Insider's View: Wally Dallenbach

There's one word that comes to my mind when you talk about Atlanta Motor Speedway -- hairy.

AMS is without a doubt the fastest track on the Winston Cup Series. No restrictor plates in Atlanta, just flat out racing at speeds around 200 miles per hour.

You bring your car through the corners at Atlanta at top speed and really don't lift off the gas at all. And let me tell you, it takes a lot of nerve to drive that race car into those high speed turns and think it's going to stick.

	Wally Dallenbach

It's fast, but Atlanta is also a competitive racetrack with several different grooves. In turns 1 and 2 there's both a low line, down around the bottom of the track, and a high one, up near the wall. Through the third and fourth turns, there's three grooves, low and high, but also right in the middle of the turn.

So kind of like what we saw at Rockingham a couple weeks ago, watch for a number of different lines in Sunday's race. And over the years, we've seen lots of guys racing for a win against each other on the last lap.

A solid downforce package is going to be a key to doing well at Atlanta. Your car needs to be stuck to the ground as best as it can to get through the turns and down the straightaways as fast as possible. With the new aero matching though, I'm not sure what make of car has the best downforce package out there. Pontiacs used to be real good at Atlanta, but with the new rules in place it's hard to tell before the cars get on the track this weekend.

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One thing you won't see at Atlanta on Sunday is any payback or carry over grudges from some of the action last weekend at Las Vegas. Don't expect any type of retaliation from the Sterling Marlin-Jimmie Johnson incident.

The first time I watched what happened, I thought it may have been Sterling's fault for touching Jimmie and sending him around. But after watching the replay, Sterling may have taken some of the air off of the nose of Jimmie's car, but it certainly wasn't intentional.

I know Jimmie's still not happy, but Atlanta is no place for payback. It's just too fast a racetrack for that kind of thing to happen. You have to give everyone a lot of respect racing at Atlanta and lots of room. You may see some guys taking a little air off someone's spoiler to get around, but you just don't hit another car at the high speeds run there.

I mentioned how the Pontiacs used to be so good at Atlanta and much of that success was enjoyed by Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart. Even though the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are now in Chevrolets, I think they'll still be strong on Sunday. Also look for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to be a factor at Atlanta, coming off his runner-up finish last weekend in Las Vegas.

Let's throw a Ford in the mix and I again have to lean toward Kurt Busch, who won the Fall race at Atlanta last season. He didn't have a very welcome homecoming in Vegas, so look for Busch to have a little extra determination in Atlanta. And for a darkhorse, how about Jimmie Johnson? He's in a Chevy and after his tangle with Sterling, I think he'll be hungry to pick up a victory.

Those are my picks in Atlanta but you can make your own by playing the Top Drivers Fantasy Game. How does $1,000 cash sound for picking the top finishers in Sunday's race? We award $3,500 in cash every week and you can play as many times as you'd like, so join the fun this weekend.