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Kyle Busch Dominates Atlanta Race in Snickers® Toyota
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HAMPTON, GA (March 9, 2008) – Kyle Busch once again proved to be the class of the field this weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway as he dominated all day to earn his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in 2008. With the help of his incredibly quick No. 18 SNICKERS® Toyota Camry, Busch led a race-high 173 of the 325 laps. His victory was also an historic first win for Toyota since joining NASCAR’s premier division in 2007, as well as a special win for his sponsor SNICKERS and its parent company, Mars.
“This is amazing. First off, before I lose all of my thoughts, I have to thank Snickers, M&M’S, Interstate Batteries and Toyota, Steve Addington (crew chief) and all of these boys who have been on the No. 18 car from the beginning. The (No.) 18 has always been the car to beat here at Atlanta for many, many years when this place was redone and with Bobby Labonte. This means so much to come back here and do this. Overall it’s great for Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Many felt that Busch and his No. 18 bunch should have already celebrated their first win in 2008 at the Daytona 500 after clearly having the fastest car in that race back in February. The team has led the most laps of any team in the garage and has had great cars each of the first four races. After a short wait, however, today was finally the day when all their hard work and preparation paid off.
Busch started the day on the outside of the third row in the sixth position. It took until lap 60 before he was able to work his way to the front and take the lead. Once he did, he put a stranglehold on the top spot for most of the race, occasionally relinquishing it only during short spans when the car’s handling was slightly off. The No. 18 SNICKERS pit crew consistently gave Busch great pit stops all race long, as he only fell outside of the top-five once and had an amazing average running position of 1.745.
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The biggest scare of the day came on lap 148 when Busch brushed the outside wall as he entered Turn One. His initial thought was that he might have broken something in the rear end with the hard impact. His lap times slowed by a half second per lap, but he had built up a big enough lead at that point to only fall back to second place. A pit stop shortly after that gave the crew a chance to remedy the situation and Busch again climbed back to the front of the field.
Overall, Busch’s performance showed why he was last year’s top free agent and why he is widely considered to be the top driving talent in the garage. Rewriting the record books again, Busch became the youngest race winner in Atlanta Motor Speedway history. Coupled with his victory on Friday night, he also became the first driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in the same weekend. With the win, Busch has now extended his points lead to 73 points over second-place Greg Biffle.
“For me to go out there and win, it doesn't matter what car I'm driving. I told you I'd drive a milk crate, which is pretty much what this thing drives like. We have fun doing it, doing it to the best of our ability, making it fast. Whatever it takes to go out there and win is what we need. For me to win the first race for Toyota was fun. Congratulations to those guys. They deserve it.”
Kyle Busch impressed many en route to his first victory of the season. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, also showed strength late in the race to earn a second-place finish. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Greg Biffle and Jeff Gordon rounded out the remainder of the top-five.
In addition to Tony Stewart’s second-place showing, Busch’s other teammate, Denny Hamlin, placed in the 15th spot, improving on his 22nd starting position.
Next week teams will travel to the Bristol Motor Speedway, the half-mile bullring in eastern Tennessee for the Food City 500. Kyle Busch will attempt to repeat as race winner, having earned the win in the debut race of the Car of Tomorrow last year. Race coverage will begin on FOX at 1:30pm ET and the green flag will wave at 2:00pm. The Performance Racing Network (PRN) will carry live radio coverage of the race, also starting at 1:30pm.