HAMPTON, Ga. — Kurt Busch was running out front with three laps to go when things really got interesting.
First came a frightening crash that seemed intentional between two feuding drivers.
Then, another spinning, slamming melee took place before the white flag came out.
“We’ve got to win this race three times, maybe even four times,” a frustrated Busch said on his radio.
Not to worry. Busch survived a couple of overtime restarts and 16 extra laps to win again Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a race marred by accusations that Carl Edwards purposely wrecked Brad Keselowski’s car, sending it hurtling toward the main stands upside down.
Busch won the spring race at the 1.54-mile trioval for the second year in a row, beating Matt Kenseth to the line by nearly half a second in the Kobalt Tools 500. Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard.
The race went 341 laps instead of its scheduled 325 because of two big crashes near the end. The first one drew the most attention.
Edwards, running 156 laps behind, clipped Keselowski and caused his car to spin, then lift into the air at about 190 mph. It smashed into the barrier in front of the stands roof-first, then flipped back onto the track right side up. Keselowski was OK, but NASCAR ordered Edwards to park his car and summoned him to its trailer.
“It’s not cool to wreck someone intentionally at 195 mph. He could have killed someone in the grandstands,” Keselow-ski said. “It will be interesting to see how NASCAR reacts to it. They have the ball.”
NASCAR put off a decision on whether to discipline Edwards at least until today.
On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish, another crash took out seven cars coming through turns three and four.
Finally, they got in two clean laps, and it was Busch all the way for his third career win in Atlanta.
“You have to adjust to whatever circumstances there are to win these races,” said Busch, who claimed his 21st victory and snapped Jimmie Johnson’s two-race winning streak. “I felt we won the race outright today.”
Keselowski and Edwards were involved in a spectacular crash at Talladega last year. Edwards’ car flew up toward the stands, ripping out the fencing, and Keselowski sped on by for the victory.
Johnson, the four-time defending Sprint Cup champion, climbed into contention again, getting as high as third, but a bad pit stop and a scrape with Ryan Newman cost Johnson a chance to become the first driver since 2007 to make it three in a row. He finished 12th.
Furniture Row update
A look at Regan Smith, who drives for the Furniture Row team, which is based in Colorado:
Nice move: Two big wrecks helped Smith finish in 14th place, a nice jump from his 38th starting position. The finish netted 121 points and $84,925 for Furniture Row.
Smith avoided all the trouble from the crashes and was in 16th place after the final caution, then moved up two spots.
“You can look at it any way you want, but we put ourselves in a position to take advantage of an opportunity,” Smith said. “The cautions at the end definitely played in our favor. We were fortunate to avoid the last two wrecks and sneak out a pretty good points day.”
Top 12 in point standings: 1. K.Harvick, 644; 2. M.Kenseth, 618; 3. G.Biffle, 585; 4. J.Johnson, 570; 5. C.Bowyer, 558; 6. J.Burton, 538; 7. M.Martin, 521; 8. T.Stewart, 510; 9. P.Menard, 505; 10. Ku.Busch, 502; 11. J.Gordon, 482; 12. S.Speed, 482.
Up next: March 21. Food City 500, Bristol, Tenn.
The Denver Post
