Kyle Busch Thunders Into History With Kobalt Tools 500 Victory

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Deb Williams

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 9, 2008) – Kyle Busch thundered into history in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 to become the youngest driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and to put a foreign car nameplate into victory lane in a series points race for the first time since 1954.

Busch also became the first driver to win a Sprint Cup and a Craftsman Truck Series race in the same weekend, and came within 18 laps of winning the Nationwide Series event on Saturday. The victory was the first for crew chief Steve Addington.

“It means a lot to be able to go out and win any race anytime, but especially here at Atlanta,” said the 22-year-old Busch, who led eight times for 173 laps, including the final 40 in the 325-lap race. “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, bring that 18 car back up front, run here the way it used to and the way it should.

“It's not necessarily the car or the Car of Tomorrow or whatever it is, it's just about being comfortable. And having Steve, the engineer, all these guys being able to give me what I need in order to drive it faster is all I care about.”

When Busch drove his Toyota into victory lane, it was the first time a foreign nameplate had won a NASCAR Cup points race since June 13, 1954. That day, Al Keller drove Paul Whiteman's Jaguar to victory in the International 100, NASCAR's first road race, on the runways at Linden [N.J.] Airport. Busch's teammate Denny Hamlin won the Budweiser Shootout in February at Daytona.

Early in Sunday's race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Busch were the dominate cars, leading 114 of the first 115 laps. However, when the third caution period began on lap 115, the lead-lap cars pitted and Greg Biffle inherited the lead for one lap. When Biffle pitted on the next circuit, Busch assumed the No. 1 position.

Once the race restarted on lap 119, Busch quickly extended his lead. By lap 127, Busch possessed more than a 2-second lead and six laps later on the 1.54-mile track he had doubled his advantage. But on lap 149, the rear of Busch's Toyota smacked the wall as he entered turn one.

“That ended up bending the rear end or twisting the rear end just a little bit,” said Busch, who finished 2.066 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart. “That definitely didn't help the handling of the race car any and actually hurt us a little bit. It just made me so loose getting in and so loose up off the corner, we had to tighten it up. When we did that, it tightened up the center of the corner, too. We couldn't ever get the center of the corner to cooperate with us.”

Busch said he had to “baby” his car around the bottom of the race track.

“If I missed it, it just slowed us down so much that those guys behind us would close up,” continued Busch, who averaged 140.975 mph in the race that was slowed by eight caution flags for 35 laps. “I just had to make sure I hit my marks, was smooth and slow and ran around the bottom.”

After Busch's problem, he led sporadically, but the race was primarily in Clint Bowyer's and Carl Edwards' hands. With the laps winding down, it appeared Edwards might claim his third consecutive victory. But when the race restarted at the end of the seventh yellow flag, on lap 268, smoke erupted from Edwards' Ford. He backed off and relinquished the lead to Busch. The smoke then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and Edwards regained the top spot on lap 269. Three laps later, the smoke returned and intensified. When Edwards pitted, Busch returned to the lead.

In the final 51 laps, Busch failed to lead only one circuit with that honor going to Earnhardt Jr., the result of a lead change during the final caution flag.

“Overall, we just kept working on it, kept trying to make it better,” Busch said after the race that had 26 lead changes among nine drivers. “We battled a little bit tight, a little bit loose, then a little bit loose, a little bit tight. Kind of all over the board there somewhat.

“Carl Edwards had the best car here today, by far, again. Whatever those guys have over there (it's) really scaring us 'cause, you know, the 16 [Greg Biffle] doesn't show it, the 17 [Matt Kenseth] doesn't show it, the 26 [Jamie McMurray] doesn't show it, but for some reason that 99 [Edwards] does. Whether it's him driving that thing or whether it is the car, it's definitely something that we've got to work on.”

Busch admitted that after being dismissed from Hendrick Motorsports last year in favor of Earnhardt Jr., he wanted to win for Joe Gibbs Racing “pretty badly.”

“I knew that I wasn't going to a team that didn't have enough equipment or didn't have good enough equipment to participate or to contend with Hendrick because I've seen it,” Busch continued. “I've seen Tony (Stewart) be able to contend for races. I've seen Denny (Hamlin) be able to contend for championships, even his first year out.

“It's just all about trying to make yourself better on a weekly basis or on a daily basis. And, you know, to do as well as I've done so far for where I'm at, I'm pretty happy.”

Busch now leads Greg Biffle in the driver standings by 73 points. Kevin Harvick took over third with his seventh-place finish, while Ryan Newman's 14th-place finish dropped him to fourth. Jeff Burton rounds out the top five.

The Sprint Cup Series travels to Bristol, Tenn., next weekend for the season's first short-track race.

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