Atlanta Motor Speedway Gets a Major Alteration, Much to Drivers’ Disappointment

In the NASCAR arena, the Atlanta Motor Speedway boasts of the oldest racing surface. However, reports have emerged that the track authorities plan to replace the surface during a process of reconfiguration. Sunday’s Cup Series race turned out to be the final race on the old track configuration that has been present since 1997.

Of course, that is not the only alteration in store for the speedway. There are several other tweaks in the works, including narrowing the racing surface from 55 ft. to 40 ft. In addition to that, the frontstretch will be narrowed to 52 ft, the backstretch to 42 ft, and all turns to 40 ft.

It is also worth noting that the Atlanta Motor Speedway will soon boast of the highest banking; they will be increased from 24 degrees to 28 degrees.

What has NASCAR said about the changes?

AMS CEO Marcus Smith said, “As Atlanta’s racing surface has aged, we’ve challenged ourselves to reimagine what NASCAR racing at an intermediate track can be. With high banks in the turns, narrower width and new pavement technology, Atlanta will be unlike any other mile-and-a-half track on the circuit.

“It’s all new for ’22 and this will be specifically designed for close, competitive racing.”

As it turns out, the reconfiguration is the culmination of a lot of research based on iRacing simulations. However, it seems that not many of the NASCAR Cup Series drivers received the news positively. Drivers like Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson felt slighted by the authorities. This is because the project went ahead without any driver consultation.

Denny Hamlin tweeted, “With all due respect, this same group [SMI] has reconfigured Texas, Kentucky, Bristol with 0 driver input. One of those lost a race, other one we don’t race anymore, and last one we put dirt over it. But hey, what do the drivers know.”

However, Smith declared that the project received some inputs from a few drivers, though he remained coy on the drivers’ identities. He did insist that they received both positive and negative feedback for the project.

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