, March 21, for the Food City 500, the fifth race in the Chase for the Championship.
The race will also be broadcast live on PRN Radio and SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128. Kyle Busch was the winner at Bristol in 2009.
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