Kobalt is a line of hand tools, power tools, and tool storage products owned by the American home improvement chain Lowe's. It is the house brand for both Lowe's in North America and their joint venture Masters Home Improvement in Australia.

History

Lowe's and manufacturing partner J.H. Williams launched Kobalt in 1998, with the intention of competing against rival retailers Sears and The Home Depot and their respective Craftsman and Husky tool brands.

In 2003, the Danaher Corporation began producing the majority of Kobalt hand tools.

In 2011, Lowe's ended its arrangement with Danaher and switched to a different supplier for its mechanic's hand tools, JS Products of Las Vegas, Nevada. Screwdrivers continue to be supplied by Great Neck. The same year, the Kobalt line expanded to include cordless power tools, manufactured by Chervon.

Budget brands

Lowe's has two brands of tools and supplies positioned below Kobalt in quality and cost: Task Force and the more recent Blue Hawk, introduced in 2009.

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.

Pre-Race News

Qualifying

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.

The 2009 Kobalt Tools 500 was the fourth race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. This 501 miles (806 km) race took place on March 8, 2009 at the 1.54 miles (2.48 km) Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia near Atlanta.

Race report

The 2013 Kobalt Tools 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on March 10, 2013, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Clark County, Nevada. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was the third race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship. Matt Kenseth of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race, his first of the season. Kasey Kahne finished second while Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.

The win was Kenseth's first win driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also became the third driver to win a Sprint Cup race on his birthday.

Report

Background

Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a four-turn, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) D-shaped oval track that has sanctioned NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events since 1996. After being reconfigured in 2007, the track has a 20° banking in each of the turns, while the rounded front stretch and the back straightaway has a 9° banking. The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is 2,275 feet (693 m) long, 703 feet (214 m) longer than the back straightaway. Las Vegas Motor Speedway also has a grandstand seating capacity of 138,000 people. The defending winner of the 267 lap, 400.5 mile (644.5 km) race was Tony Stewart, who won the race in 2012.

The 2007 Kobalt Tools 500, the fourth race of the 2007 NEXTEL Cup Season, was held Sunday, March 18, 2007 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. The race was won by Jimmie Johnson, his second consecutive win in the Nextel Cup.

Lineup

This is the starting lineup for the race.

*Tie broken by owner points
**Ryan Newman started 43rd after blowing an engine in practice. Jimmie Johnson started from the pole.
†-Made the race on owner points
‡-Rookie of the Year Candidate

Top ten results

Did Not Qualify

The following drivers failed to qualify for the race:

Scott Wimmer (#33), Ward Burton (#4), John Andretti (#37), Michael Waltrip (#55), Kenny Wallace (#78), Kevin Lepage (#34), Jeremy Mayfield (#36), and A.J. Allmendinger (#84) (Allmendinger lost his engine in qualifying). Ward Burton, Waltrip, and Wallace have missed 3 of the first four races, John Andretti has missed 2 of the 3 races he has attempted, and Mayfield and Allmendinger have not made any of the races.

The race

The 2012 Kobalt Tools 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on March 11, 2012 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. Contested over 267 laps, it was the third race of the 2012 season. The race was won by Tony Stewart for the Stewart-Haas Racing team. Jimmie Johnson finished second, and Greg Biffle clinched third.

Results

Qualifying

Race results

Standings after the race

References

The 2014 Kobalt 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on March 9, 2014, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 miles (2.4 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was the third race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Brad Keselowski won the race, his first win of the season, after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ran out of fuel half a lap from the finish. Earnhardt, Jr. still finished second, while Paul Menard, Joey Logano, and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were Austin Dillon (16th), Kyle Larson (19th), and Michael Annett (29th).

Previous week's race

Kevin Harvick held off Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the final nine laps to score the victory in the The Profit on CNBC 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Harvick praised his Stewart-Haas Racing team for the efforts in the early part of the season, since his move from Richard Childress Racing, stating "to add an extra team, bring in a bunch of new guys, new driver, Rodney Childers has just done a phenomenal job of putting this team together. These guys all want to win that is why they came here". He added that he was "really happy" with the engine that had been provided by Hendrick Motorsports. Earnhardt, Jr. was disappointed to miss out on the victory, stating that he "would have loved to have won the race, am a little disappointed to have come that close", but like Harvick, praised his team for their performances, adding that they have "a lot of great chemistry and good communication going back and forth. Everybody's confidence is very high. Everybody's mood and morale is really high".