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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Feast Or Famine At Atlanta
Bobby Labonte leads active drivers with six Cup wins at AMS...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 02, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Bobby Labonte dominated Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier in his career. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Atlanta Motor Speedway is a track that elicits a lot of positive feedback from NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers who enjoy its wide racing groove and multiple lines. But liking a track and running well at it are two very different things.

And if you look at who’s good and who isn’t at the lightning-fast 1.54-mile AMS quad oval, the list contains more than a few surprises. That could making for some interesting racing Sunday night, when 43 drivers roll off for the Emory Healthcare 500, the penultimate race in NASCAR’s regular season.

THE WINNERS

BOBBY LABONTE, 6 victories — From the mid 1990s to the early 2000s, Labonte owned Atlanta. In a 15-race stretch from the fall round in 1996 to the fall race in 2003, Labonte won six races, finished second twice and posted an astounding 11 top-five finishes. Unfortunately for Labonte, though, he hasn’t had a top-10 finish at AMS in his last 13 starts.

JEFF GORDON, 4 victories — The four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion trails only Labonte in AMS victories, and like Labonte, his success has not been recent: The last time Gordon won here was 2003. He has had eight top-10s in his last 10 AMS starts, at least. He also has been runner-up four times here and leads active drivers with 1128 laps led.

KURT BUSCH, 3 victories — The 2004 series champ won the last two spring Atlanta races in impressive fashion, leading 234 laps in 2009 and 129 laps in March of this year. Without question, he will be one of the favorites to win on Sunday, when his No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge will be tough to beat.

CARL EDWARDS, 3 victories — The first Sprint Cup victory for Edwards came on this track in the spring of 2005, when he ran down Jimmie Johnson at the end of the race to score a stunning upset victory. Edwards went on to sweep both AMS races in 2005, and won again here in Oct. 2008. This could be a big weekend for him.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, 3 victories — Is there anyplace Johnson isn’t good? Not many places, that’s for sure. In addition to his three race victories, Johnson has nine top-five finishes in 18 Atlanta Cup starts, and his finishing average of 10.778 is tops in the field.

STILL WINLESS AT AMS
Greg Biffle has 16 career Sprint Cup wins. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

GREG BIFFLE — This one, frankly, is a shocker. Biffle and the entire Roush Fenway Racing organization specialize in 1.5-mile tracks, yet he’s never finished better than third here. In his last five AMS starts, Biffle has one top-five and four top-10 finishes.

JEFF BURTON — When you think of someone who excels at intermediate tracks, Burton is a name who comes readily to mind. He’s won at Texas, Darlington, Charlotte and Las Vegas, but in 32 Atlanta starts has never finished better than fourth.

DENNY HAMLIN — Tied for the lead in overall Sprint Cup victories this season with five, Hamlin has mostly struggled here, with a best finish of third in 2008. In 10 AMS starts, he has just three top-10 finishes.

MATT KENSETH — In 21 AMS starts, Kenseth has eight top-five finishes, with a best of second in the spring race earlier this year. Like his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Biffle, you’d expect Kenseth would have won here by now.

JAMIE McMURRAY — The king of the big-money races this season, McMurray enters Sunday night’s Emory Healthcare 500 an even 100 points behind Clint Bowyer, another driver who is winless here. Speaking of which, the career-best finishes for both McMurray and Bowyer at Atlanta are sixth.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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