March 19, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Atlanta Motor Speedway lives up to the hype on the eve of NASCAR Cup contest

HAMPTON, Ga.—Of points paying races, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 is one of NASCAR’s most anticipated entering 2022.

Following the reconfiguration of Atlanta Motor Speedway, with banking increased from 24 to 28 degrees and the corners narrowed from 55 to 40-feet across entering Turns 1 and 3, there was plenty of speculation regarding what style of racing to expect on the 1.5-miler.

If Saturday’s Cup practice is any indication, Sunday’s race will live up to the hype of being a mini superspeedway—but with less room for error.

“Daytona and Talladega are two of the easiest tracks that we go to physically just because it’s really big, everything happens slow—it’s pretty low key until the end of the race, where that practice session was 40 minutes of pure chaos,” said Christopher Bell, who posted the third-fastest lap (186.322mph) in practice. “I found myself holding my breath several times.”

While there were not any incidents during practice, Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series races had plenty of big moments in the draft, where drivers trying to tuck in line didn’t properly judge the timing.

For drivers who enjoy drafting and the frenetic slicing and dicing that occurs at venues such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, Atlanta could be their new playground. Not surprisingly, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led practice with a lap of 186.616 mph.

“I think what you saw in practice is probably what you’re going to expect,” Stenhouse said. “We made some laps on the simulator and kind of had an idea of what the car was going to drive like and what the track was like. And then obviously when we got out there, we learned a lot more at a pretty high rate of speed.

“I didn’t think the (speeds would) be as fast as what we were, as far as the single speed there in the draft.”

Ross Chastain, who had the benefit of running both Cup and the Camping World Truck practice prior to the truck contest, said his heart rate was “pegged” after climbing from the truck. Despite testing in January with Kurt Busch and Chris Buescher, running with a full field of vehicles changed the dynamic dramatically.

“The Cup car at the test was easy, flat, three cars; it was cooler,” Chastain said. “The truck, even by myself, was a handful. It’s a different beast.”

As for the comparisons to Daytona, drafting might be where the similarities end.

“It feels like the compression of Daytona, but you are turning around and going the other direction so much quicker,” Chastain said. “Where at Daytona, you’re like driving down the highway, it’s really like a sweeping turn. And this is like the interstate exit that creeps up—it says 25 mph and then you get there and everything is sliding in the car and you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going too fast.' That’s what this feels like.

“Daytona is like that nice, long exit that you can see for a mile. This is just such a tighter radius. The sensation of speed is high. It’s not just going to be single-file along the bottom.”

And while the truck and Xfinity races were just 208 and 250 miles, respectively, Sunday’s Cup contest is 500-miles. That’s plenty of time for tempers to flare. Hopefully, the veterans' experience will prevail.

“It’s going to continue to amp up and get more and more tight,” said Kyle Busch. “When you come to stages and there are points on the line—especially when you come to the end of the race and there is a win on the line—you need to take care of one another.

“There is no reason why we should crash, but we are going to. I just hope it’s not too hard.”