Whitt was eager to return to the 1.54-mile oval where he claimed an eighth place finish for Red Horse Racing when he raced for the team in 2005.  "We definitely want to go into this race knowing that we can win and I have all the confidence in the world in the guys," said Whitt prior to the race.  "They have proven all year long that they run competitive on the intermediate tracks and that's definitely a good sign.  My goals are obviously to sit on the pole and win the race but I want to go out there and do the best that we can do."

Whitt did the best he could do in Bud Pole Qualifying by laying down a lap of 30.926 seconds at a speed of 179.267 miles per hour.  Whitt's lap was good for a 16th place starting position; the fourth consecutive top-17 starting spot for Whitt in his NCTS career in Atlanta.

When NASCAR waved the green flag for the start of the race, Whitt worked his way into 14th by running the outside lane.  Three laps later he slid to 17th before keying the radio to tell Crew Chief Jamie "JJ" Jones that he was "loose in the center".  As planned by NASCAR, the competition caution flew on lap 32 for teams to check tire wear, since tire issues surfaced in the two practice sessions leading up to the race.

"We need to tighten the heck out of this thing," said Whitt.  "JJ" called Whitt to pit road for four tires, fuel, and significant track bar and air pressure adjustment under the caution flag.  The crew ripped off one of their signature stops -- picking up five spots on pit road -- and returned Whitt to the track in 12th position.

Whitt raced along the bottom groove but slid to 14th while dodging lap traffic on the restart on lap 36.  "I hate using my stuff up trying to pass these lap trucks," Whitt said before the events second caution flag flew on lap 46 for a five-truck wreck on the frontstretch.  "I feel a lot more snug and I feel better on the bottom but I feel like I'm killing our stuff racing there," said Whitt before the green flag flew on lap 53.

"It's still loose," said Whitt as he fought to stay within the top-twenty.  "It's so loose I can't even touch the gas or the wheel," he said on lap 68 just before he fell one lap down to the leader who was setting a blistering pace.  When the next caution was displayed on lap 81 for debris, Whitt hit pit road for his second stop of the day taking on four tires, fuel, and another round of chassis adjustments including wedge and air pressure adjustments.  Whitt picked up one spot on the pit road exchange and restarted the race in 20th position -- the first truck one lap down.

Whitt led a fierce battle for the "lucky dog" spot but fell short after continuing to fight a loose handling truck.  "We just seem to stay the same all the time," said Whitt.  "We start off good on stickers (new tires) but as soon as it wears off, we're just sideways."  Whitt had his final opportunity to hit pit road when the caution flew on lap 107 for a single truck wreck on the backstretch.  Whitt gave up 22nd position as he dropped to pit road and into the hands of his pit crew who outfitted him with two right side tires, fuel, and wedge and air pressure adjustments.

The race resumed on lap 110 with Whitt shown in 22nd position.  Whitt avoided the event's final two cautions to finish his one-race deal with Red Horse Racing in 23rd position.  "Today was just not our day," said Whitt following the race, "but we did the best that we could do."

Jason Leffler will return to the wheel of the No. 1 RFMS/Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra at Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the Silverado 350K on Friday, November 2nd, 2007.  Live television coverage will be provided by SPEED at 8:30 p.m. ET with radio coverage coming to you live from MRN Radio.