Interesting things can happen after the first race of the season. Some names usually near the front find themselves as also-rans as the schedule continues on to Atlanta. No Junior. No Biffle, No Bowyer. No Patrick. Okay, I’ve gone too far, I know.
Jimmie Johnson. Four wins in 2015. Ten wins at Dover. Seventy-four wins over the course of his career, just two shy of Dale Earnhardt’s total. Six championships. Gee, I wonder if he might ever make the Hall of Fame?
While Daytona was good, Atlanta was tolerable. I wonder, if I was a transient type flipping channels, how long would I have lingered on the action beaming in from Georgia?
Johnson started beyond 30th, as did 13 others who failed to even make it through tech inspection, never mind even attempting to qualify. Jeff Gordon failed four times.
Atlanta was a race we thought would be decided by a driver who had a great car, one who had a great pit crew, or one who was simply too desperate for victory to be denied. In the end, it was decided by two guys who turned their high-powered machines into bumper cars to force a green-white-checker...or two.
In 2015, the Atlanta 500 makes its return. Well, sort of. That was the name of the early season race in Atlanta before they pimped out the brand to the sponsors. In 2010, they lost that date, while what once was the season finale in Cup got moved to where we find it today.
We learned a lot at Bristol on Saturday night. We learned that there might be some bashed fenders. Okay, we already knew that. Kyle Busch learned it as well as anyone else.
