As Atlanta’s Surface Quickly Wears, Cup Drivers Eager for More

HAMPTON, Ga. — Living in Dawsonville, Georgia, Chase Elliott has heard many “comments” and “opinions” about his home track, both the bad of the past and the good of the present.

It helps when Atlanta Motor Speedway is located only 85 miles to the south.

“It’s much easier, I think for me, to kind of get behind it when I see the positive reaction to a race and people kind of speaking highly of the race track because for so many years, I heard nothing but the opposite,” Elliott said Saturday (Feb. 22) morning in the track’s media center.

Just five years ago, the consensus of NASCAR drivers was that racing on Atlanta’s old intermediate configuration, with one of the oldest surfaces, in the sport, was a blast.

Among fans watching in the stands or on TV?

Not so much.

Long gone were the photo finish days of 2000, 2001 and 2005, along with thrilling duels like the one Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson put on in 2011.

Though the old surface put on one last memorable finish in 2021 with Kurt Busch’s Cup Series win over brother Kyle Busch.

“I think that it’s easy for me to be like – ‘well, you know what, that was fun for (the drivers),'” Elliott said. “But the people that came down here and watched didn’t really love that. And now, it’s totally reversed.”

This weekend marks the start of Atlanta’s fourth season of existence as a superspeedway-style track.

And last spring, almost like clockwork, the track produced the closest finish in NASCAR history, as Daniel Suarez won over Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish.

And like it did within four years of its 1997 repave and reconfiguration, Atlanta’s surface is showing wear and tear.

Around the 1.54-mile track, the pavement already has noticeable patches for quick fixes.

The condition raised the eyebrows of some drivers, including Ty Gibbs.

“It’s definitely surprised me how much it is the kind of worn out, which might play in our favor,” said Gibbs. “But I don’t know how much longer we’ll be packed up and getting together so close, because the surface is so worn out.”

However, Gibbs is rooting for the surface to reach a point where NASCAR will “simply let us go back to full power, actually, one day.”

Bubba Wallace hopes the continued deterioration of the surface results in more than just rules package changes.

“I’ve said since, I think the second (race on the current configuration) … the place is wearing out,” Wallace said. “Practice is going to be coming back into play, hopefully. It might be a couple years before that, but showing up and qualifying and just thinking that it’s wide open, easy, and you’re not doing anything wrong, but then somebody goes out there and busts their ass, it’s kind of embarrassing to not get those things ironed out into practice.”

Elliott doesn’t believe the track is quite to the point where races like Sunday’s (Feb. 23) will be impacted by the Next Gen car’s handling, like what Xfinity Series races at the track have shown.

The cool temperatures this weekend — a high of 58 degrees is forecast for Sunday — will also impact the racing.

“I think we’re still on the slow side enough of the envelope that it’s OK,” Elliott said, “The Xfinity cars, they might get in that mid-range a little sooner than we will. But our cars are pretty draggy and slow here, so I think it will be a bit yet until it becomes an issue or handling becomes a huge issue.

“It has seemed like this race, being colder weather, is always a little more difficult just getting the tires to heat up, particularly with your qualifying lap and the way the cars are configured. But it seems like when the race gets going, you get some temperature in things and some heat, that always seems to help a little bit and everyone gets brave again.”

Defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron calls racing at Atlanta a “blend” of what drivers experience at the larger Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.

“Obviously, you’re not able to run wide open throttle, really, ever until, I would say the end of the race or if you’re one of the top two or three cars,” Byron said. “For us, it’s a blend. You have to be lifting in the corners. Your car has to handle well to run various lanes because, really, I would say any of the cars can run sort of the bottom to middle.”

Byron expressed disappointment that the tire Goodyear brought this weekend “isn’t softer … because I felt like the tire has been hard to feel and get ahold of.”

However, Byron feels the final act of Sunday’s 400-mile race will be compelling to those watching.

“I think towards the end of the race, you’ll probably see the pack racing that you normally do,” Byron said. “Just because I feel like the surface takes a bit to get some rubber into it and then it picks up some grip as we go.”