- 2008 Kobalt Tools 500
The 2008
Kobalt Tools 500 was the fourth race in the2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series , and was held onMarch 9 ,2008 atAtlanta Motor Speedway inHampton, Georgia , located outside the Georgia state capital. The race was televised on FOX starting at 1:30 PM US EDT, and broadcast on thePerformance Racing Network andSirius Satellite Radio starting at 1 PM US EDT.Pre-Race News
*A major shakeup at
Team Red Bull findsA.J. Allmendinger out of the #84Toyota andMike Skinner , who drove the #27Bill Davis Racing ride last week takes over for four races to give the team feedback on the current information. Meanwhile,Johnny Benson will replace Skinner in the #27 ride.Qualifying
Qualifying suffered from a short rain delay in the beginning stages but was finally reopened with
Jeff Gordon winning the pole followed byDale Earnhardt, Jr. ,Martin Truex Jr. ,Carl Edwards andBobby Labonte rounding out the top five. Forty-eight cars attempted to make the race but only 43 are able to start a Sprint Cup Race.Failed to qualify:
John Andretti (#34),Johnny Benson (#27),Bill Elliott (#21),Burney Lamar (#08),Ken Schrader (#49).Race
For the first time since June of 1954 (when
Al Keller won in aJaguar on the road course atLinden Airport ), a foreign nameplate found its' way to the winners' circle asKyle Busch dominated the field to win his fifth Cup race of his career, and giveToyota their first Sprint Cup victory after 40 races.Carl Edwards , still smarting from last week's win that found a loose oil tank, costing him 100 points in the drivers chase, his ownerJack Roush 100 owners' points and suspended crew chiefBob Osborne for six races until April 30th as well as a $100,000 fine, was in the lead until there were 50 laps to go and Edwards' transmission in the #99Aflac Ford blew up, finishing 42nd, and falling deeper out of the top 12.Much of the pre and post-race talk was about the tires
Goodyear supplied to the teams.Tony Stewart claimed that the tires were shoddy in a post-race commentary. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also said that the tires didn't work well on the subject of its' grip, while Jeff Gordon claimed that in light of Stewart's gripes that "I think he went a little overboard". The tiremaker commented the day after that in a press release "if the drivers aren't happy, Goodyear's not happy."
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.