Wild Child Wins Toyota's First Race

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CIA Stock Photo Busch Earns First Victory For Toyota

Kyle Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday to give Toyota it first victory in the Sprint Cup Series. It was the first time since 1954 that a foreign name-plate manufacturer had won in the premiere series.

“It means a lot to be able to go out and win any race anytime, but especially here at Atlanta, said Busch This place has been such a struggle for me. I haven't had a top 10 finish here. I remember the years of watching Bobby Labonte race around this place, kicking everybody's butt. Sort of reminded me a little bit about it today to be able to race like that, run like that, bring that 18 car back up front, run here the way it used to and the way it should."

Tony Stewart ran second in the race to give Toyota a one-two finish but it was a battle all the way. Stewart blasted the Goodyear tires after the race.

“That was the most pathetic racing tire that I’ve ever been on in my professional career," Stewart commented. "They exited out of Formula One. They exited out of IRL. They exited out of CART. They exited out of World Outlaws, and there is a reason for that. Goodyear can’t build a tire that is worth a crap. If I were Goodyear, I would be really embarrassed about this weekend and what they brought here."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the first 60 laps and then the Busch-Toyota dominance started showing up. But with 85 laps to go, Carl Edwards drove his way into the lead and it looked like no one else had anything for the Roush Fenway Ford. Edwards was going for three straight victories and you wouldn't have found anyone at the track that would have bet otherwise. Then bad luck struck Edwards' car, it started smoking badly with 50 laps to go. His day was done with a broken transmission.

“I don’t know what happened, but the oil tank lid was on," said Edwards. "I just appreciate my fans for sticking with us this week. It’s been a long week with a lot of stuff said, but I think we showed them here today, other than something coming apart in the engine, I believe we had the car that was the class of the field. I’m just really happy to be driving it. It’s too bad we broke. It was so good there at the end, I was really just having a good time. It seems like when they run really well that’s when they break.”

The focus shifted back to the No. 18 car of Busch, he took the lead and won handily, pulling away. Busch led a race-high 173 of 325 laps in his No. 18 Snickers Camry.

"You know, those cars were pretty tough to drive," said Busch. "But overall we had a pretty good car in practice yesterday where we felt okay about it today. And then the track seemed to warm up just a little bit, and that gave us a little less grip for today. But overall we just kept working on it, kept trying to make it better."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. held on for third spot and Greg Biffle was fourth.

“Tony did a great job of protecting Kyle Busch," said Biffle. "They’re teammates and Tony ran me pretty hard there, but he’s racing for position as well. Obviously, if I could have got by him right away I had a pretty good chance of catching Kyle, but I just burned my tires up racing Tony – really stabbing the gas coming off the corner sideways. I used it all up right there. I should have known better. I’m more experienced than that, but that’s what I did. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a great run for us, another top five, and that’s really what we needed early in the season, to get that Jackson Hewitt Ford Fusion up in the top five. Now we move to Bristol and it would be nice to start getting a points cushion on some of these guys as we get 10 races into this thing."

Jeff Gordon brought his Dupont Chevrolet home in fifth place followed by Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Jeff Burton to round out the top ten.

Sam Hornish Jr. was the Raybestos Rookie of the race.

“We got a lot of laps in and the car was really good on the first run and then from there we just couldn’t get it back tightened up," Hornish said "It was so free I felt like I was running on dirt most of the race [smile]. But we kept it underneath us and kept running out there. It’s definitely a learning experience. All the guys on the Penske Truck Rental Dodge did a great job for me in the pits today. We’re all getting used to working with each other and trying to make the right directions, that’s tough enough to do in practice let alone on the fly in the race so I was pretty happy about that. I was a little bit frustrated at times with the car, just decided that we couldn’t get any better. Next week will be different and each time we go to one of these races and get to run the full thing I’ve got a better idea of what I need out of the car the next time we come back. We were pretty much loose all day. We had a good start to the race. I think we went from 33rd to 20th and really moving forward and whatever happened on the first pit stop if the track changed or anything after that it was just free, free, free. I mean, it was loose all the time and had a really tough time getting it off the corner going sideways most of the time."

The Sprint Cup Series moves to Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday March 16th, 2008, for the Food City 500. The race is scheduled to start at 1:30 PM / Eastern Time on Fox.


For full final race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)

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