Around The Track: AMS a tale of two tracks

You've got the new Atlanta, and you had the old Atlanta. I preferred the old Atlanta better, mainly because the speeds were down about 20 mph. We won a race at the old Atlanta.

	Ricky Rudd

When we first went to the new Atlanta, the qualifying speeds were up to almost 200 mph. We ran 198 or so. The speeds have now fallen off about 5 mph or so because of the asphalt. The fastest times are usually when tracks are brand new.

Tracks weather a little bit, and that has made the racing at Atlanta better. It's gotten the speeds down a little bit, and it's allowed for the top groove of the race track to come in. It's a good example of a track where you have racing at the top and racing at the bottom.

Atlanta is a very unforgiving track. If you miss the setup just a little, you pay the price because Atlanta is 70 percent corner and 30 percent straightaway. So if you miss the handling setup, it can begin to multiply.

I've had trouble at Atlanta, and I don't know why. I've qualified in the top five, won on the old Atlanta and run in the top five on the new Atlanta. It's a track where there is a fine line on missing the setup. You end up with sort of a love-hate thing. If you miss it big time it can be pretty embarrassing.

I'm excited about the Wood Brothers car. The No. 21 Motorcraft/Air Force Ford tends to perform well there. What you discover is that the performance of the car is not so much driver-related on a track the driver likes as much as it is the team setups that make you run well at certain tracks. So I look at tracks like Atlanta as one that is going to be a good run for us because the team traditionally has a good handling car there.

Ricky Rudd drives the No. 21 Motorcraft Racing Ford Taurus owned by Wood Brothers Racing.