Cup drivers speak out about new repave ahead of Atlanta Motor Speedway race
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
Atlanta Motor Speedway would have generated plenty of discussion about its new repave and reconfiguration just by adding banking and making the surface more narrow, as it plans to do following the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday.
But it also generated plenty of chatter for another reason: not discussing its plans with Cup drivers prior to committing to the project.
Track officials announced on Tuesday they would increase the banking in the turns from 24 to 28 degrees while decreasing the width from 55 feet to 52 feet on the front stretch, 42 feet on the backstretch and 40 feet in the turns.
They knew that drivers would be sour over the move because it potentially could create Daytona and Talladega type packs and bring drafting into play, something many drivers dislike because of the potential for crashes.
The issue is, with NASCAR’s new Next Gen car, it is difficult to predict how anything will race. NASCAR has done simulations and given the current specs to iRacing to allow Atlanta Motor Speedway officials to simulate how different configurations would race, but it is an inexact science, as the teams have yet to start working on the cars.
Teams can adjust where the suspension is mounted on the Next Gen car, which debuts next season, and those decisions – as well as NASCAR not having finalized (at least not publicly) the horsepower and rear spoiler specifications for tracks – will impact the speeds and how the cars handle in the turns.
So any simulation has its limits. Still, using the iRacing simulation is better than nothing, and it indicated to Atlanta track officials that they couldn’t have a front stretch 40-feet wide.
"We were able to simulate the new car, so it’s not the unknown of what the car of today that they’re using does," said Steve Swift, who oversees track construction and preparation for AMS parent company Speedway Motorsports. "It’s knowing what the new car is going to create. … We definitely hit the marks in the simulations.
"Naturally, sometimes simulations don’t always portray what is in reality because you have human elements that are not able to be in simulations, but I think everything is pointed in the right direction."
Swift has spent years in a tug-of-war with drivers over track prep and did consult with drivers on the Bristol dirt track preparation. But in this instance, he indicated drivers would want a track that fits their specific styles and they weren’t consulted.
"I say this, I kind of jest: When a driver is happy about our race track, usually the fans aren’t," he said during the news conference.
Drivers of course want to have input. But what if none of their input is heeded? Some might wonder whether it was worth the discussion. Others would at least want the opportunity.
"It would be beneficial to at least talk to us because we do have a different set of eyes or viewpoint on it than somebody just watching a race," said rookie driver Chase Briscoe.
"We’re down there and at the end of the day, we have to be the ones that can put on a show and the track has to be able to produce a good show."
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Kyle Larson also felt he should have a voice.
"We’re going to go and put on a good show no matter how the track is, but we have more experience than [many of] the fans. I’ve raced at hundreds of different race tracks and we would have a better understanding of what really makes good racing," Larson said.
"But fans like crashes and a 40-foot-wide surface is going to keep us tight together."
Add Kevin Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers to the list of those who weren’t thrilled with the decision and obviously would have lobbied against it.
"It’s going to make the racing horrible and it’s going to be one lane and nobody is going to pass anybody," Childers said. "That part sucks. … The new pavement, the Next Gen car with having less downforce – I mean you’re going to run wide-open all the way around.
"It’s going to be like racing at Talladega and you’ll be drafting a lot and kind of become a speedway race in a way. The cars will stay tightly packed together, probably more wrecks and all those things that it seems everybody wants to see these days. So that’s kind of the way I see it."
Swift said the simulations showed a more competitive race on a 1.5-mile track. Yes, they will be tighter. But the goal was to make Atlanta a unique 1.5-mile track and not the same one the teams are used to going to several times during a season.
"It kept them grouped up a little bit more," Swift said about what the simulation showed. "It will keep the cars to where it puts it in the drivers’ hands.
"The uniqueness of mile-and-half [tracks] is just not out there. Most of the mile-and-a-halfs race pretty consistent."
Swift said they will use an asphalt mix that will allow for the track to become more weathered than some of the other recent repaves. Texas Motor Speedway, where a reconfiguration has not had the desired impact on the racing as hoped, at least has had asphalt that has weathered quicker from its recent repave.
"There’s things we can do post the pavement placement to age it artificially to get rid of a lot of the surface oil and oxidize the top of the surface," Swift said in a phone conversation after the news conference.
"We’ve changed up our mix design to allow for a different aggregate in the surface … to give you an older-feeling race track."
Atlanta had planned to repave in 2017 but delayed it after drivers begged them not to redo the surface, which was last repaved in 1997.
"It’s at that stage, you’re on pins and needles through the weekend," Swift said. "Between nights this coming weekend, we’ll patch 100 feet of those seams because they’ll come up. … We put glue in it and hold it together. It definitely is time."
Drivers seem resigned to that fact. They knew it eventually would have to be repaved even though they keep asking for delays.
"If you have to pave it, you have to pave it and do what you have to do if something is not safe or the asphalt is going to come up," Austin Dillon said Sunday. "We've learned mistakes from Texas and some of the places they have repaved.
"I think the (current) banking is good the way it is."
The key to any race is the tire. NASCAR did friction testing on the Atlanta surface this week so it can compare to the repave, which should help in the choice of the tire.
"Asphalt is made of big rocks, little rocks and liquid," Swift said. "The sun bakes away all those little rocks, and you’re left with all these big rocks sticking up, which creates a cheese grater [to the tire].
"You cannot recreate that. … At the end of the day, our goal is to make the surface from a geometric state as best and competitive as possible and it’s Goodyear’s job to make a tire to match that surface."
The one thing that is for certain about this reconfiguration: It will be controversial until the first race on it next spring and everyone can see how it races.
"I’m not sure I really have an opinion on it yet," Larson said. "The biggest thing I’m worried about is them taking it 15 feet narrower, which is a lot. I’m not sure how it will be … but we’ll be there."
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What To Watch For
Larson. He has led 411 laps in his last two starts at Atlant. He didn’t win either of them, including in March when Ryan Blaney passed him late for the victory. So watch for Blaney, too.
Kyle Busch, starting on the front row beside pole-sitter Elliott, has won two of the last six races on 1.5-mile tracks. And he’s finished in the top-10 in the last four races at Atlanta. Three of the six have been won by Hendrick drivers – Larson at Las Vegas and Charlotte and William Byron at Homestead. The other winner is Team Penske’s Blaney.
The top drivers on 1.5-mile tracks this year are Busch (4.4 average finish), Larson (5.4), Byron (6.0) and Denny Hamlin (7.6).
While Ford drivers have struggled this year, they have won the last five races at Atlanta – Blaney earlier this year, Harvick (2018, 2020) and Brad Keselowski (2017, 2019).
But with the struggles of the Ford teams this season, expect that streak to end.
Thinking Out Loud
This is the second race at Atlanta this year, a move that came at the expense of shutting down Kentucky Speedway, at least for this year and possibly forever.
That isn’t a good move. Kentucky Speedway attracts fans from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky – all markets that love their racing. Kentucky is different from the Indianapolis and Michigan tracks, and while it could be viewed as a typical 1.5-mile oval, it still was in part of a country that needs to have a Cup race.
The previous track owners as well as current owner Speedway Motorsports got significant investment from the state for improvements to the infrastructure to have Cup races there.
Moving a race from Kentucky to Atlanta was a slap in the face to everyone who had committed to racing there and building the facility and the lengthy lawsuit that was sparked as NASCAR wouldn’t go there until it was bought by Speedway Motorsports.
There’s nothing wrong with Atlanta. Having two races in Georgia isn’t a bad idea. But having two races at the expense of Kentucky’s one is frustrating.
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They Said It
"Stewart-Haas Racing, in general, has always been probably the leader in the garage of using wind tunnel time and that’s one of the reasons we’ve run good over the years. Now that all of that is gone, it makes it really tough for us to catch up and to do the things that we need to do." – Childers on NASCAR’s wind tunnel limits
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
