The 2008 Kobalt Tools 500 was the fourth race in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and was held on March 9, 2008 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, located outside the Georgia state capital. The race was televised on Fox starting at 1:30 PM US EDT, and broadcast on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio starting at 1 PM US EDT.
Qualifying suffered from a short rain delay in the beginning stages but was finally reopened with Jeff Gordon winning the pole followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and Bobby Labonte rounding out the top five. Forty-eight cars attempted to make the race but only 43 are able to start a Sprint Cup Race.
Failed to qualify: John Andretti (#34), Johnny Benson (#27), Bill Elliott (#21), Burney Lamar (#08), Ken Schrader (#49).
For the first time since June 1954 (when Al Keller won in a Jaguar on the road course at Linden Airport), a foreign nameplate found its way to the winners' circle as Kyle Busch dominated the field to win his fifth Cup race of his career, and his first win driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. The victory also gave Toyota their first Sprint Cup victory after 40 races. Carl Edwards, still smarting from last week's win that found a loose oil tank, costing him 100 points in the drivers chase, his owner Jack Roush 100 owners' points and suspended crew chief Bob Osborne for six races until April 30 as well as a $100,000 fine, was in the lead until there were 50 laps to go and Edwards' transmission in the #99 Ford blew up, finishing 42nd, and falling deeper out of the top 12.
Much of the pre and post-race talk was about the tires Goodyear supplied to the teams. Tony Stewart claimed that the tires were shoddy in a post-race commentary. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also said that the tires did not work well on the subject of its grip, while Jeff Gordon claimed that in light of Stewart's gripes that "I think he went a little overboard". The tiremaker commented the day after that in a press release "if the drivers aren't happy, Goodyear's not happy."
| POS[1] | ST | DRIVER | SPONSOR / OWNER | CAR | LAPS | MONEY | STATUS | LED | PTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Snickers (Joe Gibbs) | Toyota | 325 | 175575 | running | 173 | 195 |
| 2 | 32 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Home Depot 10 Years Service Award (Joe Gibbs) | Toyota | 325 | 162886 | running | 0 | 170 |
| 3 | 2 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | AMP Energy / National Guard (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 325 | 125050 | running | 62 | 170 |
| 4 | 13 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Jackson Hewitt (Jack Roush) | Ford | 325 | 106875 | running | 1 | 165 |
| 5 | 1 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | DuPont (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 325 | 136686 | running | 1 | 160 |
| 6 | 7 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | DirecTV (Richard Childress) | Chevrolet | 325 | 94850 | running | 52 | 155 |
| 7 | 8 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Shell / Pennzoil (Richard Childress) | Chevrolet | 325 | 124086 | running | 0 | 146 |
| 8 | 38 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | DeWalt (Jack Roush) | Ford | 325 | 124341 | running | 0 | 142 |
| 9 | 35 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Red Bull (Dietrich Mateschitz) | Toyota | 325 | 79200 | running | 1 | 143 |
| 10 | 15 | 31 | Jeff Burton | AT&T Mobility (Richard Childress) | Chevrolet | 325 | 123958 | running | 0 | 134 |
| 11 | 29 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Miller Lite (Roger Penske) | Dodge | 325 | 79325 | running | 0 | 130 |
| 12 | 5 | 43 | Bobby Labonte | Cheerios / Betty Crocker (Petty Enterprises) | Dodge | 325 | 114436 | running | 1 | 132 |
| 13 | 11 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe's / Kobalt Tools (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 325 | 127786 | running | 0 | 124 |
| 14 | 12 | 12 | Ryan Newman | Alltel (Roger Penske) | Dodge | 324 | 115075 | running | 0 | 121 |
| 15 | 22 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Ground (Joe Gibbs) | Toyota | 324 | 112691 | running | 0 | 118 |
| 16 | 19 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Wrigley's Big Red (Chip Ganassi) | Dodge | 324 | 104058 | running | 0 | 115 |
| 17 | 39 | 5 | Casey Mears | Kellogg's / Carquest (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 324 | 89850 | running | 0 | 112 |
| 18 | 28 | 66 | Scott Riggs | State Water Heaters (Gene Haas) | Chevrolet | 324 | 93808 | running | 0 | 109 |
| 19 | 20 | 15 | Paul Menard | Menards / Energizer (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) | Chevrolet | 324 | 83225 | running | 0 | 106 |
| 20 | 30 | 00 | David Reutimann | Aaron's Dream Machine (Michael Waltrip) | Toyota | 323 | 92808 | running | 0 | 103 |
| 21 | 3 | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) | Chevrolet | 323 | 105633 | running | 0 | 100 |
| 22 | 10 | 8 | Mark Martin | U.S. Army (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) | Chevrolet | 323 | 108458 | running | 0 | 97 |
| 23 | 14 | 6 | David Ragan | AAA (Jack Roush) | Ford | 323 | 83850 | running | 0 | 94 |
| 24 | 26 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Valvoline / Jim Beam (Robby Gordon) | Dodge | 323 | 95858 | running | 0 | 91 |
| 25 | 33 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Penske Truck Rental (Roger Penske) | Dodge | 323 | 117550 | running | 0 | 88 |
| 26 | 43 | 44 | Dale Jarrett | UPS (Michael Waltrip) | Toyota | 322 | 73725 | running | 0 | 85 |
| 27 | 34 | 84 | Mike Skinner | Red Bull (Dietrich Mateschitz) | Toyota | 322 | 69800 | running | 0 | 82 |
| 28 | 9 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Budweiser (Gillett Evernham Motorsports) | Dodge | 322 | 107041 | running | 1 | 84 |
| 29 | 42 | 28 | Travis Kvapil | Zaxby's (Yates Racing) | Ford | 322 | 99689 | running | 0 | 76 |
| 30 | 27 | 55 | Michael Waltrip | NAPA Auto Parts (Michael Waltrip) | Toyota | 321 | 81508 | running | 0 | 73 |
| 31 | 25 | 41 | Reed Sorenson | Target / Polaroid (Chip Ganassi) | Dodge | 321 | 99489 | running | 0 | 70 |
| 32 | 31 | 38 | David Gilliland | FreeCreditReport.com (Yates Racing) | Ford | 321 | 81222 | running | 0 | 67 |
| 33 | 23 | 40 | Dario Franchitti | Fastenal (Chip Ganassi) | Dodge | 321 | 78050 | running | 0 | 64 |
| 34 | 16 | 22 | Dave Blaney | Caterpillar (Bill Davis) | Toyota | 321 | 69025 | running | 0 | 61 |
| 35 | 21 | 10 | Patrick Carpentier | Cintas (Gillett Evernham Motorsports) | Dodge | 320 | 68990 | running | 0 | 58 |
| 36 | 17 | 78 | Joe Nemechek | Furniture Row Racing (Barney Visser) | Chevrolet | 320 | 68955 | running | 0 | 55 |
| 37 | 37 | 96 | J.J. Yeley | DLP HDTV / H.H. Gregg (Jeff Moorad) | Toyota | 320 | 76920 | running | 0 | 52 |
| 38 | 41 | 01 | Regan Smith | DEI / Principal Financial Group (Dale Earnhardt, Inc.) | Chevrolet | 320 | 76885 | running | 0 | 49 |
| 39 | 36 | 70 | Jeremy Mayfield | Haas Automation (Gene Haas) | Chevrolet | 318 | 68850 | running | 0 | 46 |
| 40 | 24 | 26 | Jamie McMurray | Irwin Industrial Tools (Jack Roush) | Ford | 317 | 76810 | running | 0 | 43 |
| 41 | 40 | 45 | Kyle Petty | Paralyzed Veterans of America (Petty Enterprises) | Dodge | 313 | 68765 | running | 0 | 40 |
| 42 | 4 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Aflac (Jack Roush) | Ford | 274 | 116145 | engine | 33 | 42 |
| 43 | 18 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Best Buy / Garmin (Gillett Evernham Motorsports) | Dodge | 257 | 94518 | crash | 0 | 34 |
| Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
| POS | NAME | NBR | SPONSOR | OWNER | CAR | |||||
| 44 | Ken Schrader | 49 | Qtrax.com | Beth Ann Morgenthau | Dodge | |||||
| 45 | Bill Elliott | 21 | Little Debbie Nutty Bars | Wood Brothers | Ford | |||||
| 46 | Johnny Benson Jr. | 27 | Toyota Certified Used Vehicles | Bill Davis | Toyota | |||||
| 47 | Burney Lamar | 08 | Rhino's Energy Drink | John Carter | Dodge | |||||
| 48 | John Andretti | 34 | Front Row Motorsports | Bob Jenkins | Chevrolet | |||||