Atlanta's history molding on knack for close finishes

If Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 ends in anything but a side-by-side photo finish, it will be the exception rather than the norm.

In the 97 races since Fireball Roberts won the inaugural event in July of 1960 at what was then called Atlanta International Raceway, no fewer than 25 have been won by a second or less. And three of the 10 closest finishes since electronic scoring became the norm in 1993 have taken place at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

• Send Mark your thoughts
• Mark's Community page

Whether in its original 1.522-mile oval configuration -- or rebuilt as a 1.54-mile quad-oval in 1997 -- Atlanta has provided some of the best action in the closing laps of any track on the Sprint Cup circuit.

And it all started with the 1970 Atlanta 500.

Originally scheduled for March 22, rains wiped out Saturday's qualifying and continued the next day, forcing NASCAR officials to postpone the race until the following weekend. So on Easter Sunday, Cale Yarborough led a field of 40 to the green flag. And right from the start, it appeared that Yarborough -- who had won the previous three spring Atlanta races -- would easily make it four in a row.

With the laps winding down, Yarborough's No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury had lapped the entire field, including second-place Bobby Allison. But an unusual turn of events would wipe out that deficit, and more.

With 10 laps to go, Yarborough ducked on pit road for service under green -- putting Allison back on the lead lap. Just as his team finished their work, the caution came out. As the field entered Turn 4, the NASCAR official working the entrance to pit road pointed his flag at Yarborough to signify that he was still in the lead. But Yarborough was confused.

"I thought he meant for me to come in the pits, and I came back in again," Yarborough said.

Allison followed suit, and both teams bolted on new tires for the final sprint. Now with fresh rubber and sitting in a position to challenge for the lead, Allison's No. 22 Dodge came alive. And when the green flew on Lap 322, he made quick work of Yarborough, then held off a last-lap charge to win by an estimated 50 feet.

Allison would go on to beat A.J. Foyt in 1972 by .16 seconds and Harry Gant in 1982 by .5 seconds.

Fast facts

What	Kobalt Tools 500
When	Green, 2:16 p.m. ET Sunday
TV	FOX, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio	PRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 2 p.m. ET

Track Page | Tickets | Travel

Neil Bonnett was the master of the close finish in the 1980s. He edged Dale Earnhardt by one-half of a car length in the 1979 Dixie 500, Darrell Waltrip by one car length two years later in the Atlanta Journal 500, and then beat Buddy Baker by .41 seconds in 1983.

Not surprisingly, Earnhardt -- who won nine times at Atlanta -- was involved in more than his fair share of close finishes, usually on the receiving end. In addition to his runner-up run in 1979, the Intimidator finished second to Benny Parsons in 1984, Morgan Shepherd in 1986 and Waltrip in 1989.

But Earnhardt's thrilling victory in the 2000 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 set off a series of close finishes that have yet to be rivaled.

Earnhardt passed Bobby Labonte for the lead on Lap 272 and had things well in hand until teammate Mike Skinner's engine blew with less than 10 laps remaining. That allowed Labonte to close right up on Earnhardt's bumper for the restart.

Staying in the preferred high groove, Earnhardt forced Labonte to go low to pass him -- and coming out of Turn 4 on the last circuit, Labonte nearly did. The two cars were side-by-side at the finish, with Earnhardt winning by .010 seconds.

''When we were getting close to the line, I looked over and his car wasn't really side-by-side with me as far as looking into the right door,'' Earnhardt said. ''So I felt pretty good about what our chances were that we beat him out by a nose.''

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.