[onlòóker]

Starting Grid
*Ryan Newman won pole, but will start 43rd due to a blown engine.

1	Ryan Newman	12	Dodge 	
2	Elliott Sadler	19	Dodge 	
3	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet 	
4	Mark Martin	01	Chevrolet 	
5	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet 	
6	Bobby Labonte	43	Dodge 
7	David Stremme	40	Dodge 	
8	Kyle Busch	5	Chevrolet 	
9	Mike Bliss	49	Dodge 
10	Scott Riggs	10	Dodge
11	Reed Sorenson	41	Dodge 	
12	Kasey Kahne	9	Dodge 
13	Tony Stewart	20	Chevrolet 	
14	Carl Edwards	99	Ford 	
15	Clint Bowyer	07	Chevrolet 	
16	J P Montoya	42	Dodge 	
17	Kurt Busch	2	Dodge 	
18	M Truex Jr.	1	Chevrolet 	
19	Joe Nemechek	13	Chevrolet 	
20	J.J. Yeley	18	Chevrolet 
21	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford 	
22	D Earnhardt Jr.	8	Chevrolet 	
23	Paul Menard	15	Chevrolet 	
24	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	
25	Greg Biffle	16	Ford 	
26	Johnny Sauter	70	Chevrolet 	
27	David Gilliland	38	Ford 	
28	Sterling Marlin	14	Chevrolet 	
29	Ken Schrader	21	Ford 	
30	Denny Hamlin	11	Chevrolet 	
31	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	
32	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet 
33	Tony Raines	96	Chevrolet 
34	Casey Mears	25	Chevrolet 	
35	Dave Blaney	22	Toyota	
36	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet 	
37	Jamie McMurray	26	Ford 	
38	Dale Jarrett	44	Toyota	
39	David Ragan	6	Ford 	
40	Robby Gordon	7	Ford 	
41	Kyle Petty	45	Dodge 	
42	Jeff Green	66	Chevrolet 	
43	Ricky Rudd	88	Ford

My Fantasy Five

#24 Jeff Gordon
#99 Carl Edwards
#9  Kasey Kahne
#01 Mark Martin
#6  David Ragan

Kobalt Tools 500 Preview

Atlanta Preview
VegasInsider.com

This race looks so easy to handicap because we just did it a few weeks ago. Nothing has changed except a few of the drivers bad attitudes about the track. The one problem with the “Easy” is that I didn’t cash an odds to win ticket last week…….so, maybe it’s not that easy.

Let’s just say the race will run like we thought Vegas would run. There will be more side by side racing and drivers won’t be afraid to let it all hang out because they are very comfortable with the track.

Drivers like Tony Stewart, who didn’t risk damaging his top car, went slower than many in practices to avoid problems. Stewart finally got comfortable on the track but only about 12 laps remained in the race. He was a little apprehensive in Vegas, but in Atlanta, Tony’s a Tiger. He’ll run very well and is the driver to beat this week, despite the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Burton hunting him down.

ATL WINNERS start from top 10
Races won from the pole: 14 of 95 events (15%)
Races won from inside the top 10: 74 of 95 (78%)
Races won from outside the top 10: 21 of 95 (22%)

Eight of the last 10 races at Atlanta have been won from a top 10 starting position (Last October’s winner, Tony Stewart, won from the 11th position while Kasey Kahne took this race last March from the pole).

Bobby Labonte’s started 39th in the fall of 2001 in Atlanta and won. It was the deepest that any winner has started in Atlanta. That win was Labonte’s fifth in Atlanta. His sixth and final ATL win would come in the spring at 2003.

JIMMIE is just TOO Cool!
While everyone was complaining about the Vegas surface and the hard tires, Jimmie decided to just be himself and let the race come to him. Jimmie continued a string of excellence on SMI 1.5 mile sister tracks that has seen him finish in the top 5 in twelve of the last 15, of which include three straight Las Vegas wins.

In Atlanta, Jimmie has been very good individually. Last season he rolled with a 6th and 2nd; altogether, Jimmie’s got six top 5 finishes in 11 starts with one win in 2004.

DUDE, Where’s YOUR car?
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has three consecutive top 5 ATL finishes. After running terrific last week in Vegas despite a poor pit stop near the end, It comes as shock that Junior may not be bring his favorite car, chassis No. 39. They have a chassis that has been the backup that they insist is just as good. They will make a game time decision of sorts on the chassis.

The promising note out of last week is that Junior ran a race with no engine problems. Be sure to take notice of which ride he’s running. It’s hard to mess with success, but it’s even harder to duplicate it. I have a feeling we’ll being good old No. 39.

SPONSOR Hometown mean anything?
Tony Stewart will going for his 30th career win this week where Home Depot’s headquarters are located. Does it mean anything? Yes, it does, but maybe possibly more to……Jimmie Johnson, the drivers for Lowe’s, in the Home Improvement wars.

Stewart is bringing the same chassis he rolled with last week in Vegas which is the same car he won in 3 of the last 9 races down the stretch. One of the races in the chase was Atlanta. It was his 2nd win there and it also gave him a top 10 finish in 10 of his last 11 Atlanta races.

ATL PARITY Party
There have been eight different race winners in the last nine Atlanta Cup races. Carl Edwards is the only repeat winner there since the fall of 2002. Edwards swept the 2005 season in surprising fashion for Roush as a rookie. The sweep made Edwards only the 6th driver to accomplish a season sweep since the track’s inception in 1960.

WHO Retired on the same day as who did WHAT? Jeff Gordon has three consecutive top 10 finishes in Atlanta, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise because in 29 races there, he’s finished in the top ten 18 times. If your wondering about the odd numbered starts for a track that has two dates a year, it’s because Gordon started his first Cup race on the final day of the ’92 season in Atlanta. That race also happened to be the last race of someone pretty good himself, Richard Petty. If there ever was a changing of the guard reference in American sports that has got to be number one!

For all those betting against you, they say, “Please retire Mark Martin!” We had all this talk for the last three weeks about betting and Mark Martin. Jeff Burton and Regan Smith were both making comments in regards to what they would bet that Mark Martin would do following this weekends Atlanta race. The initial plan was that Martin would only go in 23 races and then give way to Regan Smith in the No. 01 Army Chevrolet.

For the players that bet for real, they are hoping that Martin takes off because he is killing the bettors the last few weeks that bet against him in head to head match-ups. Martin is the only driver to score a top 5 finish in each of the first three races this season. In fact, there is only one driver that has even finished in the top 10 for all three races, which further lends evidence to a couple things; The series may be much more competitive this season, and MB2 Racing with Bobby Ginn has really got their stuff together.

Despite all the success and leading the points at this juncture, Martin is still sticking to his guns. "We made this deal, they made the deal, and Bobby Ginn told me a deal was a deal," said Martin, who plans to drive 23 points-paying races. "I am still happy with the decision I made. But I will tell you with cars like I had at the last three races, especially (Sunday), because this was a race I was dreading with this tire and racetrack, it was just a dream."

As for Martin’s success in Atlanta, it’s been really good, especially over the last year in a Roush Racing Ford. He finished 2nd in this race last season, but also did well on the sister tracks of Atlanta with a 4th in Charlotte and 9th in Texas. Over Martin’s career he has 2 wins in Atlanta with the last coming in 1994.

TOP 5 Finish Prediction:

1) #20 Tony Stewart (6/1)
2) #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr (11/1)
3) #9 Kasey Kahne (7/1)
4) #48 Jimmie Johnson (6/1)
5) #24 Jeff Gordon (10/1)