Kasey Kahne is the latest Buschwhacker to go to Victory Lane. Credit: Autostock

Cup drivers have tight grip on AMS Busch race

Nine of last 10 Atlanta Busch Series races won by Cup regulars

Four races into the 2006 Busch Series season, there have been four different winners -- all of them Nextel Cup regulars; one of them running the entire Busch schedule.

What's more, in those four races, Busch-only drivers have recorded seven top-10 finishes. In other words, Cup drivers have finished in the top 10 this season 82.5 percent of the time. Granted, seven guys are running both schedules full time, but Cup drivers made up the entire top 10 at Las Vegas and the top 11 at California.

Kasey Kahne has an average finish of 9.0 at Atlanta. Credit: Autostock

Atlanta Motor Speedway Past Busch Series winners Year Driver Make 1992 J. Gordon Ford 1993 W. Burton Chevy 1994 H. Gant* Chevy 1995 J. Benson Chevy 1996 T. Labonte* Chevy 1997 M. Martin* Ford 1998 M. Martin* Ford 1999 M. Skinner* Chevy 2000 M. Martin* Ford 2001 J. Nemechek* Chevy 2002 J. McMurray Chevy 2003 G. Biffle* Chevy 2004 M. Kenseth* Ford 2005 C. Edwards* Ford * Denotes Cup regular that year NICORETTE 300 •   Complete coverage •   Get Atlanta tickets FedEx PreviewNBC/TNT's Marty Snider previews the action heading to Atlanta Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Don't expect a new storyline coming out of Atlanta this weekend for Saturday's Nicorette 300 (3 p.m. ET, FX).

Seventeen drivers will double-dip this weekend, running both the Busch and Cup races, but that too is nothing new to Atlanta.

Cup guys filled the top-nine positions in last season's Atlanta Busch race. Nine of the past 10 winners of Atlanta's Busch race have been Nextel Cup drivers, dating to Johnny Benson's victory in 1995, the year before Benson jumped to the Cup level. Jamie McMurray is the exception when he won there as a Busch Series regular in 2002, the same season he was put in Sterling Marlin's Cup ride as a fill-in and ended up in Victory Lane.

"Racing at Atlanta has always been very competitive, with a lot of the Nextel Cup drivers entered in the race," David Green said.

Knocking off the big boys, however, may be a tall order.

Of the drivers who'll race this weekend, only Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and McMurray are Atlanta winners -- and they're all Cup regulars.

Only Busch drivers Todd Bodine (13.9) and Ashton Lewis (17.0) have average finishes that rank among the top 15 at Atlanta.

Topping that list of highest average finish is, obviously, Edwards, last year's winner who took the pole and the checkered flag in his only Atlanta start.

Baffle is third with a 3.8 average finish. All five of his races there have been top-10 runs, including a victory in 2003.

"We're bringing a brand new car to the track, but feel like it has as much potential as the one we've run the past few weeks," said Biffle, who won at California and finished fourth last week at Las Vegas. "Our expectations are always high when we unload at Atlanta, and this week won't be any different."

Not a lot will change for Kasey Kahne this week either, although few teams may have worked harder in the past six days than his.

Kahne started 10th last weekend at Las Vegas, patiently motored to the front and got by dominant Kevin Harvick and Kenseth to lead 52 laps and hold off Kenseth for a green-white-checkered victory. It was the fourth of his Busch career.

"It was nice to get a win early in the season and especially at Las Vegas Motor Speedway," said Kahne, who skipped the Mexico City race.

But Las Vegas is where the celebration stopped.

"Before we left for Vegas last week, I told the Ultimate Chargers crew that the only reason I would make them turn the same car around in two days and send to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend would be if it won the race," said Trip Bruce, crew chief for Kahne's No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge.

"I kind of had to eat my words on that one."

Heading to Atlanta, it'll be chassis No. 23 that the team will be rolling off of pit road -- the same one that sat in Victory Lane one week ago, and the same one that was brand new heading to Vegas.

"We are hoping this chassis runs well at Atlanta as it did in Vegas," Kahne said.

Bruce said after leaving Vegas with the hardware, he'd bank on another successful Atlanta run for Kahne, whose average Busch finish there is 9.0 in four races.

"Obviously it was very fulfilling for our team to win last weekend in Las Vegas," Bruce said. "But it's back to business this weekend and we need to work just as hard to have a shot at winning at Atlanta."