Atlanta proved to be tough on equipment

Event was first 500-mile non-plate race of season

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Several drivers were happy to get Georgia off their mind after Sunday's Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Chief among them likely was Jamie McMurray. McMurray was running fourth on Lap 247 when his engine expired.

	McMurray's motor lasted 247 laps.

"We were on the engine shop to make more power," McMurray said. "They made more power, but we're turning so many RPMs we really didn't know.

"All the parts went up under the carburetor and made the throttle stick wide open."

McMurray said he and his team were concerned about the engine all day.

"The engine guys were telling me to baby it before the race even started, he said. "I thought racetrack would slow more than it did."

But it could always be worse, McMurray said.

"This is bad, but it's not like what Dale Jr. went through last week. I've been there. What are you going to do? There's no point getting upset over it."

Career day for Mears ruined by DNF

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McMurray wasn't the only Ganassi Racing driver to have a good run stopped early. Casey Mears led 37 laps and spent 296 laps in the top 10 Sunday before his engine expired.

"We knew Atlanta was going to be a big test and we were running pretty high in the RPM range," Mears said. "I'm disappointed because we were ran so good and we had a chance to move up in the points.

Still, Mears said the day wasn't all bad.

"I worked my way through the field and it felt awesome," Mears said. "I'm really looking forward to next weekend."

Transmission woes for Wallace

Problems under the hood also cost Rusty Wallace a strong day. Wallace was forced to head to the garage on Lap 148 with a transmission problem.

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"We broke a fourth gear in the transmission," Wallace said. "I've never had a transmission do that."

Wallace was in contention for much of the early part of the race. He spent 112 of those first 148 laps running in the top 10.

"The car was flying," I was just making my lap times, running a little faster than the leader.

"We were headed for a real good finish."

By the time Wallace returned to the racetrack, he was 33 laps down. He finished 35th.

Sadler dropped like a rock when the green fell

While Wallace was in contention for most of the early laps, Elliott Sadler wasn't in contention long at all. Sadler started fifth but only spent five laps in the top 10 before fading into the land of the also-rans.

He finished 29th, five laps down. In the process, he dropped from third to eighth in the Nextel Cup standings.

"Wow, that was a bad day," Sadler said. "We fell backwards right off the bat because the car was extremely loose going into the corner, in the middle of the corner and coming off the corner."

Sadler said their tough day wasn't due to a lack of effort.

"Todd (Parrott, crew chief) made some major adjustments throughout the whole race and we just rode around.

"We're all scratching our heads pretty hard right now, and we'll have to go back to the drawing board and do our homework to get ready for Darlington next week."