Hamlin finds water at drought plagued Atlanta

Jimmy Johnson wins again at Atlanta to sweep the season series in Georgia.

A late race wreck fest led to opportunities lost for Kurt and Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.  Johnson only led eight laps but they were the last eight to gain the victory and close the points deficit on team mate and the co-owner of Johnson's car, Jeff Gordon.

The last caution and the one that led to an attempted Green-White-Checker finish was caused as Denny Hamlin, who was leading at the time, couldn't get up to speed.  Original thoughts had Hamlin running out of fuel on the restart but it was later determined that Hamlin and at least one other car - that of Dave Blaney - had water in their fuel cells. 

After receiving the contaminated fuel samples from the two teams, John Darby, Nextel Cup competition director conferred with Sunoco officials:

"What you don't know is when the water got introduced," Darby said. "What doesn't make sense about it, if you look at the 22 and 11, you're dealing with a Chevrolet team and a Toyota team. It's not like three teams out of one organization have the problem.

"We're trying to backtrack to see where this came from. There's no reason to think about conspiracy, going back to the fact you have a Chevrolet team and a Toyota team. There's no connection there that would make anybody think of some evil spirit trying to sabotage somebody's race car. Our focus is on trying to understand where the water came from, especially in one of the largest drought states."

The Buzz ON PIT ROW is:

Is NASCAR becoming like the NBA-you only need to watch the ending?

The Fast Lap this week asks:

1)  Is Chad Knaus the best crew chief ever?

2) Is there anything to the Dale Jr. cospiracy theories?

3) Who is to blame for the tire problems, then wrecks, at Atlanta; Goodyear, NASCAR or the crew chiefs?

4) Does the GREEN -WHITE-CHECKER finish need adjusting?

Let us know how you feel about these questions, or anything else that happened in front of half empty stands at Atlanta.  If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we may use them on the air during Tuesday's ON PIT ROW.  Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show--toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm edt on Tuesdays.

Comments

[CarMike]

I don't know the racing answer to the green-white-checker, but maybe Nascar can just change the name to green-Wreck-checker.

[4ever3]

I've been so busy lately and I know I've missed the show but here is my 2 cents.

Buzz: I hate the NBA period, you want good basketball watch the NCAA, with that being said NASCAR better not go in that direction. I think the people involved with NASCAR (ie the drivers) won't let it.

1. Chad is working on it that's for sure, but that's what they were saying about Ray Evernham too until he left.

2. No, so we can put it to rest.

3. Atlanta - no, the track is the track.
Goodyear - no, they set the min. tire pressures and the like
NASCAR - no, they just police everything else on the car
Crew Chiefs - yes, they've got to push the envelope and this is an area that they can do it, along with other things that effect tire preformance such as Camber, etc.

4. Yes - you do it until its done right regardless of anything else. It works in the truck series and it would work here.

[Brusimm]

I don't watch basketball,

Knaus and Johnson seem unstoppable when it comes to in-race adjustments.

Conspiracy against Dale Jr.? No, Testing new ideas, maybe. He said so himself.

Crew Chiefs trying to get ever little bit out of the right front are who's probably blowing up the tires, but heck, you have to push the envelope to keep up and find out!

I think the Green-White-Checkered works fine. It meets advertisers needs to stay on time, we don't get worn out or cheated outright on the finish that we waited 3 to 4 hours for.

Bruce Simmons
Bruce's NASCAR Bits