Tires could once again factor into race at Atlanta

In real estate, it's location, location, location.

At Atlanta Motor Speedway, it's tires, tires, tires.

That was a story the last time the Sprint Cup Series came to town, clouding Toyota's first win in a Cup points race and a 22-year-old named Kyle Busch getting his first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Fast facts

What	Pep Boys Auto 500
When	2:20 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	ABC, 1 p.m. ET
Radio	PRN (Sirius Ch. 128), 1:15 ET

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How bad were the tires? "Pathetic," snapped frequent Goodyear critic Tony Stewart.

Atlanta is a fast track that provides drivers multiple lines to race. And since its reconfiguration in 1997, it has hosted some of the most thrilling photo finishes in NASCAR history.

But the last time the Sprint Cup Series visited Atlanta, the difficulty teams had making the Goodyear tires work with the new-style racecar was an issue.

"I felt like I was going to crash every single lap," Jeff Gordon said after the race. "This car, this tire, at this track was just terrible."

But that was seven months ago, and a lot has changed, including seven more wins for Busch, who participated in a recent tire test at the track in preparation for Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500.

"The tire test went OK," Busch said. "We seemed to get a little bit better tire, and I'm now going to go out and say that it wasn't Goodyear's fault for the spring race. Yeah, we got a better tire now than what we had in the spring, but the tire is only going to be better for eight or 10 laps."

Goodyear is providing new right-side tires this week; the left-side tires will be the same as the ones used in March.

"The car just doesn't have the amount of downforce it needs to run around that track," Busch said. "It's going to be a tough race again, same as what it was there in the spring. Not a whole lot different. Just a little bit more comfortable for eight laps instead of just one lap."

Points leader Jimmie Johnson finished 13th in March, one of two finishes outside the top 10 in his past 10 starts at Atlanta. He had won the previous two races at the 1.54-mile track and has three wins overall.

He says the car-tire combination at Atlanta will make it a challenging day.

"Atlanta is one of the more technical and difficult tracks to sort out with this [new car]," Johnson said. "There are a lot of swells in the track. ... It makes the car feel inconsistent. So I think the end result is going to be a lot of cars slipping and sliding and a good show for the fans."

Johnson leads Greg Biffle by 149 points and is four races from joining Cale Yarborough as the only drivers to win three titles in a row. But Johnson isn't ready to look that far into the future just yet.

"You just don't know what's going to happen," Johnson said. "We were able to go to Martinsville and deliver like history has shown. But you can't count on that stuff. That's why they run the race. It's 500 miles at Atlanta. So much can happen. Our track record shows that we've done well, and we feel like we're going to do well. But we've still got to get out there and do the job. That's the tough part."

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