Daily NASCAR

Hmm, and Jimmie Johnson’s Chevy is carrying what paint scheme, exactly? Kobalt Tools 500.

Where it’s a tad chilly, but, thank goodness, the skies are clear: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga.

Big guns: Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne.

Long shots: Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Elliott Sadler, David Reutimann, Jamie McMurray, Scott Speed, David Ragan, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose and A.J. Allmendinger.

The hunch here: Kyle Busch.

Just the facts, please

- Though this track was reshaped and reversed (the front straight) in 1997, its distance changed only slightly: from 1.522 to 1.54 miles. Originally named Atlanta International Raceway, the name was changed to Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1990.

- The track opened in 1960. Fireball Roberts both won and started on the pole in the first race.

- The all-time leading winner is Dale Earnhardt, who won here nine times. Cale Yarborough won seven. Richard Petty and Bobby Labonte are tied with six career victories.

-The most recent driver to win here after starting on the pole was Kasey Kahne in 2006.

- Though Geoff Bodine’s track record still stands (197.478 mph, Nov. 15, 1997), Earnhardt Jr.’s pole speed (192.761) was significantly higher than last year’s (Mark Martin, 187.045). It was the fastest qualifying speed at any track since the generic car was implemented.

- Bill Elliott has won more Cup races (44) than any other driver from Georgia. Five of the wins were here.

Snappy quotes

"This has been a really, really slick race track for a long time." - Jeff Burton.

"Forty is the new 30, anyway. That’s what I’m going with." - David Reutimann, who turned 40 on March 2.

"If I thought we’re softening up the competition in some way, shape, or form, it would be foolish on our part." - Jimmie Johnson.

"We might be in the top 10, but we’re not running as well as we need to be running." - Carl Edwards.

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Smokey Yunick (left) with Fireball Roberts. Yunick’s skill in the garage helped Roberts to a Winston Cup title in 1951.

The great mechanic Smokey Yunick, who died at age 77 in 2001, competed in one NASCAR race as a driver. It was on a half-mile dirt track in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 30, 1952. Yunick, driving a Hudson Hornet, started 19th and finished 18th, completing only seven laps. He never climbed behind the wheel again. Herb Thomas, who also drove a Hudson, won that day.

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Smokey Yunick (left) with Fireball Roberts. Yunick’s skill in the garage helped Roberts to a Winston Cup title in 1951.

The great mechanic Smokey Yunick, who died at age 77 in 2001, competed in one NASCAR race as a driver. It was on a half-mile dirt track in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 30, 1952. Yunick, driving a Hudson Hornet, started 19th and finished 18th, completing only seven laps. He never climbed behind the wheel again. Herb Thomas, who also drove a Hudson, won that day.

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Jimmie Johnson celebrates winning the Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Sunday, his seventh victory of 2009. Overall, he’s won 18 Chase races. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

- Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin have competed in 265 races together. Martin has scored 108 more points (the current margin separating the two) than Johnson in nine of them. The most recent, of course, was at Texas on Nov. 8.

- Career victory No. 47 puts Jimmie Johnson one ahead of Buck Baker and one behind Herb Thomas. He’s in 13th place all-time.

- All Kyle Busch has to do to wrap up the title is start the Nationwide Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ron Hornaday Jr. has already wrapped up his record fourth championship in the Camping World Truck Series.

- Johnson won for the fourth time at Phoenix International Raceway. No one else has won at the Desert Mile more than twice.

- While Jeff Burton was closing in a bit on Johnson late in the Checker O’Reilly 500, he was realistic afterwards. "We were catching him, but Johnson has a way of finding a little extra when he needs it. I’m sure the final three or four laps that he knew the margin he had," he said.

- This is the third time Johnson has won four or more races in the Chase. His career total of Chase victories is 18.

- Ford drivers have won the past five Homestead races. Greg Biffle won three in a row (2004-06), followed by Matt Kenseth in 2007 and Carl Edwards last year. Coincidentally, it’s billed as Ford Championship Weekend.

- Homestead-Miami Speedway is the only Sprint Cup track where Jeff Gordon has never won.

- Kurt Busch led the first 52 laps at Phoenix. Johnson then led 238 of the remaining 260.

- The Cup season finale is one of three races held in the State of Florida. NASCAR history is dotted with the names of Sunshine State natives like Fireball Roberts, Lee Roy Yarbrough, Marshall Teague, Joe Nemechek and David Reutimann.

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The NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel, consisting of 50 members (the entire Nominating Committee, 14 media members, four manufacturer representatives, nine retired competitors including drivers, owners, crew chiefs and two recognized industry leaders) posed for a photograph during the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class voting on Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C. But there’s one vote that can’t be photographed — the fan vote which resulted in the Voting Panel’s 51st and final ballot. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

One of the voters likened the process to the national health-care debate. Fifty committee members got together Wednesday morning and, before turning in their ballots for NASCAR’s first official Hall of Fame class, asked questions, lobbied, waved their arms, called on others for support and tried to sway a few votes at the last minutes.

"I thought it was a good atmosphere," said NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter. "Even debate is not a good word. It was discussion. People would stand up and make a point. I made a couple of points that people didn’t agree with at all. It didn’t hurt my feelings."

On Wednesday afternoon, a representative of "one of those accounting firms" handed an envelope to NASCAR chairman Brian France, who had reason to smile because his father and grandfather were on the list."

Surprises? None major. Most everyone considered at least one France, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt obvious choices.

Many considered the omission of David Pearson glaring, but five more will be elected next year and surely the Silver Fox will be among them. The line behind him? Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Fireball Roberts are certainly near the front.

A chief division during the closed morning session was which France was nobler, founder Big Bill or successor Bill Jr.? Big Bill had the dream, and Bill Jr. made it reality. In the end, when the votes were counted, the committee decided to just go ahead and put both of them in, which in turn left Pearson out.

Surprisingly, the actual announcement, despite the presence of live TV and quartet of talking heads at the back of the Charlotte Convention Center room (a big one), was brief and relatively unadorned. Brian France made the announcements, a brief video played for each inductee (Earnhardt’s had to be played twice because there was no sound the first time) and then everyone retired to media feeding-frenzy sessions over on the side.

No confetti streamed through the air. Sparks didn’t fly. There weren’t even spotlights cascading down upon the stage. The announcement was dignified, an adjective seldom applied to NASCAR proceedings.

A few found the process slightly curious. Some, like H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler and Petty himself, decried the absence of Pearson. The fan vote of 670,000 strong, which accounted for less than two percent of the selection process, went to Petty, Earnhardt, Big Bill France, Yarborough and Allison.

Petty, ever graceful, said, "When I saw the list (of 25 nominees), I sat down and made a list of my own, and Pearson would’ve been my number one pick.

"Anybody who won 105 races and didn’t make the cut, somebody ain’t adding right. That’s my opinion."

Of course, Petty won 200. But he bears listening to. They don’t call him The King for nothing.

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