Car No. 44 located in suburban Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. – The No. 44 race car returned to its NASCAR shop in North Carolina on Saturday after it was recovered along a remote road in suburban Atlanta, apparently abandoned by the thieves who stole it from a hotel parking lot.

While the discovery didn’t occur in nearly enough time for Team XTREME to compete in this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, it was a huge boost for the small-budget operation in its bid to make the next event at Las Vegas.

“There was no damage whatsoever,” team owner John Cohen told The Associated Press. “Nothing was taken off the car. Even the antennas that went to the radio were still in the seats.”

Police in Gwinnett County northeast of Atlanta received a suspicious vehicle call at approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday, nearly 24 hours after the race car was stolen, said Jeffery Richter, the public information officer. A motorist spotted the No. 44 machine along a darkened road and quickly realized it must be the stolen race car.

Cohen was called to the scene, confirmed it was his $250,000 race car off the shoulder of the road, and called a tow truck to take it back to their shop in suburban Charlotte.

“It was backwoods,” Cohen said. “There were no lights around. (The thieves) made sure no one could see them while they were getting rid of the car.”

While the truck and trailer that were hauling the race car weren’t found at the scene, the truck was spotted a few hours later in Stockbridge, Georgia, not far from the hotel where the theft took place, said Morrow police Detective Sgt. Larry Oglesby, who led the investigation in the south Atlanta suburb.

NASCAR Truck Series

Matt Crafton romped to an easy win in the NASCAR Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Crafton, the two-time defending series champion, took over the lead on lap 59 and pulled away from there, setting the pace on the final 72 trips around the 1.54-mile trioval to win by a commanding 8.752 seconds. He was out front for a total of 85.

Erik Jones led 37 laps but faded to seventh.

Crafton, who started 15th in his Toyota, picked up his sixth career win and first in Atlanta, his favorite track. The 39-year-old was coming off an eighth-place finish in the season opener, where he also filled in for injured Kyle Busch in the Daytona 500.