After a slip-sliding affair in the Peach State on Sunday night, here's some Notes & Quotes from NASCAR's newest Labor Day tradition.You've got to hand it to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Sunday night's race looked and felt like a breath of fresh air into the venue that has long seen attendance woes -- even while the racing has generally been well above par. Estimates from media and drivers alike put the crowd much larger than the track has seen in years.
The on-track action -- thanks mostly to a tire that wore down and slowed the cars during a run -- was second to none with some 31 lead changes. You've got to bet track president Ed Clark has a big smile on his face this week because Labor Day weekend really clicked with the 1.54-mile track.
David Reutimann finished a strong 4th driving an ultra-cool camouflage-painted No. 00, but it wasn't an easy process.
"We just had one set of tires on the car that the car didn't like very much," said Reutimann, echoing the sentiment of many drivers. "We just kept coming in and working on it. The guys did a great job. I'm really proud. We have run so bad here in the past. It really feels almost like a win."
Reutimann, of course, got his first win at the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 in May and has picked up 5 top-5s and 8 top-10s in 2009 -- both career highs.
Strangely, three big favorites heading into Sunday night's race finished all in consecutive positions -- but at the back.
Jimmie Johnson and his three AMS wins finished 36th thanks to a broken axle and lock nut that forced repairs, Carl Edwards finished a lap further back than Johnson in 37th due to debris causing damage to the oil lines and Kurt Busch smacked the turn four wall after getting loose to finish 38th. Busch dominated and won the spring AMS event.
Bobby Labonte was dropped for seven races from Yates Racing due to sponsorship issues just before Atlanta, but the track came through yet again for the Texan after he picked up a last-minute ride from TRG Motorsports.
Labonte drove the No. 71 to an 18th-place finish -- his personal best since a 12th-place at Charlotte in May -- and topped Erik Darnell by 12 positions. Darnell's sponsorship put him in Labonte's normal No. 96 car for Atlanta.
David Gilliland has driven that No. 71 regularly in 2009, but the shuffle with Labonte ended up with Gilliland subbing for a somewhat-injured Bill Elliott in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Elliott had a dirtbike accident last week that injured his ribs.
Gilliland finished just behind Labonte in 19th, but was elated after the race about his experience with crew chief David Hyder.
"He's a racer and he believes what you're telling him in the race car, which is helpful, and that's awesome," said Gilliland. "Everybody was awesome to work with. We made great adjustments and everytime I told him what it was doing we came in and the tire-pressure builds said exactly the same thing as I was saying, so we were on the same page all night."
Gilliland is looking for a full-time ride in 2010.
Jeff Gordon may have summed the night up best after his 8th-place run that saw him both lead and struggle to stay in contention at different points during the 500-miler.
"It was really crazy. There were a lot of things going on. I can't even keep up with all the different things that happened," said Gordon. "There were times I thought we had the car to beat then I thought we were going to go a lap down. We were trying to keep up with the changing conditions whether it was track, tires or whatever it was. Man, we were all over the place and never could seem to find any consistency."
Kyle Busch skirted a chance to talk with the media in post-race, but crew chief Steve Addington left the No. 18 team's goal simple for next weekend at Richmond where they'll face a 37-point deficit to make the Chase.
"We got to go there and win and let the chips fall where they may," said Addington after Busch's 13th-place finish. "We've been working hard -- nothing we can do now. We can't control what everybody else does we can only control what we do. We need to go to Richmond and win the race."
The last time he said that was at Michigan after a dismal day for Busch. Busch won the very next race at Bristol, just two weeks ago.
