Atlanta Race Report

No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge
October 26, 2008
1.54-mile Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway

RACE RESULTS:
1. Carl Edwards, Ford
2. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
3. Denny Hamlin, Toyota
4. Matt Kenseth, Ford
5. Kyle Busch, Toyota
26. Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge
36. Chad McCumbee, No. 45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge

Carl Edwards picked up his first victory of the 'Chase for the Sprint Cup' in Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. He made it an unusual weekend sweep as he also won the NASCAR Nationwide Series event in Memphis on Saturday. After losing a lap early in the event, Jimmie Johnson rallied late for a second place finish to increase his points lead to 183 points over Edwards, who moved up two spots in the standings.

Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team finished 26th in Sunday's race. Labonte was looking to add to his career totals of six wins and 12 top-five finishes at Atlanta. As the race began, Labonte radioed to crew chief Jeff Meendering that car was 'loose' getting into the corners with no forward 'bite.' Atlanta's aging asphalt has very little grip and that will magnify a 'loose' or 'tight' condition. Meendering built a lot of adjustability into the car, which gave him many options to try to fix the handling condition to Labonte's liking. When it looked as though the condition was improving, Labonte was tapped by another competitor in the right front fender on lap 257. This drastically altered the aerodynamics of the car and made it very 'tight' in the middle of the corners. Labonte was still able to pick up several spots late in the race to finish as the seventh best 'closer' of the day, as determined by the NASCAR loop data.

"We were off today, just really sliding around a lot," said Labonte. "There were a lot of us sliding around. I had to run the bottom and you need to be able to move your line around here. The best part of racing here is that you can try different lines. We definitely made a lot of adjustments, but the car was basically the same until the fender was knocked in."

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to the Texas Motor Speedway for this weekend's Dickies 500. Friday's qualifying session will be telecast on ESPN2. It will be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Channel 128.