Subsequent up on the NASCAR Cup Sequence schedule is EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), and it is a race that’s distinctive among the many remainder of the tracks on the NASCAR schedule.
Following an enormous reconfiguration undertaking after the 2021 season, it’s neither a real intermediate nor a correct superspeedway today, however a wierd hybrid of the 2.
However because the begin of the Subsequent Gen period in 2022, it has constantly been probably the most thrilling occasions on your entire schedule. Simply have a look at a few of the details:
No fewer than 12 completely different drivers have shared the lead in every of the earlier 9 Atlanta races, and the variety of lead modifications for the final three Cup races have been between 46 and 57! And that is simply counting them firstly/end line.
22-car pileup in 2025
Photograph by: Krista Jasso / Getty Photos
Each single one in every of these races that managed to finish underneath green-flag situations had a margin of victory underneath two tenths of a second, and the primary Atlanta race of 2024 was the closest three-wide picture end within the historical past of NASCAR! Simply 0.003s separated race winner Daniel Suarez and runner-up Ryan Blaney, with third place Kyle Busch a mere 0.007s away from the win.
The newest Atlanta race set a file for lead modifications at 57, and because the floor ages, the racing solely will get extra thrilling as drivers battle to regulate their vehicles, maintain their traces, all whereas anybody on more energizing tires will tear by way of the sector.
The monitor is simply nonstop motion, and drivers have described it as being probably the most mentally draining occasions they’ve ever competed in. It is superspeedway-level racing crammed right into a 1.5-mile intermediate oval.
And when issues go fallacious, it is hardly ever a small affair. In final summer season’s Atlanta race, one dangerous bump on the backstretch led to virtually two dozen vehicles crashing in a track-blocking accident. The attrition is all the time excessive as new Atlanta — the newest winner (Tyler Reddick) truly gained and not using a right-front fender after wrecking earlier within the race!
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Photograph by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Photos
Moreover, three of the final 4 races have gone into extra time, simply fueling these dramatic finishes. Earlier this yr, the race went eleven laps and 17 miles past the scheduled distance earlier than the checkered flag lastly flew. However do not assume they want late-race yellows to maintain issues thrilling, both.
Race winners have come from everywhere in the area. Simply have a look at the beginning positions of latest victors: Pole, fifteenth, thirty second, seventh, twenty third, 18th. Pole-sitters gained two of the primary three races on the brand new floor, but it surely’s solely gotten extra unpredictable since then.
One other extraordinary reality is that the ultimate move for the lead within the final FIVE consecutive Atlanta races has come both on the ultimate lap or the penultimate lap. It is all the time a nail-biting end.
It is a race you may’t look away from or you’ll most definitely miss one thing. There isn’t a using round counting laps or respite, apart from when the warning flies for the most recent melee. It has rapidly turn out to be probably the most highly-anticipated races on the schedule, and is must-watch TV even in the event you’re not a weekly NASCAR viewer.
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photograph by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Photos
Within the days main as much as this weekend’s race, veteran driver A.J. Allmendinger stated that “it’s most likely probably the most intense—if not essentially the most intense—pack-racing tracks we go to.”
Shane van Gisbergen in contrast it to “a superspeedway on steroids,” noting that “your mind is simply fried on the finish, you are flat out the entire time and all the time in a battle.”
As you look by way of the feedback, it is extra of the identical, with Carson Hocevar stating how “you might be on offense always,” and noting that you do not essentially need assistance if you wish to make a transfer. Ross Chastain known as it “mentally draining,” whereas Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remarked that “from the primary lap to the final, you’re on the ragged edge. “
However you do not have to easily take our phrase for it (or the drivers), as we have included a few of the finishes from NASCAR’s earlier Atlanta races:
Watch: Hear FOX Sports activities Latin America’s name of Daniel Suárez’s wild Atlanta win
Watch: Chase Elliott makes last-lap magic to win at EchoPark Speedway
Watch: Christopher Bell wins as warning flies on closing lap at Atlanta
Watch: Hometown boy: Chase Elliott wins thrilling race at Atlanta
Watch: Doubled up! Reddick triumphs at EchoPark for back-to-back wins
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