HAMPTON, Ga. – Atlanta Motor Speedway’s rebranding had its dress rehearsal Saturday with plenty of new – a new banking profile, new pavement and a new style of racing that places superspeedway techniques in an intermediate-track setting.
A 50-minute NASCAR Cup Series practice session offered a taste of what Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) might produce at the 1.54-mile track, with tight-knit action and the effects of the aerodynamic draft holding a heavy influence. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell called it “40 minutes of pure chaos,” saying that he had multiple hold-your-breath moments.
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But the question looms about what the intensity level will look like over a 325-lap, 500-mile haul. Both man and machine may be spent.
“Honestly, I’ll be surprised if we make it that long in the pack,” said Bell, a winner at the old Atlanta layout in both the Xfinity Series and Camping World Trucks. “I don’t know. Yes, everyone else is, so I’m going to have to, but it’s going to be unlike anything we have ever seen. I can promise you that.”
The name, logos and red clay around the track remain unchanged, but the similarities run out when describing the new-look racing surface. Atlanta was last repaved during its 1997 face-lift, and the well-worn asphalt was due — overdue? — for a fresh coat.
But track officials had a vision for introducing a superspeedway-style format when re-profiling the banking from 24 to 28 degrees, and NASCAR officials acted accordingly by activating the engine/spoiler configuration typically used at Daytona and Talladega, two much larger ovals.
If Saturday’s glimpses were an indicator, that vision was executed as intended. The push and pull of lanes with aero momentum figured into the on-track action during practice, and spotters guided their drivers with the same rapid-fire directions and cues reminiscent of superspeedway radio chatter.
“I think it will be – just the tighter confines, being a mile-and-a-half … 325 laps around here is a lot,” said Kyle Busch, who starts fourth Sunday. “I think we run 188 at Talladega and 200 at Daytona, so 125 more laps going through the same thing and being packed up – being in tight conditions, you will be, probably more mentally than physically. You are going to be tired after this one.”
Busch has 11 NASCAR national-series wins here, but the years of Atlanta notes and experience for Cup Series veterans won’t have much carry-over to the new layout. Factor in the still-fresh Next Gen car – which will be in just its fifth points-paying race Sunday – and the learning will continue after the green flag drops.
If there’s anything to be learned from Saturday’s undercard, it’s that the superspeedway vibe is strong. Both races were decided by last-lap passes, and a pair of 19-year-olds were the winners – Ty Gibbs in the Xfinity Series and Corey Heim in Camping World Trucks.
Atlanta had stood out as another potential wild-card race in the season’s early going ever since the renovation project was announced last July. The Cup Series will return here for a second stop on July 10 – a 400-miler that clocks in at a scheduled 260 laps. But in short order on Saturday, Atlanta showed some of what’s to be expected from its shift in style to the superspeedway way of life – and who might appreciate it more than others.
“The guys that like speedway racing are going to enjoy what we have, and the guys that dislike it are going to really dislike it,” Bell said. “It’s intense. That … practice session was super-intense. I don’t think anybody expected the draft runs to be that big, and the pack to be that tight. It was full-blown chaos and we’ve got 500 miles of it tomorrow.”