Next up on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), and it's a race that is unique among the rest of the tracks on the NASCAR schedule.
Following a massive reconfiguration project after the 2021 season, it is neither a true intermediate nor a proper superspeedway these days, but a strange hybrid of the two.
But since the start of the Next Gen era in 2022, it has consistently been one of the most exciting events on the entire schedule. Just look at some of the facts:
No fewer than 12 different drivers have shared the lead in each of the previous nine Atlanta races, and the number of lead changes for the last three Cup races have been between 46 and 57! And that's just counting them at the start/finish line.
Every single one of these races that managed to end under green-flag conditions had a margin of victory under two tenths of a second, and the first Atlanta race of 2024 was the closest three-wide photo finish in the history of NASCAR! Just 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 most recent Atlanta race set a record for lead changes at 57, and as the surface ages, the racing only gets more exciting as drivers struggle to control their cars, hold their lines, all while anyone on fresher tires will tear through the field.
The track is just nonstop action, and drivers have described it as being one of the most mentally draining events they've ever competed in. It's superspeedway-level racing crammed into a 1.5-mile intermediate oval.
And when things go wrong, it's rarely a small affair. In last summer's Atlanta race, one bad bump on the backstretch led to almost two dozen cars crashing in a track-blocking accident. The attrition is always high as new Atlanta -- the most recent winner (Tyler Reddick) actually won without a right-front fender after wrecking earlier in the race!
Additionally, three of the last four races have gone into overtime, just fueling these dramatic finishes. Earlier this year, the race went eleven laps and 17 miles beyond the scheduled distance before the checkered flag finally flew. But don't think they need late-race yellows to keep things exciting, either.
Race winners have come from all over the field. Just look at the starting positions of recent victors: Pole, 15th, 32nd, 7th, 23rd, 18th. Pole-sitters won two of the first three races on the new surface, but it's only gotten more unpredictable since then.
Another extraordinary fact is that the final pass for the lead in the last FIVE consecutive Atlanta races has come either on the final lap or the penultimate lap. It's always a nail-biting finish.
It's a race you can't look away from or you will most certainly miss something. There is no riding around counting laps or respite, except for when the caution flies for the latest melee. It has quickly become one of the most highly-anticipated races on the schedule, and is must-watch TV even if you're not a weekly NASCAR viewer.
In the days leading up to this weekend's race, veteran driver A.J. Allmendinger said that "it’s probably one of the most intense—if not the most intense—pack-racing tracks we go to."
Shane van Gisbergen compared it to "a superspeedway on steroids," noting that "your brain is just fried at the end, you're flat out the whole time and always in a battle."
As you look through the comments, it's more of the same, with Carson Hocevar stating how "you are on offense at all times," and noting that you don't necessarily need help if you want to make a move. Ross Chastain called it "mentally draining," while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remarked that "from the first lap to the last, you’re on the ragged edge. "
But you don't have to simply take our word for it (or the drivers), as we've included some of the finishes from NASCAR's previous Atlanta races:
