Checkered Countdown: Top-Five Atlanta Finishes

No.3 Rookie Carl Edwards beats Jimmie Johnson at the finish line, wins his first Nextel Cup race (2005).

This day was the day that Jack Roush discovered that he had found a gold mine. With five laps to go Carl Edwards was sitting second behind future six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and his teammate Greg Biffle, third, was closing on him fast. But with two laps to go Edwards found a way to get closer to Johnson and made the decisive move on the last turn of the last lap. At the finish line he was first and celebrated his first Nextel Cup win with what has become his trademark, the backflip. That weekend he won both the first Busch Series race and the first Nextel Cup race of his career.