The Atlanta Motor Speedway has been repaved and rebuilt, so no one knows what’s coming in Sunday’s Cup race.
However, after approximately 1-hour practise session on Saturday, which featured the type of pack racing seen at Daytona and Talladega, drivers are feeling a sense of chaos.
“That (50)-minute practice session was super intense,” Christopher Bell said. “I don’t think anybody expected the draft runs to be that big, and the pack to be that tight. It was full blown chaos, and we’ve got 500 miles of it (Sunday).”
“You don’t have a whole lot of time to relax … I think we’re going to crash at some point,” Kyle Larson, the defending Cup champion, told NBC Sports.
“There is no reason why we should crash, but we are going to. I just hope it’s not too hard,” Kyle Busch remarked after Saturday’s session.
Concerns about what might happen emerged after Atlanta Motor Speedway was transformed into a Frankenstein of a track by Speedway Motorsports, which shaped and shifted the 1.54-mile track to make it race more like a superspeedway. This promotes pack racing, which is uncommon at a circuit like Atlanta. Faster speeds are also encouraged by the repave and steeper banking in the corners (from 24 to 28 degrees).
At 186.616 mph, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. set the fastest times in Saturday’s practise session. That’s 6 mph faster than the previous time the series practised in Atlanta, which was in 2019.
It is difficult to lose the draught in Atlanta, according to the drivers. At Daytona last month, this was not the case. One idea is that because Atlanta is one mile shorter and has a narrower racetrack, the aerodynamic hole punched by cars is focused more than at Daytona. This may be of assistance to the cars further back.
The runs appeared to be faster to the drivers as well. When the field is bunched, this could pose a problem for the pack.
“The narrower racetrack lends itself to some hairy moves and things like that,” Busch said. “Turning off into Turn 3 when you are running the bottom and you start to load up into the corner and your front end gets tight and you wash up the track and somebody in the middle is holding you down, holding you tight, you make contact and start a crash – I feel like that’s where we are going to see a wreck and you might also see some going down the frontstretch.”
Blocking is likely to be just as crucial Sunday as it was at Daytona and Talladega.
“When you get out front, you’re going to be able to control the lanes a little bit easier than a Daytona or a Talladega,” Stenhouse said. “Daytona is easier to control a lane than Talladega because it’s so much more narrow.
“You take it another step further here on how wide the racetrack is compared to Daytona. So, you’ll be able to maneuver and block those two lanes, I think, a little bit better, so I think track position is going to be important.”
Making it to the finish of 500 miles will be essential, particularly for someone like Bell who has had a difficult start to the season.
Bell’s season got off to a rocky start with a collision in the Daytona 500 and an engine failure at Auto Club Speedway. He finished 10th in Las Vegas but 26th in Phoenix the following week. As a consequence, he’ll start Sunday’s race with a point total of 30. (3 p.m. ET on Fox). A victory will assist in the treatment of those ailments, but Bell’s main goal is to finish the race.
“I need to survive this one,” Bell said. “We’ve been off to a rocky start. … Getting to the end is going to be the most important thing, first and foremost, and I could see it being difficult for sure (Sunday).”
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