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Brad Coleman is in the top-10 in points for the Nationwide Series for the first time in his career.

By the Numbers: Atlanta

Coleman looks to make strong track debut at AMS

By Bill Kimm, NASCAR.COM
March 6, 2008
11:37 AM EST

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The first three races of the 2008 Nationwide Series season are in the books and to the surprise of almost nobody, those races were won by Cup superstars moonlighting in the series. Tony Stewart took the checkered flag at Daytona and California and Mark Martin won last week's race in Las Vegas.

In fact -- full-time Cup drivers have dominated the first three races this season.

5Only five drivers who don't race full time in the Cup Series have top-10 finishes this season. Bryan Clauson finished sixth at Daytona; Stephen Leicht came home 10th at California and three drivers had top-10 finishes at Las Vegas: David Stremme (fifth), Mike Wallace (seventh) and Brad Coleman (ninth.)

Two of those drivers -- Bryan Clauson and Brad Coleman -- put up their top-10 runs in their first ever visit to the track. When the green flag flies at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon for the Nicorette 300 (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), six more drivers will be looking to make a big impact in their first experience on the fast, 1.54-mile surface.

6Number of drivers making their first laps in a national series race at Atlanta entered in this week's Nationwide Series event: Bryan Clauson, Brad Coleman, Cale Gale, D.J. Kennington, Brian Keselowski and Brett Rowe.

Of those six though, no one has impressed more in track debuts than Coleman. Brett Rowe and D.J. Kennington has yet to finish a race in the top 10, Brian Keselowski finished 10th in his Memphis debut last season, Clauson came home sixth in his first Daytona run this season and Gale posted a ninth-place finish in a Bristol Truck race in 2007.

But Coleman has stood out from the crowd when it comes to track debuts -- and most have been against fields filled with Cup stars.

Year	Race	Start	Finish	Laps Led

2007	Kentucky	7	2	36
2007	Milwaukee	4	4	0
2007	Watkins Glen	12	5	0
2007	Montreal	17	8	0
2007	Talladega	1	9	14

Add to that a 15th at Michigan, 16th's at Texas and Phoenix and a 17th at Bristol, all in the Nationwide Series last season, and Coleman has proven his learning curve is an expeditious one.

"It's a challenge I've learned to handle well," Coleman said. "You just have to go out there, be smart and find your groove. After a couple laps, you start to get comfortable and realize how things are going to run.

"I have always had a unique ability to pick up any type of racetrack quickly. This will already be the second time this season I've dealt with it [19th at Fontana] and it won't be the last. I know I can handle it."

Just the facts ma'am

0No driver has ever won three consecutive Nationwide Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. If Jeff Burton takes the checkered flag on Saturday, he will become the first driver to do so. If he does, it wouldn't be the first time Burton has won three in a row at a track in the series -- he also pulled off the feat at Darlington in 2001-02.

2Chevrolet and Ford are the only two manufacturers to win at Atlanta in the Nationwide Series. Ford has six wins, five of which belong to Roush Fenway Racing. The only Ford to win not owned by Jack Roush was driven by Jeff Gordon in the inaugural race in 1992. Chevrolet has 10 wins, including five of the last seven races.

2.5Average finish for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Nationwide Series races at Atlanta. In two events at the track, he's finished second in 1998 and third in 1999. Saturday's race will be his first Nationwide Series start at Atlanta in almost a decade.

5Kasey Kahne has five consecutive top-10 finishes at Atlanta. In the last fives races he's finished second, third, fifth and seventh twice. He also has led a lap in four of those races.

5.87Average number of cautions in 16 Nationwide races at Atlanta for an average of 32 laps.

9.43Average starting position of the winners in Nationwide races at Atlanta. Six of the first eight races were won by a starting position of 10th or worse. The last eight races, just the opposite -- seven of the last eight have been won from a starting position inside the top 10. In 2004, Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag after starting 28th.

14.18Average number of lead changes in 16 Nationwide races at Atlanta.

97.8Percent of laps Kasey Kahne has been in the top 15 in the last three Nationwide races at Atlanta, tops among drivers to compete in all three events.

185Number of laps Kyle Busch has led at Atlanta, fourth among all Nationwide drivers and tops among drivers without a win at the track. Busch has led in three of the four races he's run and started from the pole twice, but has 2 DNFs.

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Nationwide Series Winners

Year	Winner	Start	Make

1992	Jeff Gordon	1	Ford
1993	Ward Burton	5	Chevrolet
1994	Harry Gant	23	Chevrolet
1995	Johnny Benson	10	Chevrolet
1996	Terry Labonte	11	Chevrolet
1997	Mark Martin	13	Ford
1998	Mark Martin	10	Ford
1999	Mike Skinner	17	Chevrolet
2000	Mark Martin	4	Ford
2001	Joe Nemechek	3	Chevrolet
2002	Jamie McMurray	8	Chevrolet
2003	Greg Biffle	1	Chevrolet
2004	Matt Kenseth	28	Ford
2005	Carl Edwards	1	Ford
2006	Jeff Burton	8	Chevrolet
2007	Jeff Burton	8	Chevrolet