Atlanta Preview

The second points paying weekend of the NASCAR season leads us to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. 39 drivers are in the field for the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday. William Byron looks to go 2 for 2 on the season as Daniel Suarez looks to defend his win from last year. The Penske cars are strong at the drafting tracks so they are a group to keep an eye out for as well. Joey Logano was the most recent winner at Atlanta as that win helped his bid for the championship.

This weekend marks the 2nd weekend of the NASCAR season and it brings us to another drafting track that gives off the vibes of Daytona before it’s repave years ago. This track is like a hybrid superspeedway built on an intermediate track. The field typically starts off as a tight condensed pack but over time spreads out into individual packs like mid 2000s pack racing. Handling matters more at this track than it does at Daytona so it will take more than just a fast car to win. The talk of the week so far has been the aging surface which is getting a lot of wear and tear at a fast rate. With the cool temps though there will be extra grip compared to the summer. The tire being used will be the same tire that was used at Atlanta last year so there shouldn’t be a difference there unless the surface aged a very great deal over the offseason.

Another thing to watch out for is Atlanta’s unique pit road entry. Atlanta extended its pit road entry from turn 4 to the entrance of turn 3. This was done to keep drivers from entering the pits out of the pack in the middle of turn 4. The difference between Atlanta and Daytona and Dega is the short chute off of turn 4 that makes it easier to enter the pits. One of the disadvantages of a 1.5 mile drafting track. With the extended pit road, you don’t want to have to serve a pass through or unscheduled pit stop.

For this race I am going to go with Ryan Blaney or Kyle Busch. Both were short by inches of winning this race last year and both have shown a lot of speed on the speedways in the next gen era so it’s always important to look out for them. My dark horse is Joey Logano. Logano has 2 wins on this configuration and is also a fast guy on the drafting tracks. Coming off a disappointing Daytona 500 with possibly the fastest car in the field, I think Logano is looking to avenge that loss.This track is somewhat of an equalizer but the guys who figured out this track typically rise to the occasion. The race sure will be entertaining and I can’t wait to watch it all play out.

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