Saturday, March 6, 2010

Roberts Top 10 Driver Ratings: Atlanta Kobalt Tools 500

by Micah Roberts
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sunday, March 7, 2010 - 10:15 am (PT)

Rating Driver Odds          Practice 1       Qualifying       Practice 2     Practice 3

1. Mark Martin 6/1            1st                 4th               2nd              1st
    Blistering fast in all sessions; Same Chassis sat on pole and finished 2nd at Indy in ‘09
2. Jimmie Johnson 9/2        7th                16th              1st              16th
    All-time leader in 1.5-mile wins; Same chassis won pole & race at Charlotte last fall
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr 18/1  10th                1st               7th              2nd
    New Chassis this week; 1st pole in 68 races, Actually looks like a Hendrick car this week
4. Kasey Kahne 20/1          3rd                6th               5th              11th
    2 time ATL winner, Won fall race in ’09; strong throughout practice with average speeds
5. Jeff Gordon 8/1             35th               5th               6th               25th
    ATL best 9.2 AVG finish last 10 years; 4 career wins, best AVG finish on 1.5 mile tracks in ’09
6. Jeff Burton 18/1            24th              22nd             20th              6th
    Using same Chassis that finish 3rd at Cal 2 weeks ago with similar practice progression
7. Kurt Busch 15/1            18th               11th              4th               10th
    2 time ATL winner, won this race in ’09; New Chassis this week, steady practice times
8. Kyle Busch 8/1              2nd                2nd               8th               23rd
    Won this race in ’08, Great Friday in Q-trim, slowed Sat in race trim; No top-10’s this year
9. Clint Bowyer 20/1         27th              18th               18th               9th
    New Chassis this week; 2nd in points, finished 6th in last 3 spring ATL races
10.Paul Menard 500/1      19th              23rd              11th               4th
     Looked great in final practices, similar to teammate Kahne. He has never look as good!

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