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During green-flag pit stops on the race’s 67th lap, Jimmy Watts, a gasman on Marcos Ambrose’s pit crew, chased a loose tire that had rolled out of Ambrose’s pit box. Watts ran halfway between pit road and the track’s front straightway, where cars were racing at speeds above 170 MPH, as he tried to retrieve the tire. The incident caused the third of 11 cautions during the race. Watts was suspended for the remainder of Sunday’s race.

Information and video courtesy of Jalopnik

Mark Martin had a great weekend going for him, in the top with practice speeds, winning the pole, and running up front during most of the race. Then, the unexpected happened, hurtling his car into turn one at the Atlanta Motor Speedway during the Kobalt Tools 500 race, his car took a slide into the outside retaining wall that left his car crippled from the damage sustained when he backed his car hard into it at top speed.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on FOX once again dominated weekend sports coverage. That Sunday’s (3/1) race from Las Vegas Motor Speedway scored as the most-watched and highest-rated weekend sports event giving NASCAR on FOX that distinction for the third consecutive week.

Sunday’s victory by hometown favorite Kyle Busch averaged 11.1 million viewers (6.5/12 national rating/share) towering over the next closest event, ABC’s Lakers/Suns broadcast, which recorded 4.7 million viewers (3.1/6).

Last year, Kyle Busch made history in March 2008 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He became the first driver to win a Sprint Cup race for a foreign manufacturer since 1954.

Let’s run down the numbers at Atlanta and see who’s hot statistically speaking.

The MotorSportsNews[dot]Net(work)’s own photographer, Steve Langley, is at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and checks in with this article….

Crews were busy today getting ready for the big weekend race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Paint crews were painting sponsor logos in the infield grass and the walls around the big 1.54 super fast oval speedway were bright white with their newly painted surfaces.

FastCar Newsdesk for Atlanta Motor Speedway, week of 3/5/09
Considering the vast number of engine failures this season, particularly at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, seeing several engine developments this past week is of little surprise.

FastCar Newsdesk for Bud Shootout, week of 2/5/09

Goodyear is looking at drastic changes to improve its racing tire. According to company officials, Goodyear is already developing a tire that is one to two inches wider and taller than the current tire that teams use. The purpose for forming the bigger tire is to give the new COTs better grip on the racetrack. The COT has caused the tires to have worse grip than on the older racecars. The cars also have less downforce than before, creating sizeable handling problems, especially on bigger racetracks.

Photo by Steve Langley

The NASCAR Nationwide Raybestos Rookie of the year trophy goes to Landon Cassill for the 2008 season. The 19 year old ran 20 races in 2008 with one start on the pole and five top ten finishes. His closest competor for the title was Bryan Clauson who came up a little short at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

From the reports, it sounds like this was a solid weekend of exciting racing action. I didn’t get to see much of it personally.

Check out the latest Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, and Craftsman Truck Series news right here in today’s Stock Car Gazette.

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by MotorSportsNews.Net

FastCar Newsdesk for Chase Race Seven: Atlanta Motor Speedway, week of 10/24/08

Headlines and speculation regarding the merger and sometimes consolidation of race teams have permeated many NASCAR conversations and stories this season.

In the last week or two, rumors regarding a merger between Petty Enterprises and Dale Earnhardt Inc. seemed close to being fact. Now, there is talk that Ganassi Racing (which fields Dodges) and Petty enterprises may be in negotiations about merging.