Kyle Busch gives Toyota first victory
HAMPTON, Ga. – It was like the good old days for Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway when newcomer Kyle Busch put the No. 18 in the Winner’s Circle.
But there was a new twist – the first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory for Toyota. And Busch and teammate Tony Stewart also gave the Japanese automaker its first 1-2 finish.
It was the first win in 40 Cup starts for Toyota and it confirmed that the company’s signing of the powerhouse Gibbs team over the winter will make its Camrys, which struggled in their 2007 debut, competitive with the other top teams.
“We were all apprehensive at the start of the year,” said team owner Gibbs, who returned to racing full-time after retiring late last year as coach of the Washington Redskins. “There was a huge amount of work we had to go through.”
The win put the No. 18 back on top at Atlanta, where former Gibbs driver Bobby Labonte won six races in that car and was a perennial contender.
The significance was not lost on Busch.
“The 18! The 18! The 18 is back at Atlanta,” Busch screamed on the radio after crossing the finish line ahead of teammate Tony Stewart. “Congratulations, (crew chief Steve) Addington, it’s your first one.”
Former crew chief Jimmy Makar, the first person hired by Joe Gibbs when he decided to go NASCAR racing, radioed the winner, “Kyle Busch, this is Jimmy. Thank you for bringing the 18 back.”
Busch took the lead for good with 50 laps to go when Carl Edwards, trying for a third straight victory, went out with a broken transmission.
The first win for the Japanese automaker is the first NASCAR victory by a foreign manufacturer since Al Keller drove a Jaguar to a road course win in Linden, N.J., in June 1954.
It was the fifth Cup victory for Busch and the first since last March 25 at Bristol for the driver who will turn 23 on May 2. He became the youngest winner on Atlanta’s 1.5-mile oval since Jeff Gordon won in 1995 at 23 years, 6 months.
Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both passed Greg Biffle in the final laps to take second and third, with pole winner Gordon fifth.
Stewart, who complained about the Goodyear tires after blowing a right front and hitting the wall hard the previous week in Las Vegas, was even more upset after Sunday’s race.
“Most pathetic racing tire in my career,” he said after climbing out of his Toyota.
Stewart added, “If I were Goodyear, I’d be really embarrassed about this weekend and what they brought us here. It didn’t keep us from winning the race, but how we got to second, I don’t know.”
The suspect tires, plus the Atlanta debut of NASCAR’s bigger, bulkier Car of Tomorrow, which is harder to drive than the old car, made it a tough day for everyone.
“It’s really hard to drive these things because you’re always on the edge out there,” Busch said. “It’s the worst I’ve ever felt in a race car, and I won the race.”
Busch, who started the season with a pair of fourths and an 11th-place run, was dominant for much of the 325-lap race.
“There’s been a lot of stuff said, but I think this shows we have a fast car and they’re going to have to deal with us every week,” said Edwards, who was docked 100 points and also lost crew chief Bob Osborne to a six-week suspension for a Las Vegas infraction.
Two-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson had another so-so day, coming back from a lap down twice to finish 13th.