Hampton, GA (My Sportsbook) - Series: NASCAR Nationwide. Date: Saturday, September 4. Race: Great Clips 300. Site: Atlanta Motor Speedway. Track: 1.54- mile tri-oval. Start time: 7:00 p.m. (et). Laps: 195. Miles: 300.3. 2009 winner: Kevin Harvick. Television: ESPN 2. Radio: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.
With nine races remaining in the season, Brad Keselowski's route to his first Nationwide Series championship is pretty much becoming a walk in the park.
Keselowski finished fourth last weekend at Montreal, which was the third and final Nationwide road course event of the season. He now holds a commanding 365-point lead over Carl Edwards, who finished 20th.
However, the battle for the car owner championship remains a good one heading into Saturday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing team, with drivers Kyle Busch and Brad Coleman, holds just a 35-point lead over Keselowski's No.22 Penske Racing team.
Busch will attempt to win his 11th Nationwide race this year, which will set a series record for most victories in a season. His record-tying 10th win of the year came at Bristol. He did not compete at Montreal. Busch also won 10 races during the 2008 season, but Sam Ard originally set the record in 1983.
The 25-year-old has yet to win in six Nationwide starts at Atlanta. He did finish second here in 2004 and '09.
Kevin Harvick won at Atlanta one year ago. He also won the Camping World Truck Series race here in March.
"Atlanta has been a really good track for us, and it seems like we have a really good base set-up, but the only difference is the tires," Harvick said. "You have that added variable in there, because you don't know how the Nationwide car is going to react. We ran good with the same stuff in the trucks, so hopefully going back, it's still a race track that works good for us and our confidence is really high."
Forty-four teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Great Clips 300.
Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray and Ryan Newman are among those Sprint Cup Series regulars joining Keselowski, Edwards, Busch and Harvick in the 300-mile Nationwide race at Atlanta.
