Kurt Busch celebrates in Victory Lane after winning his third NASCAR Sprint Cup series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)NASCAR Media Report
Kurt Busch won two races Sunday: the Kobalt Tools 500 and the Carl Edwards 25.

In a race that went 16 laps—nearly 25 miles—past its scheduled distance, after Edwards retaliated against Brad Keselowski for an incident earlier in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch took advantage of a strong restart to grab the lead during the second attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag restart and crossed the finish line .482 seconds ahead of runner-up Matt Kenseth.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who was closing in on Busch near the end of the regulation 325 laps, finished third but lost his chance to battle for the victory when Edwards hit Keselowski’s No. 12 Dodge on the frontstretch and sent it flying on Lap 323.

Keselowski’s car landed on its roof in the tri-oval, righted itself and slid into the Turn 1 wall. After extensive clean-up, NASCAR restarted the race on Lap 332—without Edwards, who was black-flagged on Lap 326—with Busch assuming the lead from Clint Bowyer, who had taken the point on a two-tire pit stop under caution on Lap 324.

Before Busch could take the white flag, however, a seven-car pileup in Turn 3 caused the 11th caution of the race and set up the second try at the green-white-checkered.

Edwards’ aggression toward Keselowski was payback for a Lap 40 wreck in Turn 2, where Edwards felt Keselowski didn’t give him enough room.

“Brad knows the deal between him and I,” said Edwards, who returned to the track on Lap 191 after losing 150 laps in the garage. “The scary part was that his car went airborne, which was not at all what I expected.

by Phil Burgess, NHRA.com
Between them, Morgan Lucas and Eddie Krawiec had suffered a combined 13 Professional final-round losses without earning an NHRA Full Throttle Wally, but both were able to erase those deficits within a few minutes of one another in a dramatic pair of clashes in the final rounds of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. Lucas won in his sixth final and Krawiec in his seventh to highlight a rain-delayed day of racing. Jack Beckman joined them in the winner's circle by preventing Ashley Force Hood from repeating her 2008 Funny Ca triumph here.

The race also has been a testament to perseverance as rain halted action several times, most notably a three-hour delay one pair into the first round of Pro Stock – which put the factory hot rods off the normal round cycle and led to a later completion of their competition -- and a two-hour delay prior to the final rounds. Further bad weather after the first three Pro finals cancelled the balance of the day, and the Pro Stock final will be contested Monday morning between Jeg Coughlin and Mike Edwards.

Friday, April 17, 2009
by Phil Burgess, NHRA.com

Defending event champs Ashley Force (Funny Car) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) are off to a good start in their hopes of repeating their victories from last year's event by qualifying No. 1 after the first day of action at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, race six of the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season.

Morgan Lucas is in pursuit of his first No. 1 qualifying position of the season in Top Fuel and has the lead after one session with his GEICO Powersports dragster while Greg Anderson, representing event sponsor Summit Racing, is the No. 1 qualifier in Pro Stock after breaking both ends of the track record.

Just one event after teammate Shawn Langdon gathered in his first career No. 1 qualifying berth in Las Vegas, Lucas is halfway to accomplishing the same goal on a seasonal basis after posting a 3.844 on his Jimmy Walsh-tuned entry. Lucas has two previous No. 1 qualifying efforts, the first of which was recorded at this event in 2005.

COMMERCE, Ga. – In the sport of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing, Cory McClenathan has been there and done that.

He’s been on fire, flipped upside down and walked away from spectacular wild rides. He’s won races at just about every track on the circuit and chased the world championship title into the sunset many times. He knows what a good hot rod is supposed to feel like just by easing into the throttle.

He can also tell when all the pieces are in place for a very good race team to become great.

So that’s why he’s excited about the opportunity in front of him in 2009.

McClenathan has embraced a new crew on his 7,000 horsepower FRAM Tough Guard dragster, led by co-crew chiefs Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara, and they are quickly hitting their stride. In just five events they have produced two final round appearances, allowing McClenathan to display the driving form that has led him to 30 victories in 53 final round appearances and four second-place championship points finishes during his 18-years behind the wheel.

SYLVANIA, GA (April 3, 2009) - Battling both Dennis "Rambo" Franklin and an overheating problem in the last five laps, Scott James of Lawrenceburg, IN won the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at Screven Motor Speedway. For the second year in row on Friday Night, the 37-year old second generation driver found himself in Lucas Oil Victory Lane. He came from the 12th starting spot to capture the $7,000 first place prize money in an absolute barn-burner of a finish, in which he and Franklin swapped the lead on several times in the waning laps of the race, with James coming home as the winner by a narrow margin over Franklin, 17th starting Jimmy Owens, Josh McGuire and Tyler Ivey.

McGuire and Ivedent Lloyd Jr. started on the front row of the 40 lap feature. McGuire led the first lap until fourth-starting Billy Moyer made a daring three-wide move for the lead on the second lap. Moyer brought Lloyd along into second with McGuire, Earl Pearson Jr. and Scott James on the move from 12th to fifth by lap three.