Will David Reutimann, Bobby Labonte and Michael Waltrip stay up front?
The early season surprises of Reutimann, Labonte and Waltrip currently sit fifth, 10th and 12th in the standings, respectively. The odds are against them finishing the season this high, especially Waltrip. But Reutimann showed last year he can compete for top 10s, and Labonte is a past champion, so he’s obviously got the talent. A strong showing at Atlanta would be a definite signal that these two could stick around the top 12 for a while. 2. Will engines be a problem? Roush Racing had three engines fail last weekend in Las Vegas; Mark Martin, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, lost his second engine in three weeks; and Toyota had to swap out five engines prior to the race. Both Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch, who had engine issues last week, say they are not concerned this week, and there were no issues during practice Friday. But then there were no issues with the Roush and Hendrick engines during last week’s practice sessions, either. Expect all teams to give their engines a point-by-po
