Atlanta's history molding on knack for close finishes (cont'd)

Labonte said he didn't know who won until crew chief Jimmy Makar told him.

''I haven't seen a replay and I don't care to. I just came up a little short,'' Labonte said. ''I was flat out as hard as I could go just to keep up with him. That last eight laps were just flat out, no holding back.''

Earnhardt said he expected Labonte to show his hand at the end.

''I found a pretty good line through [Turns] 3 and 4,'' Earnhardt said. ''It sort of seemed like he was waiting, biding his time. Sure enough, he made his run there on the last lap and got close to beating us. It definitely wasn't a boring race.''

Kevin Harvick was supposed to make his Cup debut as a teammate to Earnhardt at Atlanta the following season. Instead, Harvick was asked by car owner Richard Childress to take over Earnhardt's car after he died at Daytona.

And as fate would have it, it was Harvick who duplicated Earnhardt's 2000 win, beating Jeff Gordon by .006 seconds, or about the width of a bumper.

"I don't even know how to put it into words, to tell the honest truth," Harvick said. "It took an extra cool-down lap just to get through the emotional part of it. I don't know how you could have scripted it any better."

Autostock

Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, 2005

Using the same car Earnhardt drove to a second-place finish in the 2000 fall race, Harvick took the lead on a three-wide pass of Jerry Nadeau and Dale Jarrett, then held off Gordon's furious rally at the line.

"I just kept praying for Dale to help us out," Childress said. "He gave us the help we needed. I know he's somewhere, I can see him with that mustache of his just breaking into a big grin."

Harvick admitted he had a touch of deja vu.

"I was sitting at home watching this race last year and for it to wind up almost the same way is scary, if you think about it," Harvick said. "And then coming into Victory Lane, with all those guys putting their arms out to me -- all those guys who have been through one of the most difficult situations and supported me through it -- all I can say is this one was for Dale."

In 2005, a close finish featured another first-time winner: Carl Edwards.

Jimmie Johnson passed Edwards with 25 laps remaining and seemingly had things in order until the final lap. Edwards closed up on Johnson's rear bumper coming out of Turn 2, and when the leader took the high groove, he went to the inside.

The two cars stayed side-by-side through the final corner as Johnson's car bobbled slightly. That allowed Edwards to hold the narrowest of advantages when they crossed the stripe.

"That's the hardest I've ever driven in my life," Edwards said. "I'm pretty proud of that."

Johnson had been working the low line -- and wondered in hindsight if he hadn't erred in protecting the top line on the final lap.

"I made one small mistake," he said. "It cost me the win."

Johnson would gain a small measure of revenge when he made an aggressive pass of Tony Stewart three laps from the end and went on to the first of two Atlanta victories last season.

Stewart seemed to be in control following the final restart with 11 laps remaining. But Johnson was able to pass Matt Kenseth for second and chased down Stewart.

Johnson went to pass Stewart on Lap 322, and as the two cars exited Turn 2, Stewart's car scraped the wall.

"Tony had a good run on the inside coming off the corner and when I heard he was coming it was just too late for me to adjust," Johnson said. "I certainly squeezed him into the wall and didn't leave him a lot of room, but it wasn't intentional."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.