Atlanta Kobalt Tools 500 cheat sheet / lineup

We are a little late posting this, thanks to Bike Week in Daytona Beach. This is the first time I haven't made it to an Atlanta race in the last 6 races. Last year I woke up to snow at the track!

Mark Martin, who was fastest in practice 1, won his first pole since Richmond in May 2001. This is a good thing for Mark being he is currently 34th in points. Will he finally break his loosing streak or will he blow another engine?

So far this year has been all about the engine problems. Last year it was all about the tires. Tony Stewart had his famous rant about Goodyear by calling them the most pathetic racing tire he has ever been on in his entire racing career and that they can’t build a tire worth a crap. Hopefully Goodyear got it together because last years Atlanta race was ridiculous.

Kolbalt Tools 500 lineup

1. #5 Mark Martin Chevrolet, Kellogg's / Carquest (fastest in practice 1)

2. #2 Kurt Busch Dodge, Miller Lite

3. #26 Jamie McMurray Ford, Irwin Industrial Tools

4. #42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet, Target

5. #16 Greg Biffle Ford, 3M

6. #11 Denny Hamlin Toyota, FedEx Ground

7. #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet, Lowe's / Kobalt Tools

8. #87 Joe Nemechek Toyota, NEMCO Motorsports

9. #18 Kyle Busch Toyota, M&M's

10. #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet, Reese's

11. #14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet, Office Depot / Old Spice

12. #39Ryan Newman Chevrolet, Haas Automation

13. #9 Kasey Kahne Dodge, Budweiser

14. #19 Elliott Sadler Dodge, Best Buy

15. #31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet, Caterpillar

16. #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet, National Guard Youth Challenge / DuPont

17. #83 Brian Vickers Toyota, Red Bull

18. #00 David Reutimann Toyota, Aaron's Dream Machine

19. #7 Robby Gordon Toyota, Jim Beam

20. #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet, Amp Energy / National Guard

21. #33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet, BB&T

22. #28 Travis Kvapil Ford, Golden Corral

23. #1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet, Bass Pro Shops / Tracker

24. #55 Michael Waltrip Toyota, NAPA

25. #07 Casey Mears Chevrolet, DirecTV

26. #82 Scott Speed Toyota, Red Bull

27. #66 Dave Blaney Toyota, Prism Motorsports

28. #12 David Stremme Dodge, Penske Racing

29. #99 Carl Edwards Ford, Aflac

30. #17 Matt Kenseth Ford, Dewalt

31. #71 David Gilliland Chevrolet, Capital Window

32. #43 Reed Sorenson Dodge, Super 8

33. #98 Paul Menard Ford, Pittsburgh Paints / Menards

34. #47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota, Kingsford / Clorox / Little Debbie

35. #21 Bill Elliott Ford, Motorcraft

36. #77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge, Mobil

37. #8 Aric Almirola Chevrolet, Cub Cadet

38. #44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge, Charter Comm.

39. #6 David Ragan Ford, UPS

40. #96 Bobby Labonte Ford, Ask.com

41. #34 John Andretti Chevrolet, WindowWorld.com

42. #20 Joey Logano Toyota, The Home Depot

43. #09 Mike Bliss Dodge, Phoenix Racing

The 4 drivers who didn’t make it in were all Toyotas:

#35 Todd Bodine Toyota

#36 Scott Riggs Toyota, Red Bank Outfitters

#41 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota, All Sport

#64 Geoff Bodine Toyota, Gunselman Motorsports

In case you missed Tony’s Goodyear ranting:

Kasey Kahne and Direks Bentley team up again

The Kasey Kahne Foundation is presenting Sound Check 9 benefit concert featuring Dierks Bentley tomorrow night at Wild Bill’s in Duluth Georgia.

“I’ve been friends with Dierks for a while now and I’m excited that we are putting together an event to benefit charity” – Kasey Kahne

Well Kasey, we are excited you and Dierks are teaming up again! Anytime you can go to one venue and look at Kasey Kahne and Dierks Bentley…great music, cute boys, well need I say more? We saw Dierks concert after the Budweiser Shootout and it was a fantastic show.

Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com and all Ticketmaster outlets. General Admission is $32 the day of the show ($27 if you get them in advance). Reserved seating is $50 and for $150, you get a VIP Meet and Greet with Kasey and Dierks and one reserved seat.

The show starts at 8:00pm and doors open at 6:30.

Other driver appearances throughout the weekend are up at Jayski.com. There aren't many posted yet so check the souvenir haulers for autograph schedules.

For Sale: 2br/2ba, new appliances, Speedway in backyard...

How would you like that to be the view from your living room?

For a mere $399,999-$799,999, you can have it! The Tara Place Condominiums are a 9 story complex attached to the front stretch at Atlanta Motor Speedway. They currently house the AMS corporate offices and 46 private condominiums. Most condos have theater seating (perfect for entertaining on race day!!) and come fully furnished. Not too shabby huh? Now, why cant I be a multi-millioniare? I would buy the whole place for us to take over this weekend!


Any serious takers can check out Condo.com they have several units available!

Hotlanta!!

The Entry List for this Sundays Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is posted on Jayski.com and can be found here. Qualifying will take place Friday March 6 at 6:45 pm. You can follow along at Speed Network, NASCAR.com, PRN Radio or Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

There are 13 drivers on the go or go home list including Tony Stewart and Bill Elliot, one of whom can use past champion provisional if needed.

The schedule for this weekend can be viewed here.

We are currently working on the Drivers appearances throughout Atlanta and will have it posted as soon as possible.

Our question today is do you think the defending Atlanta Spring winner and last weekends Shelby 427 winner, Kyle Busch can make two in a row?

We wish everyone best of the luck to them in HOTlanta!

Carl Edwards Record Label helps provide pre-race entertainment for Atlanta Kobalt 500

Atlanta Motor Speedway has announced three performers -- Richie McDonald, Craig Campbell and Chris Hatfield -- for the Aflac Pre-Race Show prior to the running of the Kobalt Tools 500 on Sunday, March 8.

McDonald, the former lead singer for platinum-selling band Lonestar, will sing the National Anthem, while Campbell and Hatfield will perform mini-concerts as part of the Aflac Pre-Race Show.

McDonald gained national attention with Lonestar whose crossover hit "Amazed" reached number one on both the country charts and the Billboard Hot 100, the first song to do so since 1983. In 2007, the Texas native opted to leave Lonestar and pursue a solo career.

Hatfield newly signed with Carl Edwards' record label, Back40 Records, recently opened for Gavin DeGraw at a NASCAR fan event in New York City.

In addition to McDonald, Campbell and Hatfield, singer Megan Peeler will perform the National Anthem prior to Saturday's American Commercial Lines 200 and the duo The Two Timers will sing the Anthem before Friday's Georgia Power Qualifying Night.

A chance to ride along with your favorite driver in Atlanta!

Speedway Children’s Charities is auctioning off a Ride Of A Lifetime Drivers Auction. It is a chance to take a lap with your favorite NASCAR driver! Click here to visit their eBay auction site. The winning bidder will have the opportunity to ride in the passenger seat of the parade lap Corvette during driver introductions for the Kobalt 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 8, 2009. Prior to the ride along you & a guest will receive a cold pit tour and the opportunity to take photos in your driver’s pit stall. Winning bid does not include tickets, transportation or lodging.

I have been blessed experiences I have had with NASCAR over the past few years but riding in the parade car is one thing I have never done. This is a great opportunity to meet your favorite driver and do something that many people will never experience. You better hurry up if you want a chance at this since the auction ends over the weekend! And ladies....at this time, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards have not been bid on.

Cold Wet-Lanta

As I am wrapping up the day, playing major catchup after my trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway w/ HillJack (or Hill-F.N.-Jack), I felt the duty to do some blogging since we have slacked off this past week.

Altanta, which was my least favorite track of all, has made its way into my top 3 tracks. It is one of the easiest tracks to get around in the infield. I get lost very easily so this is a very important factor in my book. Red Bull had a suite thing called the energy station. It was out of control. It was a two story, high end night club sitting ontop of the hill inbetween turns 2 & 3. It was fully catered, all you can drink, DJ, plasma screen tv's everywhere you looked, 2 balcony areas that overlooked the track: It was a new venture in my Nascar experiences. I wanted to move in! Melissa fell in love with Red Bull cola, she even set our redbulls up on dates w/ our deserts: I wonder how long it will take to get that Red Bull Cola stuff on the market. I was overly impressed with the whole set up, which I found out costs $1 million per race. That is A LOT of money for a suite/tent/whatever you want to call it.

The weather was awful on Friday night but we surely made the best of it and had a wonderful time. Saturday and Sunday were cold and windy but very nice. I even got a little sunburnt. I finally got to see Carl Edwards do a back flip in person: And I got to see my bud Regan Smith for a few seconds, which is always a highlight.

It was another weekend of too much fun, great people, and no sleep.