2007 Kobalt Tools 500 @ Atlanta NEXTEL Cup Event Thread *SPOILERS*

[Knowlesy]

Monty keeps fifth! Good effort!

Screw you #48.

[rustyfan]

Oh well, congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on winning the race ahead of Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.

Jeff Burton finishes fourth and Juan-Pablo Montoya just hangs on to a superb 5th place finish!

[Knowlesy]

Nice burnout. I am impressed.

[Craig]

Go on... blow the motor.

[marcel82]

stewart didn't look happy with that pass... did you see him shake his fist out the window on that replay?


nice burnout by JJ

[Craig]

Right. I've got my breath back now. Wow!!

Now... I am severely tempted to head to another race later this year... Bristol night race anyone?

[FIRE]

Nice finish.
Congrats to Kobalt sponsored Johnson winning the Kobalt Tools 500.

After the 8th place in the Busch race another great race for JPM.

JPM best rookie in the standings?

[Matt]

That was an excellent burnout. However, Chad sounded a little, well, feminine in his praising of Jimmie. Boo Jimmie, boo.

[Craig]

Stop press: Tony Stewart in chilled out shocker!

[Craig]

haha

JPM: "I'm a little ****ed off"

Go fella!

[rustyfan]

I have to say it's pretty refreshing seeing a driver being pretty ****ed about a top-5 finish

[Craig]

I love it!

You watch him go next weekend... mark my words!

[Knowlesy]

These racing drivers, always wanting more.

I don't think JPM should be hard on himself. He proved that once the car is on it he is right there. He belongs.

[rustyfan]

Speaking of Montoya, he is unofficially up to 15th in points.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Craig

I love it!

You watch him go next weekend... mark my words!

I reckon he'll have to be happy with just seeing the checkered flag, regardless of where he finishes, next weekend

It's going to be a war, especially with all the unknown factors the CoT throws into the mix.

[Knowlesy]

Bristol may be a crash to earth for the man. It's one of those tracks I think he could either nail or have a disaster.

He struggled at the recent CoT test there FWIW.

[rustyfan]

Here's what JPM had to say about his first go at Bristol:

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Avenger)

WHAT'S YOUR INITIAL IMPRESSION OF BMS? "It's pretty wild. It's been a wild experience to be honest with you. I spun and kept it out of the wall. I was pretty lucky. I think we've been OK. We're a little bit off the pace, but it's a hard place to find your feet. You're looking for a really good lap time but when you've got everybody around it'll be a different force. The hard thing is always the last four tenths. You're chasing the car and track and chasing whether you're driving too hard or too slow. You need to find a good balance and good rhythm. The better balance the easier it's going to be. That's what we're trying to do."

COMMENT ON THE AVENGER "If you ask the guys who have been here before they'll probably say (the COT) is horrible. I've never been here in the other cars so I didn't know what to expect. From that point of view, maybe I have an advantage, but the lack of laps... Guys come here twice and year and do 500 laps. I have 118 laps here. I've got a lot more to catch up."

COMMENT ON RUNNING 500 LAPS HERE "I think you'd be lucky to make it to the end. I think this is a track where you'd have to be happy just to bring the car home. You've just got to be at the right place at the right time the whole race if you're going to finish."

And this is what his crew-chief, Donnie Wingo, had to say:

DONNIE WINGO (Crew Chief No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Avenger)

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR DRIVER IS DOING SO FAR AT BMS? "He only walked through the gate four hours ago and it's the first time he'd seen the place. He went faster every time he went out. I think that's pretty good for a guy who'd never seen the place."

WAS HE AWED BY THE TRACK? "Yeah, a little bit. He said it looked like a football stadium. I think he's had a lot of fun. I almost had a heart attack when I saw him spin (in turn one). He didn't hit anything, and that's the main thing."

COMMENT ON YOUR FIRST TWO RACES IN 2007 "People are expecting a lot out of us and we're expecting a lot out of ourselves. Are we happy with the way we ran last week? No, I'm not happy with that, but one reason we wound up like that was because we got out of sync pitting and we got a lap down. The second lap down came trying to stretch it so we could make it on one more stop. We had that worked out and then there was a debris caution at the end. That caught us out. Other than that, he ran six or eight laps in the middle of the race faster than anybody. I think he's doing pretty good."

(Source: Dodge Motorsports PR)

[Craig]

Have faith, guys, have faith..!

[Suze]

Had hoped JPM would finish higher (funny to say that when top 5!) but his pit crew need to sort themselves out - they seem, well, slow in comparison to the other teams.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Suze

Had hoped JPM would finish higher (funny to say that when top 5!) but his pit crew need to sort themselves out - they seem, well, slow in comparison to the other teams.

To their credit they picked up the pace during the latter half of the race.

The first half of the race was a disaster though, with JPM losing lots of places during each stop.

[kingfloopy]

Mark Martin still the points leader unofficially. Good run by Montoya, I easily see him being rookie of the year. Although I'm pulling for Menard since his sponsor/dad's stores are awesome, I was just at one of the local one's today.

Another poor showing by Toyota with their best finisher in 27th, the other 3 starters out of the top-35, and 3 cars going home. Dominating the trucks with mediocre manufacturer support is one thing, but it really doesn't look like they were prepared for Cup does it? Dodge was fast out of the gate in 2001 and pulled off some pretty good finishes and qualifying efforts. A lot of it probably is due to the teams they are affiliated with. Bill Davis has been back of the pack for the last few years and only had minor success before that. Red Bull racing has two relatively inexperienced drivers and had not made a race before this season. Waltrip racing ran poorly last year and Michael is distracted by being an owner and a driver. That's at least partially to blame for his teams performance. You can't really do the owner-driver thing anymore unless you have good management for the team, Kyle Petty learned that the hard way.

I was half expecting Toyota to come in and start being competitive right from the start. But I really don't see them winning races even next season at this rate. The only possible saving grace may be the CoT which will even things out somewhat. But I imagine they are still going to be hurting. There is no chance Allmendinger, Waltrip, and Mayfield will ever make the top-35 this season. There are enough cars ahead of them and they have missed enough races it will just not happen. Jarrett will be missing races shortly as he has burned up 4 of his 6 champions provisionals in the first 4 races. I am 95% sure he will use the last two in the next two races and won't be top-35 by then. After that he will start missing races. Reutimann has been a surprise and a proficient qualifier, but the results aren't there.

I can see several things happening. I expect Mayfield will be looking for a new ride before the Coke 600. Allmendinger will also probably be released from the #84, but I think Red Bull will keep him in a Busch or Truck entry. I also expect Waltrip to have a tough time bringing NAPA back as a sponsor, he can only use his advertising skills to keep them happy for so long. I also believe Caterpillar has their contract with the #22 expiring at seasons end and I can easily see them leaving at year's end as that team has been poor for 5 seasons now.

Sorry for getting a little off topic, I find this whole Toyota deal fascinating for some reason (kind of like a train wreck maybe).

J.D.

[Neil22]

Crowd was about 50% at the start and didn't seem to gain many during the race. Anyone have any idea how many people were at the track?

[Jacko44]

Originally Posted by marcel82

stewart didn't look happy with that pass... did you see him shake his fist out the window on that replay?

Stewart's never happy with anything! And no big shock to see a Hendrick car win... Need an underdog to win a race.. It not as excitin to see the three major teams win week in, week out. And the estimated attendance at Atlanta was 105,000.

[Gerben24]

Good race yesterday, with a nice battle for the lead in the end. Indeed Steward is never happy, like he always races cleanely .

I do think the fastest man came in 12th though. JG had his car lined out perfectly just after midway in the race, shame he lost a lap...

[Dudley]

Originally Posted by kingfloopy

Another poor showing by Toyota with their best finisher in 27th, the other 3 starters out of the top-35, and 3 cars going home. Dominating the trucks with mediocre manufacturer support is one thing, but it really doesn't look like they were prepared for Cup does it? Dodge was fast out of the gate in 2001 and pulled off some pretty good finishes and qualifying efforts. A lot of it probably is due to the teams they are affiliated with. Bill Davis has been back of the pack for the last few years and only had minor success before that. Red Bull racing has two relatively inexperienced drivers and had not made a race before this season. Waltrip racing ran poorly last year and Michael is distracted by being an owner and a driver. That's at least partially to blame for his teams performance. You can't really do the owner-driver thing anymore unless you have good management for the team, Kyle Petty learned that the hard way.

I was half expecting Toyota to come in and start being competitive right from the start. But I really don't see them winning races even next season at this rate. The only possible saving grace may be the CoT which will even things out somewhat. But I imagine they are still going to be hurting. There is no chance Allmendinger, Waltrip, and Mayfield will ever make the top-35 this season. There are enough cars ahead of them and they have missed enough races it will just not happen. Jarrett will be missing races shortly as he has burned up 4 of his 6 champions provisionals in the first 4 races. I am 95% sure he will use the last two in the next two races and won't be top-35 by then. After that he will start missing races. Reutimann has been a surprise and a proficient qualifier, but the results aren't there.

I can see several things happening. I expect Mayfield will be looking for a new ride before the Coke 600. Allmendinger will also probably be released from the #84, but I think Red Bull will keep him in a Busch or Truck entry. I also expect Waltrip to have a tough time bringing NAPA back as a sponsor, he can only use his advertising skills to keep them happy for so long. I also believe Caterpillar has their contract with the #22 expiring at seasons end and I can easily see them leaving at year's end as that team has been poor for 5 seasons now.

Sorry for getting a little off topic, I find this whole Toyota deal fascinating for some reason (kind of like a train wreck maybe).

J.D.

To be fair, it's 2 new teams and 2 of their cars were taken out by Biffle having a spazz fit.

Personally I think Napa will be fine if they can just get into races. As a casual fan you hear a lot more about his sponsers than just about anyone below DEI/Hendrick.

You know who isn't in the top 35.... Kasey Kahne...