When the NASCAR Cup Series competes at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20 and July 10, they’ll see a track that looks and races dramatically different.
That’s because AMS officials recently wrapped up a major reconfiguration project of the 1.54-mile quad-oval, which now features 28 degrees of banking in the turns – up from 24 degrees and higher than any other intermediate track on the Cup Series schedule. Straightaway banking remains at five degrees but in addition to the steeper banks, the racing surface is narrower, with an overall decrease in width from 55 feet to 40 feet. The new widths are 52 feet on the frontstretch, 42 feet on the backstretch, and 40 feet in the turns.
Many observers expect Atlanta to now race more like a superspeedway than an intermediate track, although its length remains the same.