How Atlanta made superspeedways fun again
Yesterday at 03:36 PM
The press release was issued on July 6, 2021.
Speedway Motorsports ruffled feathers by announcing and detailing its plan to transform Atlanta Motor Speedway from a traditional intermediate racetrack into a superspeedway hybrid. It was described as a "historic project" and one that would "pave the way for a bold new era" of NASCAR racing at the facility.
The reactions were as expected, with the loudest coming from those in opposition. Atlanta was a favorite because of its worn-out surface — so much so that public campaigning from drivers kept pushing off a repave. However, there was also a disconnect between the type of racing the drivers enjoyed and the attendance and viewership numbers, which led Marcus Smith wanting to reimagine how to create competitive racing. and take care of the surface issue.
Atlanta was ruined. There was no need for another superspeedway race. Those headlines were loud.
Hopefully, they were written in pencil because the narrative has changed. Atlanta, four years into holding races on 28-degree banking with drivers running wide open, gets rave reviews. It is the best superspeedway race on the calendar, and does what was once thought unimaginable by prompting drivers to use the word "fun" afterward.
Sunday was fun. A week after complaints of drivers saving fuel and slowing the pace down in the Daytona 500, which has become a theme in recent years and one not met well by those involved or watching, there was no such conservation at Atlanta. There were no logging laps and feeling stuck in line.
"I could go anywhere I wanted to on the racetrack," Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said. "Dude, it was fun. It was really, really fun. This track is coming into its own where the tires wear out, the car slides around, and once you get late in those stages, when you're in the middle lane, the air is off your car, and you're sliding around a lot, you're having to lift. You don't want to lift, but you kind of have to. I think in a few years, this place is going to be really, really fun."
The racing at Atlanta looked different from its superspeedway counterparts at Daytona and Talladega, because it was. It offered everything the drivers wanted to be able to do, and everything fans wanted to see.
Drivers could move through the field, take runs, and change lanes. A week ago, the reaction after Daytona was the opposite: Drivers felt they couldn't go anywhere and that it became a game of hitting the bumper in front of them as hard as possible.
A driver's skill set should matter. Atlanta put those skill sets on display.
"We had a lot of fun," Kyle Larson said. "It was super intense."
Atlanta will be the best superspeedway race of the season. It was also a nice swing for the series to go from criticism of its biggest race, Daytona, to a high note with what was on display at Atlanta.
"I think I fell off the edge of my seat a couple of times," Adam Stevens, the winning crew chief with Christopher Bell, said. "Especially there, what was it, maybe 10, 15 (laps) to go, and we were up in the top three or four and then back outside of the top 10. I thought we were toast."
Said Bell, "This is the most fun style of superspeedway racing that I've done in my career. It's different. It's different than Daytona, Talladega. I think a lot of it just has to do with the way that the lanes open up, and it seems like, for the most part, there's always somewhere to go.
"You can take your runs, take your momentum, and the top opens up, the bottom opens up, and for the most part, if you do a good job driving and your car is handling well, you can move forward. This is the most fun superspeedway that we have."
Sunday was fun, and that's what racing should be for both competitors and spectators. It’s hard to imagine anyone would have felt that way four years ago when opening that Speedway Motorsports press release.
