Midpack: Kobalt Tools 500
Track history
Fireball Roberts earned just $10,130 for winning the 1960 Dixie 300, the first race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS). The purse for all the drivers totaled $39,000. In contrast, during the March 2007 race,
Scott Riggs blew an engine, finished 43rd and collected $74,334. Opened in July 1960, AMS was one of the best of the new superspeedways being built all over at the time. This 1.54-mile oval is the fastest track the Cup guys compete on and is the one they fear the most. Since it is not a "restrictor plate" track and speeds top 200 mph at the end of the backstretch, drivers know if they find the wall here, they will definitely know it. The good thing about not having restrictor plates is the cars will be spread out and wrecks like the "Big One" wrecks at Daytona and Talladega aren't usually a concern at Atlanta. Bruton Smith purchased the Speedway in 1990 and has spent over $100 million improving the facility, including the nine-story structure that houses the corporate offices of AMS as well as 46 luxury condos. Recent additions also include a road course and over 53,000 more seats giving AMS a total capacity of 124,000 seats. In 1997, at a cost of $30 million, the start/finish line was moved from the south side of the track to the north side, and the configuration of the Hampton, Ga. facility changed from a 1.522- mile oval to a 1.54-mile quad-oval similar to Lowe's and Texas Motor Speedways.
First Cup race
On July 31, 1960, Fireball Roberts started on the pole for the 1960 Dixie 300 in the John Hines owned No. 22 car. Roberts led 28 laps in the 1960 Pontiac, including the last one, to win the first Cup race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway. A 22-year old Richard Petty drove the soon-to-be famous No. 43 Petty Plymouth to a 20th place finish in that race as well.
As fantasy players, your team budget won't allow you to pick all track favorites so Mid-pack Attack is here to help. A mid-packer may not win the race but has as good a shot at a top 15 finish as track favorites Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. There were 48 cars on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Cup race. The 43 drivers who qualify will be competing in front of 124,000 fans in the grandstands for a total purse of $5,060,012. Here are our picks for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 in Hampton, Georgia.
Mid-pack picks
Jeff Burton, coming off a strong top 5 finish at Las Vegas, likes Atlanta almost as much as LVMS. Besides 12 top tens in 27 Cup starts, including top fives in the last two, Burton won the last two Nationwide Series races at AMS as well. He's tuning up for Sunday's event with another NNS start on Saturday. If he does as well this weekend as we think, Burton will no longer be a mid-pack pick in 2008.
Reed Sorenson recorded his career-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish of third-place in last season's second race at what is considered his hometown track. In five starts at AMS he has one top five (third) and three top ten finishes. He has an 18.4 average finish. He looked good last weekend at LVMS and came away with an 18th place finish. Sorenson is a good choice for fourth or fifth in your lineup.
Clint Bowyer is having a slow start this season with a definite mid-pack 23.7 average finish. At this time last year, he was holding a 20th place average finish and he scored a 6th at Atlanta. Bowyer followed up with another 6th in the October race at this track. Six might be his favorite AMS number since he finished in that position in the 2007 Nationwide Series race as well. We're expecting him to finish around 6th on Sunday.
Bobby Labonte leads all active drivers with six Cup Series wins at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. He is third, behind track favorites Stewart and Gordon, in the percentage of laps led category. Labonte ran two Craftsman Truck races here in 2005 and finished 2nd and 5th. We don't expect a 7th win but Labonte should be good for a top 15 in Sunday's race.