NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Will Tame the New Atlanta Configuration?
Sunday marks the inaugural Cup Series race on the new track layout for Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gone is the ultra-abrasive, worn out mile-and-a-half track, and in its place is a true unknown. With corner banking increased from 24 to 28 degrees, many think that superspeedway-style pack racing will develop. With the current engine package for Next Gen cars though, this is still a big question mark. Who are some drivers who could end Sunday in victory lane? Many past Atlanta standouts have yet to win so far in 2022.
Ryan Blaney
Look no further than Atlanta a year ago to see just how cunning Ryan Blaney is here. 12 months ago, the Penske No. 12 Mustang took the lead late from Kyle Larson. Even though Larson led over 250 laps, it was Ryan Blaney standing tall in victory lane. Blaney only led the last nine laps here last year, but still walked away victorious. Blaney also rides a streak of three-straight Atlanta top-fives. The 12 was a late block away from perhaps winning the Daytona 500 a few weeks ago, so expect him to be stout on this quasi-superspeedway.
“We’ve run really well at superspeedways, our Daytona car was really fast,” said Blaney. “But you’re just not sure how it’s going to carry over to here. You just have to figure it out, and see where you stack up when you get on track. You can expect these things, plan out all this stuff, but until you actually get out there running, see what the track gives you, you don’t know. I have confidence every single week in our racecars, no matter the type of track, because I know Penske builds really fast cars. We’ve been doing that this year, and I have no doubt in my mind that we’ve brought the best that we can bring this weekend too.
“It’ll be more like a speedway race than we’ve ever seen here, it’ll be the first mile-and-a-half superspeedway race really. You hope those things carry over from what you do well at Daytona and Talladega, but I think at the same time it’ll be a little different. But it’s going to be hard to tell. The confidence level is there, just because you believe in your team, I believe we’ll bring something good.”
After playing upset last year by stealing the win from the 5, Blaney hopes to back up that Atlanta performance. The Penske 12 could win the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 in back-to-back years, but under entirely different circumstances with the repave.
Joey Logano
Atlanta this weekend will be a much narrower track, and nobody is better at blocking multiple lanes than Joey Logano. Although the 22 has not won in Atlanta before, he has shown great versatility across multiple different packages on superspeedways. Logano also enters Atlanta as the Cup Series points leader, by four markers over Kyle Busch. With two top-10s to open 2022, Logano hopes to keep the consistency alive this week. Keep an eye out on the 22 to potentially block his way to another victory.
Kurt Busch
The most recent winner in Atlanta has a great chance at going back-to-back, as Kurt Busch may be peaking. Last week in Phoenix, the 23XI Racing No. 45 earned their first top five finish. The veteran driver now goes to a track he’s won at four times. A venerable superspeedway ace, Busch hopes for another strong performance and possible win this weekend.
“That would be a dream come true in a sense with this situation,” Busch said of potentially winning the first race on the new Atlanta track. “Anytime you can win – I would call this – an inaugural style event, it’s labeled for a long time. The old track and the character here, I’ll miss it. I’ll miss it after racing on it for so many years, but this is a brand-new AMS, and this is a brand-new type of feel and sequence on what it’s going to take to win. In the driver’s mind, and in a team’s mind this is hyped up as an inaugural event.”
With their best result to date coming last week, the 45 may just be trending in the right direction. Kurt Busch could go for two-straight Atlanta wins across two wildly different track layouts.
Brad Keselowski
Two-time Atlanta winner Brad Keselowski was the most aggressive driver at the Daytona 500. Driver 6 made no friends getting to the head of the pack, and led the most laps. After a few trying weeks since Daytona, Keselowski hopes to have a strong result in Atlanta.
“Atlanta is going to be one of the more interesting weekends we will see all season,” Keselowski said. “There is already so much new right now, then throw in a repave of that surface and the differences it now provides, Sunday is going to turn out to be wild. As a 6 team we know where we stand, and as I’ve said before we know the battle to get to where we want to be would be tough. We’re looking forward to a fun weekend in the Kohler Generators Ford.”
With a series-best seven superspeedway wins, Keselowski enters Atlanta as a favorite for the inaugural win on the new surface. Although the 2012 champion has two past wins here, very little will translate over to the new Atlanta layout.
Denny Hamlin
With five career victories on superspeedways, Denny Hamlin could be a sleeper pick for Sunday. So far this year, the 11 team has had little if anything go right in the luck department.
“I don’t know what to expect,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know if we are going to be drafting, I don’t think we are going to be tight pack racing. It’s not going to be Daytona or Talladega but are we going to be grouped together, so how are you going to build your car? All of those things are going to be question marks, so I have no clue what I’m getting into.”
Hamlin simply needs a clean race where he avoids trouble, self-inflicted or otherwise. If the 11 team performs to their full potential, then Denny Hamlin will be a winning contender Sunday.
Chase Elliott
After being close to victory last week, Georgia’s own Chase Elliott could earn a home track win. Elliott does have a strong history in Atlanta, with five top-10s in seven starts. Hendrick Motorsports has already won twice this year with two drivers, Elliott hopes to be a third this weekend.
“We haven’t lit the world on fire by any means, but we’ve had a couple strong runs,” Elliott said. “We were good out in California and pretty solid on Sunday in Phoenix. It’s been kind of hit or miss, unfortunately, but we’re learning a lot and we’re heading in a solid direction. We’ve been just trying to piece together the direction that we need to go, like a lot of people as we’re learning this car. I think everyone is questioning a little bit which way you need to go at some of these tracks. Once we all figure out what’s right, it’s going to become very difficult to be different.
“Everybody is working in such a tight box, probably a tighter box than ever, so you’re going to have to be really diligent and make sure you’re trying to fine tune those super-minute feelings and changes in the car to make a difference because it’s going to be hard to find them as time goes. It will be interesting to see how the season changes as we all get more time with this car.”
Chase Elliott has not won on an oval in more than a year, since his 2020 championship. The Napa 9 team hopes to erase that trend Sunday with a hometown win for their driver.
Catch the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday on FOX. Coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET with the green flag at 3:00. What exactly the new Atlanta surface will deliver remains to be seen, but the odds of a fifth-straight different winner for 2022 are high.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images for NASCAR
