Wow is all I can say there.  The main story at Atlanta is the fued between Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards. Only they know if this is carry over from last season at Talladega, something else completely or what? But wow. In my opinion the first incident looked like it was actually Carl coming down and trying to squeeze infront of Keselowski where there wasn’t room. Whether Carl misjudged or his spotter failed to warn him or what was going on.  Either way- I am glad that no one was hurt. I must admit it would be interesting to hear what goes on in the NASCAR trailer during a meeting like that…but I wouldn’t want to be the cause of why the meeting was happening.

Tires also seemed to be an issue but only for certain teams which makes me think that it was more set up than tire compound- because if it were a problem with the compound the tire was made out of more teams would have had problems. 

So technically? I think that the race was pretty good for Stewart and his OfficeDepot/Old Spice crew.  And yes I was watching the same race you were all watching.  Seriously though- you have to consider that Stewart started at the rear of the field because of the engine change.  There were times he was running as high as fourth! I mean that is a pretty awesome recovery from starting pretty much last.  The real shout out actually goes to the Office Depot/ Old Spice pit crew.   They seemed to be having pretty awesome stops- often times gaining Tony 2 or three spots in the pits alone!  I can only think of one pit stop where they come out negative positions from their scheduled stops. 

Unfortunately Stewart’s car was one of the cars plagued with tire problems during the Atlanta race- so he had to make a couple of unscheduled stops to keep from blowing the tire.  Having to come in two separate times to change tires because of issues put Stewart down to 25th but then there was the first attempt at the green-white-checker (overdrive? whatever the heck they are calling it these days). There was the wreck which wiped out several cars in front of Steward bringing him up to 18th for the second and final attempt at a green flag finish.  He was able to in the span of two laps work his way up to 13th.  Unofficially this puts him at 8th in the points standing 136 points out of first.

Teammate Ryan Newman seemed to have more problems earlier in the race with tires.  Newman also got tagged once by Jimmie Johnson during the race.  He finished the race in 17th position which puts him 29th in the series standings after Atlanta.

Notes About Atlanta:

• Ok- I don’t know if it was DirecTV or our local Fox affiliate but the whole popping out of the race during the beginning of the race? Was really annoying.  I think I saw the stupid FOXSPORTS logo more than the race for a bit there.
• Census 2010 car? Really? That has to be one of the most bizarre sponsors I have ever seen on a car. Boy it really makes me wanna run out and get myself counted. (Yes- that is me being facetious).
• It really bugs me sometimes how much Darrell Waltrip seems to favor Dale Junior.  I don’t know why but it really bugs me.
• What also really bugged me is that they were going over the big movers and shakers of the field sometime after the third caution and absolutely NO one mentioned the fact that Tony had at time gone from 43rd to 9th. I mean seriously? That seemed like a pretty big deal to me- granted I AM a Stewart fan…but even if I weren’t- Tony had to have had one of the biggest improvements in position over the race.

Remember next week is an off week..which is great because it will give me time to give appropriate attention to the RACECATION RECAP post from the Vegas weekend!!