Week 2. Somehow, the second week in Nascar seems like the first down to business week. It sort of feels like the Daytona 500 is some how a championship all on it’s own, and that Atlanta is the real season opener. Although, to be honest, no one really gives a lot of thought to who wins the second race. It’s usually all about winning Daytona.

Kurt Busch started from the pole after his brother Kyle’s time was disallowed since some part, which I have never heard of, was not right on the car. The second the green flag waved, Kurt surged to the lead, and he stayed there for quite some time.

Unbeknownst to everyone watching the race, the race would not see a caution flag until more than 200 of the scheduled 325 laps were run. This gave drivers a lot of time to learn about the new rules package, and just as much time to worry about tire wear.

Kurt led the field for the first 64 laps, and it seemed at first he might be the driver to beat. That was until Matt Kenseth showed up. Kenseth charged through the field early, and caught and passed Busch.

For the next several laps, Kenseth was the class of the field. He opened a sizable lead, and never looked back. Lap after lap he led, and seemed untouchable. But it seems that he just wasn’t destined to win. On mid-race pit stop, Kenseth’s team was told they committed an improper fueling penalty.

I don’t know about you, but until now, I’ve never heard of improper fueling. Well, if one takes a look at the rule book, it turns out that while the gas man has his can connected to the car, he can not do anything other than hold the can. Kenseth’s gas man sat down a wrench on the rear of Kenseth’s car while fueling it. That seems a little pointless to me, but, rules are rules.

Unfortunately for Matt, crew chief Jason Ratcliff had no intentions of serving a pass through penalty. For multiple laps, constantly argued with race officials. Oh, and by the way, he hadn’t mentioned to Kenseth that they got the black flag. So Matt had absolutely no idea he had been black flagged. So while Ratcliff was busy arguing, Kenseth was then showed the black flag with a white X on it. This means that until he serves his penalty, he will no longer be scored.

Finally, Ratcliff told Kenseth about the penalty, and Kenseth served the pass through. However, by the time the penalty was served, he was 2 laps down. Imagine his delight. Afterwards, a heated conversation was heard over the radio between Matt and Jason, and most of it involved Matt yelling at his crew chief in rage.

Other than this incident, the first 200 or so laps of the race had almost nothing happen, other than some epic battles for position. In spite of the lack of cautions, there was no shortage of racing for either the lead or some other position.

Finally, a water bottle was seen on the track, and the caution was thrown. I would like to give that water bottle a parade. If it hadn’t been on the track, I’m not sure there would have been a single caution all race long.

After this brief caution, the race resumed, and only about 100 laps remained. Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. were the leaders, and they were followed by defending Atlanta winner Jimmie Johnson.

It seemed that the battle for the win would end up being between Truex and Harvick, as it had been the two of them leading all day. But Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus is one of Nascar’s finest, and he always seems to have an ace up his sleeve.

When the race had 48 laps remaining, Knaus called Johnson down pit road. It was a good 10 laps before they needed to pit, but by short pitting, they would have a chance to make up time with much fresher tires than their competition.

When the other leaders finally came down pit road, Johnson was now had a 13 second lead, and he was possibly in position to make it to the finish without another pit stop. That’s if his tires don’t blow up while he is coming to the finish line.

Harvick  ended up second after the round of pit stops, and he quickly began to cut into Johnson’s lead. Bit by bit, lap after lap, Harvick made up time, but not fast enough. With 10 laps to go, he was still 5 second behind Johnson. It seemed Johnson was going to win at Atlanta two years in a row. But, the race had one more twist. With 3 laps remaining, Ryan Newman, who had run well all race long, blew a tire, and this drew a caution.

Every driver came to pit road for new tires, it wasn’t an option to stay out, (Unless you wanted to either finish last or get smash into the wall). Johnson came out first, with Harvick right behind him.

Sadly, the outside lane is a terrible place to be on restarts, and that is right were Harvick and Truex Jr. restarted. So the second the green flag waved, it was good-bye Harvick and Truex.

The drivers thundered to the backstretch, Johnson leading, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch bearing down on him. Then, for the first time of the day, someone wrecked. Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, and several others where involved in the melee.

Unknown to me, (and several others I’m sure), the new overtime rules that Nascar made for Talladega and Daytona also apply at tracks like Atlanta, meaning that this race would end under caution, rather than us getting another chance at the restart like we used to. The drivers wouldn’t get a chance to race for the win. Dumb rule, I know. Yet another example of Nascar shooting itself in the foot.So the race ended under caution with Jimmie Johnson winning his 76th career race, tying him with Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the all time wins list.

I don’t know about other people, but when a good race has a rotten finish like that, it makes me sick to my stomach. Any person could think of a better race ending format than that! They didn’t even make it to the white flag! Hopefully Nascar will find a better format than that. It might work well at Talladega and Daytona, but it is downright awful at Atlanta.