Atlanta: Home of Speed and…. Cautions!
By Liz Walker
So we finally arrive at the fastest Speedway in the series. Atlanta were drivers reach speeds of roughly 200mph. This makes for really fast and close racing, as well as, dangerous racing. The total number of cautions numbered 11 and at least 3 cars were taken out of the race.
Cautions came out early at Atlanta and then they came out somewhat frequently. The first caution flew at lap 4 when Robbie Gordon’s tire came apart sending him into the wall. At lap 34 David Ragan has a right front tire go down bringing out the second caution.
Lap 40 sees Carl Edwards get tapped by Brad Keselowski. Edwards slides up the track into Joey Logano and both hit the wall. Caution waves for the third time as Edwards and Logano head to the garage area. This incident starts the animosity and anger between Edwards and Keselowski.
The fourth caution of the day came at lap 78 for debris in Turn 2. Later at lap 114 Mark Martin has a rear tire go down. He spins out and the fifth caution flag of the day is waved. Joey Logano’s right front tire goes down, tearing up his car and bringing out the sixth caution. Debris on the front stretch brings out the seventh caution at lap 224. Denny Hamlin blows a tire on lap 288 resulting in caution number eight. Lap 293 sees Elliot Sadler and Max Papis saying hello to eachother and the wall. This results in the ninth caution of the night.
At lap 323 Brad Keselowski is running in sixth place. The tenth caution is caused when Edwards decides to take his revenge for the earlier inciden and bumps Keselowski. Keselowski becomes airborne and hits the wall hard and then hits the ground on his roof. Keselowski’s car is wrecked and Edwards is black flagged. His car is parked and he is called into the NASCAR Hauler.
The eleventh caution came at lap 332 after Kurt Busch passes Paul Menard to take the lead. Jamie McMuray get’s loose and hits Clint Bowyer. Mark Martin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin are all involved. The race has run more miles than expected so the second of three green, white, checkered flag runs is attempted.
The field goes green and Kurt Busch takes the lead. He manages to hold off Matt Kenseth to win the race. Even though Kurt won I think Kasey Kahne did the best job this race. The three main people during the race were Kurt, Kasey and Montoya. For most of the race they were running in the top three. Denny Hamlin lead for a few laps but eventually forfited the lead to Montoya.
The race was fast, furious and very close. Kurt and Kasey traded lead spots many times and Montoya stayed in the top and fought to lead too. In the end I’m kinda glad that Kurt won. I haven’t seen a Busch brother win in a while and Keselowski was taken out, Kurt won it for the team.
Next stop is Bristol, a half mile track filled with bump drafting, close quarters racing and many cautions! Reach up and tighten those belt one more time! It’s time to go racing!
