I can see Dale Jr. being the Racing director or possibly President of NASCAR in the future. His racing knowledge, basic common sense attitude and name recognition will help. Great ambassador for the sport.
It's funny you say this I was thinking dale being the guy that people look to when they need a opinion from someone who drove he has alot of knowledge on alot of different things and his ideas are good and what he says makes sense
I'm all for making changes. Unfortunately, none of that addresses the primary attendance problem at AMS. It's traffic. Getting to and from the track is a nightmare. That 6 or so miles to 75 takes forever. And forget about taking 41. Ugh. Why did the Braves move to Cobb County? North side of Atlanta is where the population is. On race day, it's a 2.5 hour drive in and out of the track to north side. It's basically a 10 hour block out of your day to go see a race at AMS. Location, location, location.
Jr. makes a lot of sense here. But the biggest argument against changing the configuration is how badly SMI screwed up Bristol and Texas. Their reputation of re-configurations is not good and I'm sure that's why the driver's are upset.
So true, and with this when they’re not moving the fences are the corners you’re talking 4 degrees and 15 feet, Texas with screws it up when it was new and then they screwed it up when they redid it twice.
I also don't like the pj1. We've gone from tuning cars to run on the track to tuning tracks so these modern era iroc cars can run. At no point should NASCARs premier series have less horsepower than the xfinity cars.
PJ1 royally screwed over Indycar at Texas. If they have any bit of their car touch the PJ1 they go into the wall. Follow the leader race with 1 groove in the corners
Two cents as a former fan. Nascar today, we watch Drivers drive. 20 years ago we watched Drivers race. It's not the drivers fault its that NASCAR has take too many tools away from the teams. Look at Richmond, that race was once one of the most exciting places to go because back in the day they used to seal the track to give the drivers options. As the sealer wore the divers would look for grip. I remember 100,000 fans on their feet watching Earnhardt Sr. racing Rusty side by side for 30 laps, couldn't read the numbers on the side of either car. We never see that anymore, that's why tracks don't sell out because we want to see racing.
The new Atlanta would probably provide good racing if: the drivers had enough horsepower to have to lift in the corner; enough power to have to manage wheel spin off the corner; very little downforce; asphalt that isn't glass smooth. But, this is the new NASCAR, and every non short track or road course race needs to look like Talladega. So, that means 350 horsepower, 330,000 lbs of downforce, cast iron tires and a Safelite surface.
As a Atlanta Regular, these are the main issues. They seem very evident over the last 20 + years. The original oval configuration was hands down better. I can’t explain why and that’s my ignorance on the matter but I have long dreamed and said I wish they went back to the oval. Mainly due to the lack of 1 mile ovals on the schedule probably. To the point: two reasons Atlanta attendance is down. #1 Traffic. I’ve never seen GSP manage 8 lanes so poorly. Red lights Galore. Talladega has twice the fans and no matter when you leave your on the interstate in 15 mins or less. Atlanta is 3 hours. Better bring a tent and stay awhile. #2 The racing is boring. The tires may wear fast but these cars have gotten easier to drive (Drivers statements). Even if the tires fall off the downforce package won’t let them pass. If a car and get in front of you and force you back 2 car lengths this isn’t the right package. If we got slick tires then we need a package that lets them beat and bang. Door rub, take the air off their rear spoiler and get em side ways loose. Oh by the way given that with all the horsepower they can handle so when they do hit the throttle the tires barely stick to the track in general. Frankly I think the Carl Edwards scare in the COT created this package. Unfortunately, whether drivers or fans admit it. We don’t want to see people hurt but we want to see drivers pushed to their limits, we want the cars pushed to the limits. Reconfigurations or not that’s the real two issues.
If the changes are unnoticeable to the way the track races then why bother? You want more fans to attend there are cheaper ways to make that happen. If NASCAR would “unglue” the cars from the tracks that would certainly spark interest back in the sport putting butts in seats.
You know what everyone has missed in the whole "attendance" conversation? The fact that between the cost of tickets, hotels, parking, gas to get there, etc...you're better off just staying home. NASCAR has never adjusted to the changing economy. Sure fans have been excited to be back because they literally have had nothing to do for a year; people will tighten their buckles again and NASCAR will continue to blame the tracks, cars, etc...instead of realizing their product isn't worth the cost of attendance
@@chrisferguson9562 Same can be said for college football. Between cost of tickets, gas, parking, concessions, & fighting 100,000+ crowds & attached traffic; it’s easier to stay home to watch on HD
@@chrisferguson9562 true. When you go to a race, there’s always people near the track selling tickets for half off or more. I can’t imagine paying 60 dollars a person for a race.
I appreciate Dales honesty. Kyle Busch can drive but he is a very difficult personality to stomach. I watch and follow everything Dale puts out but Kyle is one of the reasons I don’t care about NASCAR as a whole anymore. I love that Bill Elliots son is great and I like Austin Dillon. I hope RCR can survive for his family to run someday. But NASCAR needs to go back to the enjoyment of the 80s and the excitement when Jr was coming up to regain its place. Many of my generation dislike the current product. But our society is going through major issues right now. It is trying to eat up the past for some unrealistic future.
To be honest, we really should not judge whether this is a good or bad just yet… I mean haven’t even seen them on track yet I am disappointed to see old Atlanta go but my thought on the repave are still open
I been critical about this but I do understand they have not been able to sell it out so maybe it’s time for a change and all us fans can be is optimistic and just hope it improves the racing I no with knew pavement it’s gonna be fast.
Jr, I keep hearing the PASSION OF RACING IN YOUR VOICE, ask Amy, get back on the track my man, your podcast is one of two reasons I still watch NASCAR, the other is I simply love racing.
You were so good Jr... Grew up a Gordon fan and now a Chase Elliott fan. I'm 31 now. Always rooted for you but it just never completely came together for you. You're STILL A LEGEND JUNE BUG
Been living in Bristol for 5 race seasons now and I can attest to seeing the racing and attendance improving. It's not old Bristol but it's the next best thing. Spring race different story and 3 of the 5 yrs here its been weather related.
If him and his son would put Bristol back to the 36 degree banked turns like it used to be they would start selling out both races again. No need for the PJ 1 or to cover the track with dirt to get people to show up in the Spring if they would change it back. I knew after that first race after the reconfiguration that SMI was going to be in trouble and that most fans weren't going to like it.
The truth is the demographics in and around Atlanta doesn't represent nascar fans. It's no different than trying to sell out a stadium rap concert in Salt Lake City. In my humble opinion Nascar needs to go back at least 10-15 years ago and market to true Nascar fans. Let the fan introduce new fans thats how I got into nascar. You can't please all the people and you certainly don't want to offend your base.
NASCAR is still off chasing ghosts...these new fans will be gone in a few years and the sport will be left with nothing because they left their core fanbase...
You know those fans will die eventually right? We have to move on. F1 is a great example, for a very long time F1 marketed itself as if it was the 80s, basically ignoring the internet and not really trying to rope in new, younger fans. This caused F1 to be hard to get into unless your family were already fans. However ever since Liberty Media bought them and started actually marketing it to younger audiences viewership (atleast in the states) has been in a upwards trend. Honestly for someone who's name is "JustFacts" very little of what you said was actually factual. Ironic.
@@cbj4sc1 well wtf do you know! I've been a hardcore nascar fan since you had shitting green. Everything I said is 100% factual. How about you point out specifically where you think I'm wrong. As for comparing Nascar to F1. Two totally different audiences. F1 is a worldwide social event. 75% of F1 audiences couldn't tell you crap about the sport. Most Nascar fans can damn near name every driver. I'll wait.
My issue with re-configuring the track is that they are going to do it the same year a completely new car is coming out. A car that know one knows how it will race, or what it will want in a track. It will either be a home run, or a complete disaster.
Being a resident of ATL for only a couple of years, I understand the pressures of the sport market in ATL. There are many options to spend your money. The City had exploded since '96. Change is inevitable. The Falcons get a new stadium. The Braves are on the 3rd stadium now. Makes since the racetrack needs something. Paving is not new or novel for any racetrack, they get paved at some point. Maybe a reshuffling of the schedule may work. I believe NASCAR is the only motorsport that has repeat tracks in a season. Not sure if that is a positive or a negative. Is having more opportunities like 2 races a year reducing the "gotta be there" effect for fans OR is having 2 races a year acting as a large net capturing as many ticket sales as possible?
In my personal opinion, I think they should only go to each race track once a year, that way they could add race tracks like Memphis, Iowa, Mid-Ohio, Pikes Peak, Gateway, Canadian Tire and go back to Rockingham,North Wilkesboro, Chicgoland and Kentucky. Do any of these race tracks really deserve two dates a year outside of maybe Daytona or Talladega? In the 1970's and 80's NASCAR only had about 14 or so tracks they could go to so that's why they had two dates at each track. Now NASCAR has so many more options and each one of these tracks were built in hopes of getting a Cup date and would love to get one.
As a fan that went to Atl races in the 80's,90's and 2000's my biggest deterent was weather! The spring and fall races were a roll of the dice. One year could be sunny and hot or raining and freezing cold. Cant tell you how many races I stayed until Monday to even see the race. I know weather cannot be controlled, but Atl never got a "summertime" race date from nascar! For myself, after we lost Dale Sr, I went one more time to Atl in the spring...rain...I did not stay until Mon. It wasn't worth the hassle with Dale gone. Went home...less $ in my pocket...and no race. I have never gone back. Daytona and Talladega were more dependable for weather. I always felt nascar should have given Atl a summertime date and then the fall date. Take that spring race somewhere else in the country where weather is more dependable...California? I dont know or have the answers, but numbers have dropped in Atl and Im one of those numbers and I told you my reason why I quit going to Atl....just sayin from a fan point of view. ✌out 😎
Think one Spring, the race was delayed by snow, another year, it was hit by a tornado prior to a race date. Thing abt Fall races @ ATL, it has to compete w/College Football on Saturdays & nfl on Sundays (not that I haven’t cared abt nfl for nearly a decade now). College football in the Deep South is nearly a religion that can’t be overcome. However, Summer weather can be brutal in the Deep South so I can understand why dates are in the Spring & Fall. Attended a June race @ Talladega back in the day & it was brutal.
By summertime, I guess you mean August or September because it has a summer date this year. But July is the rainiest month in Atlanta. I think September is perfect. I've been to hundreds of UGA football games, I can't think of many September games in which it rained. 2009 vs. Arizona State is the only one I can think of. I can think of several October and November games though.
I went to the Spring race in 1982. Best spectator track at the time. You could walk up and down the front stretch (weren't allowed to stop) and have the cars whizzing past you at 180 mph, rubber hitting your face, the sounds, smells, and the only thing between you and the cars is 3 feet of concrete and a catch fence. Nothing like walking down to turn 4, watching the greats driving at you almost sideways making the transition from turn 4 to the front stretch!
I have wondered for several years WHY. because of weather problems at some tracks at certain times of the year, NASCAR or whom ever had never tried to change around the race schedules to keep as many as possible. in good weather times of the year. also wondered WHY they don't do Sanoma when they come out to the west coast instead of coming out later on in the year
@@kylefunderburk4194 Your answer reflects your age. I am a native Savannahian born in 1957, I understand about deep south football, I was watching GA when Vince Dooley was coach and Hershel Walker was a freshman. So when I talk about nascar and the problems Atl has faced for YEARS... my experiences in Atl go back most likely to before you were born. Nothing personal, but your comment spoke volumes of your understanding of Bill France. Do you even know who he is........google it
Very well handled guys. I appreciate you making some folks aware of those factors. I felt like people were being to harsh, a little too quick to take jabs, without taking into account the business aspect, or the credentials of folks who are making these decisions.
The problem for me is that they asked a retired driver for his opinion on the changes and not active drivers. I think when the active drivers hear that iRacing brought in Dale Jr. they will be even more pissed off
Plus again I think he's missing the real reason that attendance is terrible there. The problem isn't the track itself the problem is where the track is located. As I said in another reply I live in Atlanta nobody wants to go to the area where the track is it's horrible.
@@alecpitts6843 Yes but he agreed with the design change and helped to contribute to it. Why would he make the change and then turn around and say it was bad?
Part of the reason it doesn’t sell out is because the people most likely to attend live in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. And in that general area you have Taledega, Daytona, Charlotte, Darlington, etc. so if you’re going to use your entertainment budget to take your family to a race, why would you pick Atlanta over these other tracks. The city of Atlanta isn’t interesting. There aren’t any beaches around. It’s alway hot there, traffic around Atlanta is a mess. So unless they do something to make it particularly unique, it’s always going to struggle.
SMI is in the business of selling tickets. They have to keep making changes to tracks to increase ticket sales because the drivers who whine about every decision they make don't sell any. If Kyle Busch wants to have an opinion, he should try something called "having a fanbase who wants to pay to see him."
Atlanta resident here. The one thing they didn’t mention which honestly helps explain the declining attendance is the traffic and location. The traffic on race day is always awful and the track’s location is south Atlanta. Most of the fans are going to live in the northern suburbs. It’s the same reason why the Braves moved from Atlanta to Cobb County. People got fed up with sitting in traffic, so the Braves moved the stadium closer to them in the suburbs. I can tell you there’s not that many NASCAR fans in South Atlanta…maybe NBA fans tho lol.
I don't think they used iRacing scans in the past though. iRacing should release the reconfigured track and let the drivers test it with the next gen car on iRacing.
When the new Atlanta was first rolled out the end of the year race was standing room only ..... It took SEVERAL Hours for the parking lot to empty out ..... The facility was top notch from the surface to the garage area and the grandstand.... The Monday morning champions breakfast and an opportunity to drive on the track was a GREAT experience...... Times change and unfortunately so do people......
Dude i hope ur right.... Gimmick after gimmick has destroyed nascar... the chase is a joke, the compitition cautions known as stage racing.. not to be a dick, but trying to bunch the cars up so fair weather fans can watch drivers destroy race cars and injure themselves.. Right now, no offense but it feels liker ur trying to sell this instead of being honest..
I'm going to post my 2 cents since I'm an Atlanta customer even though I doubt anyone with any say is going to read it. I have always liked Atlanta over Talladega and Daytona because it's easy to get in and out of and you can see the whole thing. Yes some kids are still into cars and racing, but here's the issue. We used to be able to relate to the drivers. We had the same cars, we came from similar backgrounds. We can't relate anymore so we don't enjoy watching, and we're not going to pay exorbitant prices for mediocrity. I was there in March and I firmly believe Larson threw that race so Blaney could make the playoff. The guy won both stages and was smoking everybody until 10 laps to go. Honestly if my tickets weren't gifted to me I wouldn't have even gone because of their BS about the national anthem, Bubba Wallace, and the confederate flag. You want fans in the stands? Put on a show we can relate too without constantly letting us down, taking us for fools, and unnecessarily involving yourself in politics.
It's not a sellout but 2019 fall came close and I bet the spring race next yr with Bristol dirt will be close to, if not sold out. It's hard to sell out any big event anymore let alone 162,000 seats.
Damm straight. They took a perfectly good racetrack and messed it up. Greed ruined it. They wanted more grandstand seats and put in a double dogleg on the backstretch, made it the front straight. Rest is history.
I think the drivers have forgotten how racing works. Some guy builds a track and puts on a race. If you want to race be there on Sunday. If you don’t like the track stay home. Shut up and drive.
Absolutely correct, If you are supposed to be a good driver and have a good team then you take whatever they throw at you and make it work.......THAT'S racing...
Exactly, drivers have no financial stake in the track but want final say on how the track operates. It was quite ironic that after years of talking SMI out of repaving this track they had to stop the race because it was literally falling apart.
I love Dale Jr and all but I don't agree with him on this. We don't need a track like this being turned into superspeedway-like racing that not only takes real skill out of the driver, but makes it more about luck than anything else.
4 degrees of more banking in the middle groove is not going to turn it into a SS. The track really isn't the problem. The problem is a lot of southerners are tired of NASCARs rules and point changes and the political crap last year turned a lot more of the remaining off.
Atlanta used to have races in March and November. Both fairly cool months weather wise. It was great to go to a NASCAR race with jacket on instead of sweating in the summer heat.
Dale is clearly biased here, SMI and iRacing connections, and he’s interpreting some facts incorrectly. The fan thing isn’t because of anything on track, I’ve heard several people that have been there as fans that have said the fan experience at Atlanta is lacking severely. Improve that and it improves attendance. Some of iRacing examples are valid but going down the road of saying what kind of racing a track is going to put on based on iRacing is just silly, that is not iRacing’s strength. Best I’ve seen recently is the eNASCAR Coke Series this past Tuesday at New Hampshire, they had basically super speedway like pack racing on a flat mile track. New Hampshire has never put that on even in modifieds. They got the racing wrong when they had all the data, tire car track just everything is a known at this point. And the racing not matching happens pretty frequently, so trying to predict what a car that hasn’t raced is going to race like on a track that doesn’t exist is pretty dumb. I don’t think this is iRacing’s fault though, they were just asked to try something, I’m pretty sure iRacing knows it’s limits.
I tend to agree, Marcus is a close friend and Jr is a VP or something at iRacing now. I also tend to agree is that the drivers probably over reacted, which drivers often do. Bad thing is we will probably not know how good or bad the changes are for a few years after the new pavement ages a bit.
I went to the spring races at Atlanta in 2019 and 2021, and my parents attended the races years ago. The fan experience is antiquated. You look at NFL and MLB stadiums, and NBA arenas, you see all sorts of unique areas for fans, primarily to eat and drink comfortably while watching the event. A local example would be the Braves' Chop House. Venues in other sports have wealth in concessions options and there's been a dip in concessions prices at a lot of these venues. Mercedes-Benz Stadium has very cheap concessions, Sanford Stadium is reducing prices for some concessions. Atlanta's other issue is scheduling. March in northeast Georgia is very predictable, it's going to rain. We've had years where we didn't see the sun for weeks in March. July is very unpredictable, and it's the month with the most rainfall and rainy days. Storms tend to bring in intense humidity. NASCAR's two Atlanta races this year were literally in the worst months weather-wise in north Georgia. We know the weather here, we don't trust it to stay dry. Up until midnight before last week's race, the forecast called for thunderstorms between 11 am and 7 pm. There's been no effort to make going to races an attractive option for fans besides ticket prices. That Insiders Club deal is highway robbery. They're practically giving tickets away, but that's a four-day investment for fans.
@@daxvolfan The drivers probably did overreact but nascar has kind of conditioned them lately that if they aren’t animated about something then they aren’t listened to. It might end up being fine but all their conflicting reasoning and goals doesn’t particularly instill confidence in their decision making. That with their recent track record with other tracks, just got to cross our fingers that they don’t mess it up.
Here's a totally different perspective. I'm fine with the changes. They are all sensible and even though I personally LOVE the current config, it's just history repeating. BUT my concern is the whole equation. Not just the track, but how will a 500hp, 175mph top speed, downforce monster with ground effects and a diffuser race on that race track. No one including iRacing know because iRacing's Gen 7 car has ZERO real world race data behind it so far, it's all guessed on (an intelligent guess, but still a guess) and the best guess to me is simple from extrapolating my knowledge of racing that is 27 years in the making, it's gonna be Daytona Lite racing. And the issue I see isn't the banking or how narrow it is. It's the tighter overall radius of the turns and the overall less space on track not width wise, but length wise. Lapped traffic will be a constant issue for the lead pack in a far greater way than we experience at Daytona and Talladega due to there being a mile's worth more race track to navigate at your traditional 'plate tracks'
I still don't understand why Atlanta has 2 dates. Put one back at Kentucky. Kentucky drew better crowds. Racing sucked but I'm perfectly okay with that.
I agree whole heartedly the track reconfiguration that the owners have planned with the help of iRacing is entirely up to the owners themselves. iRacing is just another tool to be used in order to get an idea off the ground and put to paper so to speak. There needs to be a starting point for a new track design or one that is to be reconfigured in the case of Atlanta Motor Speedway and iRacing has proven itself over time to be valuable and capable of recreating tracks and in the case of the Chicago street course creating a viable course design that can be implemented in real life. Many products we all use in our daily life often go through a development stage where CAD and 3D models are used to beta test something. Why should a race track be any different. The engineers, technicians and test drivers at iRacing have put in many hours to perfect the beautiful racing tracks they have created. This is IMO the way of the future and as Dale put it a way to test something before millions of dollars are spent.
@@billyhowellsandman6412 I hate Kentucky Motor Speedway...lol I went to the first truck (took 4 hours to get out of the track after the race and knee deep in mud too...lol), Busch, Cup, and Indy car races. I hated it from the start! I always wished they would've built it a mile or shorter in length. Those tracks always produce good racing. But now it's just a big Ford truck parking lot...lol
I remember when it was about to be built, I heard it being called "Kentucky Superspeedway." So I was excited as hell, I thought we were getting another Daytona or Talladega. That's when I learned, technically, any oval over a mile is a "superspeedway." It was cool to see a NASCAR race close to home, but I just wish it wasn't a low banked cookie cutter.
They made 45 second iracing clip of cars running full throttle, in a pack, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. And only days before they start tearing up the real track. That’s bad marketing.
Don't be surprised when we see a split in Nascar just like we did in Indy car a few decades ago. I for one can see SMI starting a entirely new series. They certainly have the tracks and Marcus has the knowledge and drive to take the leap. Out of curiosity who said the fans want to see pack racing? And why not just call it what it really is "a wreck waiting to happen"!
@@chrisferguson9562 for starters all the non franchise teams. Probably several Xfinity teams. The biggest question is would the manufacturers follow. I can see many opportunities to persuade teams. But who knows.
I guess you missed it when NASCAR bought up all those tracks....NASCAR is trying to wrap up a package deal to sell for a better price....Going...Going....G..........
Spot on! When drivers come out like KB and make comments like he did, it tells me the track owners are moving in the right direction. And it is true. I just watched part of the 92 Atlanta race on yt and those stands were packed. How many ppl were in the stands before Covid? Compare the two theres your answer. If drivers comments are "nobody seems to have a brain" then you must not have much in your noodle to be making abrasive remarks like that. Drivers never like change unless they can see it can be to their advantage. Im quite sure the racing will be just fine. And the proof is seeing a digital layout before one excavator moves in. As a former land surveyor thats what we do all the time. The process works....but I think the folks in the suits know theres a weak link and they gotta do something or Atlanta may end up on the chopping block.
Change at Bristol was the biggest mistake ever made. First and only time went to night race 2008. Last sell out. The regulars were furious and did not come back to this day.
The reconfiguring of turns 1 & 2 at Texas definitely hurt the racing. Even those of us who live cannot understand the reasoning for changing the track. The crowd has definitely dwindled at TMS since the reconfiguration of the track.
One reason people don't like coming to Atlanta is because they have to sit there for 5 or 6 hours to get out of the place after the races! I love the racing there but every time I've went I sat in a traffic jam for HOURS after the race hungry and thirsty one time because we ran out of drinks during the race. That was on me but nobody wants to sit in their car for 5 hours!!!
Pack racing (like at Daytona and Talladega) is better experience for the fan at the track, IMO. There is usually just one area of the track the fan is watching at a time, and it is easy to see who is in the lead. Atlanta is the opposite of that, everything gets strung out on long runs into a single line of cars with most of the action being cars on the lead lap passing cars a lap or more down. So it is confusing to the fan at the track as to what is going on and where they should be watching. Odds are you will miss any big action. Similar to Bristol but Bristol being so small you can pretty much see the whole track sitting high up.
I can't find attendance trends at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the last cup race of the year starting in 1987 was at Atlanta, and that held true until 2001, when the last race was moved to Loudon, NH. Jr. said he does not expect to see the track changes make a big difference in the racing. Realizing the pavement needs to be replaced for safety reasons, but why reconfigure the corners if a change will not be noticed. I hope NASCAR is not betting than the crowds will return just on the news that the track is changing. My personal opinion is that NASCAR has spent years and millions of dollars trying to draw in a different fan base and, instead of growing, they have turned off the loyal fan base they had for decades. I have not watched a full race since Daytona. When NASCAR went woke, I went fishing. Changing the width and banking is not going to save Atlanta Motor Speedway. Only butts in seats will turn the tide. I don't think the demographic NASCAR is pandering to now is not going to fill the grandstands. They need to figure out the right demographic that will, and start doing things that make them want to watch the race from seats at the track instead of the couch.
Atlanta ended their summer race in 1973 because it was too hot and they couldn't sell tickets. They moved the race to November, where they kept it for years. Then NASCAR, in it's infinite stupidity, started moving the race around and now, you guessed it, they move it back to July.
Its more important for a race to be exciting to a television audience than it is to be exciting for in person crowd. In person at most races you cant see the whole track so its hard to see exciting racing from that vanatage point. You only get to see one or two turns of racing. At home you have the tv announcers and the cameras showing you all the action, you see everything and can get the full story. Its more important for race tracks to have events and etc at the track to make the excitement for in person crowd.
I believe Atlanta Motor Speedway struggles to get attendance mostly because of its location. All Atlanta area sports draw poorly compared to the size of their fanbases. Georgia fans support their teams/sports by in-person attendance worse than anywhere in the country. Just look at the Braves for one example. Every baseball fan in the entire southeast region claims to be a Braves fan, yet their home games are never near full. Same goes for the Hawks.
@@Burrkilla True, but every MLB team has 81 home games, and many sell plenty more tickets than the Braves even with smaller fanbases. Take St Louis Cardinals for example, a smaller market, not nearly as many fans as the Braves outside of the immediate metro area, yet they fill way more seats.
Original Atlanta config was almost perfect... essentially a touch bigger but similar to Homestead... Pure oval without asymmetries etc, facilitates drivers to work their line... slowly honing in on each element... makes for multiple groove goodness. Milwaukee, pure symmetry... albeit flat, but made for superb, multiple line racing. Spectator sight-lines is what drove owners to implement tri-ovals, quad ovals, dog legs etc. Winchester ftw!
So the defense of the change is its gonna turn Atlanta into a Charlotte of sorts... ok... Just race Charlotte more? Why have two of the same track on the schedule? Seems like a waste of money imo
Another point is that these tracks a privately owned enterprises. They can do whatever they want. The drivers now won't be driving forever. Start your own track if you can do better.
Dale is way off base here and just covering for his buddy Marcus. Daytona is only 3 wide in the corners, and even then they crash. Why are we trying to widen the groove at every other track with PJ1, but want to take a full lane and half away from the best racing track on the circuit??
@@duanebailey6253 Why does no one show up? Could it possibly be the package and NASCAR not giving fans what they want...you can build, repave, reconfigure a million different tracks and if the package sucks it wont matter
Newsflash, that fans aren’t showing up because of the configuration. They quit coming when nascar forgot about them 🤷🏻♂️ they have consistently tried to move away from their core fan base. The hardworking gearheads in the southeast built nascar and The Smiths seem to have forgotten...billionaires
I race iracing a lot. And when dale said 40 feet, I was like hmm might be like Charlotte. And low and behold, he talks about Charlotte. Iracing teaches.
Wow Dale Junior is doing a great job as a podcast host. Not everyone can do it. As people have said, he is passionate about racing and also knowledgeable.
There's one track that also needs improvement and it not the track it just needs a few additions that needs to be added. I'm talking about Talladega Superspeedway. 1 it needs a state of the art LED lighting system for night race. 2 it needs a third row seats for the grandstands and plus bring back the grandstands in the back stretch. 3 build a press box just like Daytona that they placed in front of the start and finish line but put that press box at Talladega put that in front of that finish line. 4 later on down the road when it's time to repaved Talladega let go with concrete pavement instead of asphalt because concrete can make the lighting brighter on the track and be smother the asphalt and plus it will make the track looked even bigger.
I think Mike needs to stay in his lane on this one. The drivers know way more than any suit ever will. Also, Iracing is a simulation, it's not always the same in real life. And Dale isn't a racer anymore, so his input on a new track configuration is null and void. Why couldn't they get current drivers to drive the simulation? I'm not a fan of the new configuration at all. NASCAR is making moves without any of the drivers inputs. It's really a joke nowadays.
Hey now, dont you know a guy who has been nothing but a lapdog for Jimmy Spencer and Dale Earnhardt Jr for 15+ years knows more about racing then current drivers....
SMI has not had a good history of track reconfiguration. They've been around for so long mainly because they own signature tracks in key markets that NASCAR can't do without. Texas was mediocre for stock cars and frankly a death trap for open wheel racing when it opened. If not for safer cars, the rosters would be shorter because of that track. Honestly the only reason I'd be sad to see the place leveled and replaced with a flat oval is because of Jr.'s first win. Vegas, is basically the same, only there's no good memories tied to it at all. Bristol I honestly struggle to sit through a whole race because it's been a different track every race for a few years as they chase something that's entertaining and fun to drive. Dirt's not the answer. Slower cars and more grip across the surface will make a better show. Heck, randomize the starting order or cut the fuel tanks in half would help. Atlanta never should have abandoned the pure oval. It's problems were never the track. Schedule and weather were always the issue. Finding a good time of year to run there where you weren't more likely to get rained out seems like a research project that's never been done properly. They wanted more fans in seats, but the show rarely got any better. Yes there were epic moments, but it was mostly kinda dull to watch, even though it was clearly fun to drive. Changing the width of the track is just going to crank the aggression up as you won't have that extra lane to dive into or drift up to. It'll probably affect fuel mileage for those that run the bottom, as it'll be a slightly longer distance. Don't know if it'll be enough to be a huge hit on strategy, but its there. I think making both these changes at the same time is a mistake. Hopefully they'll get more feedback from drivers before committing to it.
@@PhantomThiefOfSports Kentucky started off from a hole with horrible access to the track. Whoever put it where it is didn't take access and traffic impact into consideration at all. And it's still yet another D-Oval. If they want to mix it up run the other way. Yes. Clockwise.
I think people's biggest issue is that smi has a history of screwing up tracks, and making absolutely stupid decisions. The fact that they haven't done a damn thing with north wilkesboro, when loads of fans, current, and former drivers want it to reopen, shows that they aren't the best decision makers. On top of that. They screwed bristol up so bad, that they can't even draw half the crowd that they did before they reconfigured it.
So changing the width by 15' and adding four degrees of banking (just in the center of the turns, btw)......is going to "fill the seats" ??!!! Don't piss down my leg and tell me it's raining !!!!
SIMPLE QUESTION : If there is "no difference" as Dale said then why make the track 40 feet instead of staying at 55? Basically making the track more narrow for no reason.
It's basic trigonometry. Keeping the outer walls where they are at while increasing the banking with the apron/infield stays at the level it's at will result in a narrowing of the track at the points of greater banking. Maybe I'm stating the obvious here
@@stlouisrams4me you missed his point. By increasing the banking, you are decreasing the width of the track. The track being more narrow was not the goal but is an unintended consequence of increasing the banking. An unintended consequence that they are willing to deal with.
@@devinbagwell8924 WOW you people are dense. Try to follow along...Dale Jr said there would be no difference in the way the track drives by increasing the banking.. well if that is the case then why increase the banking?
@@stlouisrams4me I agree with you there, but that's not what you said in your OP. You said "why make it more narrow?" And "basically making the track more narrow for no reason".
@@bigrooster6893 The narrowing might though. I would have narrowed it maybe 5-10 feet in the turns, not 15. Cost difference probably won’t be that much with the added banking now.
@@easyenetwork2023 If a driver can't handle going from 55ft to 40ft, they don't need to be in Nascar. That's enough room to go 3 and 4 wide at Daytona...
I saw Earnhardt win at the Atlanta original configuration in 1995. He was trying to chase down Jeff Gordon for the points championship. Jeff won his first Championship that day. Great Race, but terrible traffic then at the Speedway. Took me almost 20 years before I finally came back due to the horrible conditions to get to the speedway back in 1995.
I'm new to NASCAR again (I'm a 50 year old F1 guy), but I'd say 3-wide + 1 would be a great track layout for these cars....like Daytona, etc. It's a large/wide layout still at 1 1/2 miles. School me if I'm wrong.
This is one of the few times I can't agree with you guys. Putting aside the bias of your friendship with Marcus Smith and the fact that Jr WAS consulted in this, I think the drivers' biggest complaint...and it's a VERY VALID one...is that entities like IRacing WERE consulted and apparently the drivers were NOT, despite NASCAR's constant assurances over recent years that drivers would be consulted on EVERYTHING and in fact they've been consulted on very little.
I think most of the concern from drivers is that the term pack racing was being thrown around as if SMI's goal is to replicate Daytona and Talladega's action at Atlanta. Obviously, a lot of fans would be on board (regardless of what the ratio on Twitter suggests) just look at Daytona and Talladega's crowds. But I can definitely see why drivers would be concerned. But then Darlington has been thrown around in that discussion. At first, that was presented as the optimistic take, but then Kyle Busch mentioned Darlington in a way that suggests Darlington is a bad track that drivers hate.
I don't agree that the drivers were only upset because they didn't have a voice. I think the major concern coming from the drivers is that the track is going to be turned into a mile and a half version of Talladega. That's a legitimate concern. They have more room at Talladega for pack racing and cars still end up on roof tops.
I disagree Dale 4 degrees not much for banking but 15 feet a lot I mean that's the whole difference between another car width fifteen feet is a really big deal
Taking the best 1.5 miler with the most grooves and making it narrower is a bad idea, then comparing it to Charlotte is an even worse idea, this is exactly what fans don't want is another Charlotte.
Texas is the one that needs more banking not Atlanta. SMI made Texas worse then it was and messed up Bristol too. I understand Atlanta needs a repave but leave it at that.
A lot of the fan base does not want to attend the race there is because of that city and crime and traffic. I would never travel there again no matter how good the racing is.
I can see Dale Jr. being the Racing director or possibly President of NASCAR in the future. His racing knowledge, basic common sense attitude and name recognition will help. Great ambassador for the sport.
It's funny you say this I was thinking dale being the guy that people look to when they need a opinion from someone who drove he has alot of knowledge on alot of different things and his ideas are good and what he says makes sense
He hit his head to many times, he don’t know what he’s talking about
@@snelgrove22 And you do?? I'm guessing he knows a lot more than you.
I'm all for making changes. Unfortunately, none of that addresses the primary attendance problem at AMS. It's traffic. Getting to and from the track is a nightmare. That 6 or so miles to 75 takes forever. And forget about taking 41. Ugh. Why did the Braves move to Cobb County? North side of Atlanta is where the population is. On race day, it's a 2.5 hour drive in and out of the track to north side. It's basically a 10 hour block out of your day to go see a race at AMS. Location, location, location.
I was at the last race. An getting to an from the track was quick and easy. The drive home sucked. Because 85 was doing construction
It's the only race where fans wait till the race is over to cook out because they know they ain't going anywhere for a while. lol
Maybe NASCAR should race at Road Atlanta.
@@buzztp5119 i'd pay to see this
@@buzztp5119 There was a busch series race there, it's quite narrow was the story I heard. A 3/8 mile(Lanier Speedway) is right across the street tho
Jr. makes a lot of sense here. But the biggest argument against changing the configuration is how badly SMI screwed up Bristol and Texas. Their reputation of re-configurations is not good and I'm sure that's why the driver's are upset.
Solid point.
Bristol was screwed up because drivers had majority say in how it was to be done
@@joshjarnagin3161 no they didn’t
So true, and with this when they’re not moving the fences are the corners you’re talking 4 degrees and 15 feet, Texas with screws it up when it was new and then they screwed it up when they redid it twice.
@Daniel G they could boycott now and get away with it because there’s barely enough cars to make a full show.
I also don't like the pj1. We've gone from tuning cars to run on the track to tuning tracks so these modern era iroc cars can run. At no point should NASCARs premier series have less horsepower than the xfinity cars.
Fact.
Couldn't agree more, 750 hp and low downforce at every track.
PJ1 royally screwed over Indycar at Texas. If they have any bit of their car touch the PJ1 they go into the wall. Follow the leader race with 1 groove in the corners
when I see that Goodyear hat I'm reminded if Dave Marcis.
i want that hat!
I thought the same thing. I wonder about Mikes shoes. Lol
Two cents as a former fan. Nascar today, we watch Drivers drive. 20 years ago we watched Drivers race. It's not the drivers fault its that NASCAR has take too many tools away from the teams. Look at Richmond, that race was once one of the most exciting places to go because back in the day they used to seal the track to give the drivers options. As the sealer wore the divers would look for grip. I remember 100,000 fans on their feet watching Earnhardt Sr. racing Rusty side by side for 30 laps, couldn't read the numbers on the side of either car. We never see that anymore, that's why tracks don't sell out because we want to see racing.
The new Atlanta would probably provide good racing if: the drivers had enough horsepower to have to lift in the corner; enough power to have to manage wheel spin off the corner; very little downforce; asphalt that isn't glass smooth. But, this is the new NASCAR, and every non short track or road course race needs to look like Talladega. So, that means 350 horsepower, 330,000 lbs of downforce, cast iron tires and a Safelite surface.
As a Atlanta Regular, these are the main issues. They seem very evident over the last 20 + years. The original oval configuration was hands down better. I can’t explain why and that’s my ignorance on the matter but I have long dreamed and said I wish they went back to the oval. Mainly due to the lack of 1 mile ovals on the schedule probably.
To the point: two reasons Atlanta attendance is down. #1 Traffic. I’ve never seen GSP manage 8 lanes so poorly. Red lights Galore. Talladega has twice the fans and no matter when you leave your on the interstate in 15 mins or less. Atlanta is 3 hours. Better bring a tent and stay awhile. #2 The racing is boring. The tires may wear fast but these cars have gotten easier to drive (Drivers statements). Even if the tires fall off the downforce package won’t let them pass. If a car and get in front of you and force you back 2 car lengths this isn’t the right package. If we got slick tires then we need a package that lets them beat and bang. Door rub, take the air off their rear spoiler and get em side ways loose. Oh by the way given that with all the horsepower they can handle so when they do hit the throttle the tires barely stick to the track in general.
Frankly I think the Carl Edwards scare in the COT created this package. Unfortunately, whether drivers or fans admit it. We don’t want to see people hurt but we want to see drivers pushed to their limits, we want the cars pushed to the limits.
Reconfigurations or not that’s the real two issues.
Well the main issue when they redesigned Bristol they ruined it and took it from being sold out years in advance to half empty
If the changes are unnoticeable to the way the track races then why bother? You want more fans to attend there are cheaper ways to make that happen. If NASCAR would “unglue” the cars from the tracks that would certainly spark interest back in the sport putting butts in seats.
You know what everyone has missed in the whole "attendance" conversation? The fact that between the cost of tickets, hotels, parking, gas to get there, etc...you're better off just staying home. NASCAR has never adjusted to the changing economy. Sure fans have been excited to be back because they literally have had nothing to do for a year; people will tighten their buckles again and NASCAR will continue to blame the tracks, cars, etc...instead of realizing their product isn't worth the cost of attendance
@@chrisferguson9562 hit the nail on the head! Not even arguable.
@@chrisferguson9562 Same can be said for college football. Between cost of tickets, gas, parking, concessions, & fighting 100,000+ crowds & attached traffic; it’s easier to stay home to watch on HD
@@chrisferguson9562 Exactly! Who has an extra $1,000+ and a weekend off to go to a Nascar race? Americans can't even afford rent.
@@chrisferguson9562 true. When you go to a race, there’s always people near the track selling tickets for half off or more. I can’t imagine paying 60 dollars a person for a race.
When Atlanta was first reconfigured Geoff Bodine qualified at 197 mph! The track was fast and sold out
I appreciate Dales honesty. Kyle Busch can drive but he is a very difficult personality to stomach. I watch and follow everything Dale puts out but Kyle is one of the reasons I don’t care about NASCAR as a whole anymore. I love that Bill Elliots son is great and I like Austin Dillon. I hope RCR can survive for his family to run someday. But NASCAR needs to go back to the enjoyment of the 80s and the excitement when Jr was coming up to regain its place. Many of my generation dislike the current product. But our society is going through major issues right now. It is trying to eat up the past for some unrealistic future.
@BuckeyeBob it’s ok you enjoy your moms basement. Let’s go Brandon. 😂🤣
Agreed. Great way to put it.
To be honest, we really should not judge whether this is a good or bad just yet… I mean haven’t even seen them on track yet
I am disappointed to see old Atlanta go but my thought on the repave are still open
Jr is one of the biggest critics though. He wanted them to go the Fairgrounds in Nashville, not the Speedway.
OLD Atlanta is pre-1996. Things change.
@@shelleyking8450 exactly
I been critical about this but I do understand they have not been able to sell it out so maybe it’s time for a change and all us fans can be is optimistic and just hope it improves the racing I no with knew pavement it’s gonna be fast.
Jr, I keep hearing the PASSION OF RACING IN YOUR VOICE, ask Amy, get back on the track my man, your podcast is one of two reasons I still watch NASCAR, the other is I simply love racing.
You were so good Jr... Grew up a Gordon fan and now a Chase Elliott fan. I'm 31 now. Always rooted for you but it just never completely came together for you. You're STILL A LEGEND JUNE BUG
I, hear you, he should ask his daughter as well, I LOVE JR'S PODCAST, I actually got to hear what I thought I knew, from the drivers themselves.
Name a track that Smith has improved. It takes some doing to kill Bristol,4 wide drag racing also sucks pure ass.
I’ll never understand 4 lane drag racing. Makes no damm sense to change a perfectly good way of racing.
He screwed Kentucky Speedway for sure.
Been living in Bristol for 5 race seasons now and I can attest to seeing the racing and attendance improving. It's not old Bristol but it's the next best thing. Spring race different story and 3 of the 5 yrs here its been weather related.
If him and his son would put Bristol back to the 36 degree banked turns like it used to be they would start selling out both races again. No need for the PJ 1 or to cover the track with dirt to get people to show up in the Spring if they would change it back. I knew after that first race after the reconfiguration that SMI was going to be in trouble and that most fans weren't going to like it.
@@barrylindsey2518 me too
The truth is the demographics in and around Atlanta doesn't represent nascar fans. It's no different than trying to sell out a stadium rap concert in Salt Lake City. In my humble opinion Nascar needs to go back at least 10-15 years ago and market to true Nascar fans. Let the fan introduce new fans thats how I got into nascar. You can't please all the people and you certainly don't want to offend your base.
NASCAR is still off chasing ghosts...these new fans will be gone in a few years and the sport will be left with nothing because they left their core fanbase...
@@chrisferguson9562 I agree Chris. Add in the fact the ticket prices are pricing out the blue collar fan base.
What is Happening to NASCAR at the moment and i think jr will agree it.
its the Same that Happened to CART and F1 post MSC.
You know those fans will die eventually right? We have to move on. F1 is a great example, for a very long time F1 marketed itself as if it was the 80s, basically ignoring the internet and not really trying to rope in new, younger fans. This caused F1 to be hard to get into unless your family were already fans. However ever since Liberty Media bought them and started actually marketing it to younger audiences viewership (atleast in the states) has been in a upwards trend.
Honestly for someone who's name is "JustFacts" very little of what you said was actually factual. Ironic.
@@cbj4sc1 well wtf do you know! I've been a hardcore nascar fan since you had shitting green. Everything I said is 100% factual. How about you point out specifically where you think I'm wrong. As for comparing Nascar to F1. Two totally different audiences. F1 is a worldwide social event. 75% of F1 audiences couldn't tell you crap about the sport. Most Nascar fans can damn near name every driver. I'll wait.
If it's going to race and feel the same when racing. Wouldn't it be less expensive to just repave it and not reconfigure it?
A heck of a lot cheaper.
Ownership is trying to shake things up in hopes of boosting attendance
@@slick-px4pq the racing has to be spectacular for someone to sit in metal grandstands in Atlanta in July
@@slick-px4pq and SMI kills fans by not allowing coolers at their tracks!
@@fatman1288 i would be great under the lights. I miss the night races but miss the old oval even more
My issue with re-configuring the track is that they are going to do it the same year a completely new car is coming out. A car that know one knows how it will race, or what it will want in a track. It will either be a home run, or a complete disaster.
How many NASCAR drivers/fans does it take to change a lightbulb?
Six -- one to turn the bulb and five to complain that the old bulb was better.
Wow that's clever did you think of that one on your own ?
Being a resident of ATL for only a couple of years, I understand the pressures of the sport market in ATL. There are many options to spend your money. The City had exploded since '96. Change is inevitable. The Falcons get a new stadium. The Braves are on the 3rd stadium now. Makes since the racetrack needs something. Paving is not new or novel for any racetrack, they get paved at some point. Maybe a reshuffling of the schedule may work. I believe NASCAR is the only motorsport that has repeat tracks in a season. Not sure if that is a positive or a negative. Is having more opportunities like 2 races a year reducing the "gotta be there" effect for fans OR is having 2 races a year acting as a large net capturing as many ticket sales as possible?
In my personal opinion, I think they should only go to each race track once a year, that way they could add race tracks like Memphis, Iowa, Mid-Ohio, Pikes Peak, Gateway, Canadian Tire and go back to Rockingham,North Wilkesboro, Chicgoland and Kentucky. Do any of these race tracks really deserve two dates a year outside of maybe Daytona or Talladega? In the 1970's and 80's NASCAR only had about 14 or so tracks they could go to so that's why they had two dates at each track. Now NASCAR has so many more options and each one of these tracks were built in hopes of getting a Cup date and would love to get one.
As a fan that went to Atl races in the 80's,90's and 2000's my biggest deterent was weather! The spring and fall races were a roll of the dice. One year could be sunny and hot or raining and freezing cold. Cant tell you how many races I stayed until Monday to even see the race. I know weather cannot be controlled, but Atl never got a "summertime" race date from nascar! For myself, after we lost Dale Sr, I went one more time to Atl in the spring...rain...I did not stay until Mon. It wasn't worth the hassle with Dale gone. Went home...less $ in my pocket...and no race. I have never gone back. Daytona and Talladega were more dependable for weather. I always felt nascar should have given Atl a summertime date and then the fall date. Take that spring race somewhere else in the country where weather is more dependable...California? I dont know or have the answers, but numbers have dropped in Atl and Im one of those numbers and I told you my reason why I quit going to Atl....just sayin from a fan point of view. ✌out 😎
Think one Spring, the race was delayed by snow, another year, it was hit by a tornado prior to a race date. Thing abt Fall races @ ATL, it has to compete w/College Football on Saturdays & nfl on Sundays (not that I haven’t cared abt nfl for nearly a decade now). College football in the Deep South is nearly a religion that can’t be overcome.
However, Summer weather can be brutal in the Deep South so I can understand why dates are in the Spring & Fall. Attended a June race @ Talladega back in the day & it was brutal.
By summertime, I guess you mean August or September because it has a summer date this year. But July is the rainiest month in Atlanta. I think September is perfect. I've been to hundreds of UGA football games, I can't think of many September games in which it rained. 2009 vs. Arizona State is the only one I can think of. I can think of several October and November games though.
I went to the Spring race in 1982. Best spectator track at the time. You could walk up and down the front stretch (weren't allowed to stop) and have the cars whizzing past you at 180 mph, rubber hitting your face, the sounds, smells, and the only thing between you and the cars is 3 feet of concrete and a catch fence. Nothing like walking down to turn 4, watching the greats driving at you almost sideways making the transition from turn 4 to the front stretch!
I have wondered for several years WHY. because of weather problems at some tracks at certain times of the year, NASCAR or whom ever had never tried to change around the race schedules to keep as many as possible. in good weather times of the year. also wondered WHY they don't do Sanoma when they come out to the west coast instead of coming out later on in the year
@@kylefunderburk4194 Your answer reflects your age. I am a native Savannahian born in 1957, I understand about deep south football, I was watching GA when Vince Dooley was coach and Hershel Walker was a freshman. So when I talk about nascar and the problems Atl has faced for YEARS... my experiences in Atl go back most likely to before you were born. Nothing personal, but your comment spoke volumes of your understanding of Bill France. Do you even know who he is........google it
Very well handled guys. I appreciate you making some folks aware of those factors. I felt like people were being to harsh, a little too quick to take jabs, without taking into account the business aspect, or the credentials of folks who are making these decisions.
@Daniel G Its not a gimmick. CM Punk fighting in the UFC was a gimmick. But having an opinion is your right.
Jr is using logic here. The drivers need to freaking chill out. They acting like the track is going to be 1 car length
Drivers hate change. There is also a bit of nostalgia involved too but still.
The problem for me is that they asked a retired driver for his opinion on the changes and not active drivers. I think when the active drivers hear that iRacing brought in Dale Jr. they will be even more pissed off
They don’t want to race like it’s Daytona and Dega. You’re just a fan (so am I, but drivers are never listened), so you wouldn’t get it
@@TheForeverRanger because they’re race cars drivers that want to show their skilled, not stick and ball sport players on wheels
IanPerez48 yes they don’t want more of this full throttle pack racing bs and that’s exactly what this is going to give us.
Sounds like a job for John Brenkus and sports science
Did anyone expect Jr to really say anything negative against his two employers in iRacing and NASCAR. Love Dale but this is just selling out
And Marcus is his buddy at SMI. They are utilizing his platform the make the sale to the fans and counter the driver argument
@@mcr2124 Yeah it's honestly a terrible look for Dale. Will always be a fan of his but I can do without this corporate sellout bs
Yeah this is the kind of the comment that I made up above
Plus again I think he's missing the real reason that attendance is terrible there. The problem isn't the track itself the problem is where the track is located. As I said in another reply I live in Atlanta nobody wants to go to the area where the track is it's horrible.
Blow it out of your collective asses. He is only telling the truth.
Dale Jr was literally consulted on this, of course he isn't going to talk bad about it.
You don't seem to know his character very well.
Jr will speak his mind whether or not he was involved in it.
Agreeded. He is also a steak owner in Iracing too right??
@@alecpitts6843 relax no one is knocking you hero bro. , just stating the obvious.
Chill
@@mrj3217 Stewart is my favorite driver.
@@alecpitts6843 Yes but he agreed with the design change and helped to contribute to it. Why would he make the change and then turn around and say it was bad?
Won't the new car affect how the new track races regardless of the width, banking degrees, or surface?
That shitbox is gonna be the nail in the coffin.
Part of the reason it doesn’t sell out is because the people most likely to attend live in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
And in that general area you have Taledega, Daytona, Charlotte, Darlington, etc. so if you’re going to use your entertainment budget to take your family to a race, why would you pick Atlanta over these other tracks. The city of Atlanta isn’t interesting. There aren’t any beaches around. It’s alway hot there, traffic around Atlanta is a mess.
So unless they do something to make it particularly unique, it’s always going to struggle.
SMI is in the business of selling tickets. They have to keep making changes to tracks to increase ticket sales because the drivers who whine about every decision they make don't sell any. If Kyle Busch wants to have an opinion, he should try something called "having a fanbase who wants to pay to see him."
Atlanta resident here. The one thing they didn’t mention which honestly helps explain the declining attendance is the traffic and location. The traffic on race day is always awful and the track’s location is south Atlanta. Most of the fans are going to live in the northern suburbs. It’s the same reason why the Braves moved from Atlanta to Cobb County. People got fed up with sitting in traffic, so the Braves moved the stadium closer to them in the suburbs. I can tell you there’s not that many NASCAR fans in South Atlanta…maybe NBA fans tho lol.
I remember when 100k fans used to pack into Atlanta Motor Speedway. Something has to change at that track.
Pre 96 ATL was great racing,Dale was right about that part.
@@jasonbradham1172 Which is why Jr. is correct about going back to that configuration.
@@erikrenner I know, but it's not going to be the same as pre 96. The wide racing surface is gone
PRICED OUT
@@jackhouston357 yep and banning the
Yeah, and how many track reconfigs has SMI fucked up? Damn near all of them.
I don't think they used iRacing scans in the past though. iRacing should release the reconfigured track and let the drivers test it with the next gen car on iRacing.
I’m interested in the #3 sheet metal behind you. Is it from the lumina or the Monte Carlo?
Looks to me like it's probably from a No Bull 5 race, so most likely a Monte Carlo
When the new Atlanta was first rolled out the end of the year race was standing room only ..... It took SEVERAL Hours for the parking lot to empty out ..... The facility was top notch from the surface to the garage area and the grandstand.... The Monday morning champions breakfast and an opportunity to drive on the track was a GREAT experience...... Times change and unfortunately so do people......
Dude i hope ur right.... Gimmick after gimmick has destroyed nascar... the chase is a joke, the compitition cautions known as stage racing.. not to be a dick, but trying to bunch the cars up so fair weather fans can watch drivers destroy race cars and injure themselves.. Right now, no offense but it feels liker ur trying to sell this instead of being honest..
Thank Dale Jr for the chase. Nascar made it to make sure he was always in the picture.
Why not invert the field after each stage for all the lead lap cars? Stage cautions are eliminating 15-20 laps actual racing per race.
@@Sasquatch1213 Nonsense - Thanks Kenseth for boring The 2003 Title Picuture
I'm going to post my 2 cents since I'm an Atlanta customer even though I doubt anyone with any say is going to read it. I have always liked Atlanta over Talladega and Daytona because it's easy to get in and out of and you can see the whole thing. Yes some kids are still into cars and racing, but here's the issue. We used to be able to relate to the drivers. We had the same cars, we came from similar backgrounds. We can't relate anymore so we don't enjoy watching, and we're not going to pay exorbitant prices for mediocrity. I was there in March and I firmly believe Larson threw that race so Blaney could make the playoff. The guy won both stages and was smoking everybody until 10 laps to go. Honestly if my tickets weren't gifted to me I wouldn't have even gone because of their BS about the national anthem, Bubba Wallace, and the confederate flag. You want fans in the stands? Put on a show we can relate too without constantly letting us down, taking us for fools, and unnecessarily involving yourself in politics.
Turn it back into an oval . They lost the people in Bristol with the repave.
It's not a sellout but 2019 fall came close and I bet the spring race next yr with Bristol dirt will be close to, if not sold out.
It's hard to sell out any big event anymore let alone 162,000 seats.
They ruined Atlanta in 1996 and they'll never get back what they had.
I agee from personal experence seeing both in person
Damm straight. They took a perfectly good racetrack and messed it up. Greed ruined it. They wanted more grandstand seats and put in a double dogleg on the backstretch, made it the front straight. Rest is history.
I think the drivers have forgotten how racing works. Some guy builds a track and puts on a race. If you want to race be there on Sunday. If you don’t like the track stay home. Shut up and drive.
Absolutely correct, If you are supposed to be a good driver and have a good team then you take whatever they throw at you and make it work.......THAT'S racing...
Exactly, drivers have no financial stake in the track but want final say on how the track operates. It was quite ironic that after years of talking SMI out of repaving this track they had to stop the race because it was literally falling apart.
Nailed it
Wondering if there is some iRacing bias here. Anyway time will tell with the track but yes the attendance is god-awful.
i like this podcast, it seems i like listening to stories more than actually watching nascar
Great point! I usually watch the 8-20 minute recaps here on TH-cam an hour or so after the race is over.
Dale I think the new car will be the difference on how the racing will be at Atlanta
I love Dale Jr and all but I don't agree with him on this. We don't need a track like this being turned into superspeedway-like racing that not only takes real skill out of the driver, but makes it more about luck than anything else.
4 degrees of more banking in the middle groove is not going to turn it into a SS. The track really isn't the problem. The problem is a lot of southerners are tired of NASCARs rules and point changes and the political crap last year turned a lot more of the remaining off.
You’re highly uneducated lol
NASCAR killed Atlanta when they took away the season finale
Miami was better
Atlanta used to have races in March and November. Both fairly cool months weather wise. It was great to go to a NASCAR race with jacket on instead of sweating in the summer heat.
Dale is clearly biased here, SMI and iRacing connections, and he’s interpreting some facts incorrectly. The fan thing isn’t because of anything on track, I’ve heard several people that have been there as fans that have said the fan experience at Atlanta is lacking severely. Improve that and it improves attendance.
Some of iRacing examples are valid but going down the road of saying what kind of racing a track is going to put on based on iRacing is just silly, that is not iRacing’s strength. Best I’ve seen recently is the eNASCAR Coke Series this past Tuesday at New Hampshire, they had basically super speedway like pack racing on a flat mile track. New Hampshire has never put that on even in modifieds. They got the racing wrong when they had all the data, tire car track just everything is a known at this point. And the racing not matching happens pretty frequently, so trying to predict what a car that hasn’t raced is going to race like on a track that doesn’t exist is pretty dumb. I don’t think this is iRacing’s fault though, they were just asked to try something, I’m pretty sure iRacing knows it’s limits.
I tend to agree, Marcus is a close friend and Jr is a VP or something at iRacing now. I also tend to agree is that the drivers probably over reacted, which drivers often do. Bad thing is we will probably not know how good or bad the changes are for a few years after the new pavement ages a bit.
I went to the spring races at Atlanta in 2019 and 2021, and my parents attended the races years ago. The fan experience is antiquated. You look at NFL and MLB stadiums, and NBA arenas, you see all sorts of unique areas for fans, primarily to eat and drink comfortably while watching the event. A local example would be the Braves' Chop House. Venues in other sports have wealth in concessions options and there's been a dip in concessions prices at a lot of these venues. Mercedes-Benz Stadium has very cheap concessions, Sanford Stadium is reducing prices for some concessions.
Atlanta's other issue is scheduling. March in northeast Georgia is very predictable, it's going to rain. We've had years where we didn't see the sun for weeks in March. July is very unpredictable, and it's the month with the most rainfall and rainy days. Storms tend to bring in intense humidity. NASCAR's two Atlanta races this year were literally in the worst months weather-wise in north Georgia. We know the weather here, we don't trust it to stay dry. Up until midnight before last week's race, the forecast called for thunderstorms between 11 am and 7 pm.
There's been no effort to make going to races an attractive option for fans besides ticket prices. That Insiders Club deal is highway robbery. They're practically giving tickets away, but that's a four-day investment for fans.
@@kylefunderburk4194 Very informative, thanks for the reply!! 👍
@@daxvolfan The drivers probably did overreact but nascar has kind of conditioned them lately that if they aren’t animated about something then they aren’t listened to. It might end up being fine but all their conflicting reasoning and goals doesn’t particularly instill confidence in their decision making. That with their recent track record with other tracks, just got to cross our fingers that they don’t mess it up.
Increasing the banking has never made the racing worse.
Here's a totally different perspective. I'm fine with the changes. They are all sensible and even though I personally LOVE the current config, it's just history repeating. BUT my concern is the whole equation. Not just the track, but how will a 500hp, 175mph top speed, downforce monster with ground effects and a diffuser race on that race track. No one including iRacing know because iRacing's Gen 7 car has ZERO real world race data behind it so far, it's all guessed on (an intelligent guess, but still a guess) and the best guess to me is simple from extrapolating my knowledge of racing that is 27 years in the making, it's gonna be Daytona Lite racing. And the issue I see isn't the banking or how narrow it is. It's the tighter overall radius of the turns and the overall less space on track not width wise, but length wise. Lapped traffic will be a constant issue for the lead pack in a far greater way than we experience at Daytona and Talladega due to there being a mile's worth more race track to navigate at your traditional 'plate tracks'
As as someone who lives in Atlanta the problem isn't the track the problem is where the track is located. That place is a s*** hole
I still don't understand why Atlanta has 2 dates. Put one back at Kentucky. Kentucky drew better crowds. Racing sucked but I'm perfectly okay with that.
I am cracking up here. Go to 12:00, change the playback speed to 0.25x and watch it. You can thank me later.
Bro. I’m dying.
Lmfaoo
Screwed up Bristol, Kentucky and made Texas even worse! SMI doesn't have a good record.
100% man
I agree whole heartedly the track reconfiguration that the owners have planned with the help of iRacing is entirely up to the owners themselves. iRacing is just another tool to be used in order to get an idea off the ground and put to paper so to speak. There needs to be a starting point for a new track design or one that is to be reconfigured in the case of Atlanta Motor Speedway and iRacing has proven itself over time to be valuable and capable of recreating tracks and in the case of the Chicago street course creating a viable course design that can be implemented in real life. Many products we all use in our daily life often go through a development stage where CAD and 3D models are used to beta test something. Why should a race track be any different. The engineers, technicians and test drivers at iRacing have put in many hours to perfect the beautiful racing tracks they have created. This is IMO the way of the future and as Dale put it a way to test something before millions of dollars are spent.
I wish they'd build Kentucky Speedway like Rockingham and we'd see great racing, if they'd run there...lol
Or just bring back the rock. And old way of bristol
Alright another Kentucky Speedway fan. My go to track. But now it's just a big rental lot.
@@billyhowellsandman6412 I hate Kentucky Motor Speedway...lol
I went to the first truck (took 4 hours to get out of the track after the race and knee deep in mud too...lol), Busch, Cup, and Indy car races. I hated it from the start! I always wished they would've built it a mile or shorter in length. Those tracks always produce good racing.
But now it's just a big Ford truck parking lot...lol
I remember when it was about to be built, I heard it being called "Kentucky Superspeedway." So I was excited as hell, I thought we were getting another Daytona or Talladega. That's when I learned, technically, any oval over a mile is a "superspeedway." It was cool to see a NASCAR race close to home, but I just wish it wasn't a low banked cookie cutter.
They made 45 second iracing clip of cars running full throttle, in a pack, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. And only days before they start tearing up the real track. That’s bad marketing.
That's an opinion
Don't be surprised when we see a split in Nascar just like we did in Indy car a few decades ago. I for one can see SMI starting a entirely new series. They certainly have the tracks and Marcus has the knowledge and drive to take the leap. Out of curiosity who said the fans want to see pack racing? And why not just call it what it really is "a wreck waiting to happen"!
The question is who would join SMI for this series because the current drivers/owners arent a fan
@@chrisferguson9562 for starters all the non franchise teams. Probably several Xfinity teams. The biggest question is would the manufacturers follow. I can see many opportunities to persuade teams. But who knows.
And don't overlook Tony Stewart/Ray Evernham and the SRX Series.
I guess you missed it when NASCAR bought up all those tracks....NASCAR is trying to wrap up
a package deal to sell for a better price....Going...Going....G..........
@@regdor8187 the France family (nascar) owns 13 of the 36 current ran tracks. Hardly a strangle hold.
Can't wait for the next gen Atlanta!!!! I'm all in for it!
Spot on! When drivers come out like KB and make comments like he did, it tells me the track owners are moving in the right direction. And it is true. I just watched part of the 92 Atlanta race on yt and those stands were packed. How many ppl were in the stands before Covid? Compare the two theres your answer. If drivers comments are "nobody seems to have a brain" then you must not have much in your noodle to be making abrasive remarks like that. Drivers never like change unless they can see it can be to their advantage. Im quite sure the racing will be just fine. And the proof is seeing a digital layout before one excavator moves in. As a former land surveyor thats what we do all the time. The process works....but I think the folks in the suits know theres a weak link and they gotta do something or Atlanta may end up on the chopping block.
How does making the track 15' narrower bring fans? This makes no sense to me. The only thing it does is cut the cost of the paving. Follow the money.
Repaving existing track is all that needs to be done.
Change at Bristol was the biggest mistake ever made. First and only time went to night race 2008. Last sell out. The regulars were furious and did not come back to this day.
I lived in Bristol for 20 years. You are exactly right. If you dont have to run the bottom to win at Bristol, then it's not worth watching.
@@davidmays5231 yes!!
old Bristol was super, new Bristol is not!!!
The reconfiguring of turns 1 & 2 at Texas definitely hurt the racing. Even those of us who live cannot understand the reasoning for changing the track. The crowd has definitely dwindled at TMS since the reconfiguration of the track.
One reason people don't like coming to Atlanta is because they have to sit there for 5 or 6 hours to get out of the place after the races! I love the racing there but every time I've went I sat in a traffic jam for HOURS after the race hungry and thirsty one time because we ran out of drinks during the race. That was on me but nobody wants to sit in their car for 5 hours!!!
Love all these track owners in the comment section.
Pack racing (like at Daytona and Talladega) is better experience for the fan at the track, IMO. There is usually just one area of the track the fan is watching at a time, and it is easy to see who is in the lead. Atlanta is the opposite of that, everything gets strung out on long runs into a single line of cars with most of the action being cars on the lead lap passing cars a lap or more down. So it is confusing to the fan at the track as to what is going on and where they should be watching. Odds are you will miss any big action. Similar to Bristol but Bristol being so small you can pretty much see the whole track sitting high up.
I can't find attendance trends at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but the last cup race of the year starting in 1987 was at Atlanta, and that held true until 2001, when the last race was moved to Loudon, NH. Jr. said he does not expect to see the track changes make a big difference in the racing. Realizing the pavement needs to be replaced for safety reasons, but why reconfigure the corners if a change will not be noticed. I hope NASCAR is not betting than the crowds will return just on the news that the track is changing. My personal opinion is that NASCAR has spent years and millions of dollars trying to draw in a different fan base and, instead of growing, they have turned off the loyal fan base they had for decades. I have not watched a full race since Daytona. When NASCAR went woke, I went fishing. Changing the width and banking is not going to save Atlanta Motor Speedway. Only butts in seats will turn the tide. I don't think the demographic NASCAR is pandering to now is not going to fill the grandstands. They need to figure out the right demographic that will, and start doing things that make them want to watch the race from seats at the track instead of the couch.
Atlanta ended their summer race in 1973 because it was too hot and they couldn't sell tickets. They moved the race to November, where they kept it for years. Then NASCAR, in it's infinite stupidity, started moving the race around and now, you guessed it, they move it back to July.
Its more important for a race to be exciting to a television audience than it is to be exciting for in person crowd. In person at most races you cant see the whole track so its hard to see exciting racing from that vanatage point. You only get to see one or two turns of racing. At home you have the tv announcers and the cameras showing you all the action, you see everything and can get the full story. Its more important for race tracks to have events and etc at the track to make the excitement for in person crowd.
Atlanta's race date keeps changing.
I wish my wife was as patient with me as Dale was with that mic when it kept moving.
I believe Atlanta Motor Speedway struggles to get attendance mostly because of its location. All Atlanta area sports draw poorly compared to the size of their fanbases. Georgia fans support their teams/sports by in-person attendance worse than anywhere in the country. Just look at the Braves for one example. Every baseball fan in the entire southeast region claims to be a Braves fan, yet their home games are never near full. Same goes for the Hawks.
With the Braves you got 80 some odd games to show up. With the Hawks, well that is in Downtown ATL. Best way in and out is MARTA and well.....
@@Burrkilla True, but every MLB team has 81 home games, and many sell plenty more tickets than the Braves even with smaller fanbases. Take St Louis Cardinals for example, a smaller market, not nearly as many fans as the Braves outside of the immediate metro area, yet they fill way more seats.
Original Atlanta config was almost perfect... essentially a touch bigger but similar to Homestead...
Pure oval without asymmetries etc, facilitates drivers to work their line... slowly honing in on each element... makes for multiple groove goodness.
Milwaukee, pure symmetry... albeit flat, but made for superb, multiple line racing.
Spectator sight-lines is what drove owners to implement tri-ovals, quad ovals, dog legs etc.
Winchester ftw!
So the defense of the change is its gonna turn Atlanta into a Charlotte of sorts... ok... Just race Charlotte more? Why have two of the same track on the schedule? Seems like a waste of money imo
Except it's not going to be Charlotte. Atlanta has a much wider turn radius and will have more banking as well.
Just because two tracks have similar widths doesn't mean they'll have the same racing.
Another point is that these tracks a privately owned enterprises. They can do whatever they want. The drivers now won't be driving forever. Start your own track if you can do better.
No they are owned my Nascar through SMI. Only a few are privately owned
Dale is way off base here and just covering for his buddy Marcus. Daytona is only 3 wide in the corners, and even then they crash. Why are we trying to widen the groove at every other track with PJ1, but want to take a full lane and half away from the best racing track on the circuit??
No one shows up at the track. Charlotte is the same width. We're just talking about the true center of the track.
@@duanebailey6253 Why does no one show up? Could it possibly be the package and NASCAR not giving fans what they want...you can build, repave, reconfigure a million different tracks and if the package sucks it wont matter
Newsflash, that fans aren’t showing up because of the configuration. They quit coming when nascar forgot about them 🤷🏻♂️ they have consistently tried to move away from their core fan base. The hardworking gearheads in the southeast built nascar and The Smiths seem to have forgotten...billionaires
@@nickh9632 so the drivers love it but the fans havent for 10 years? Your crying about billionaires while you do all your shopping at chains.
@@duanebailey6253 And tell me how much better the racing was at Charlotte vs Atlanta…
I race iracing a lot. And when dale said 40 feet, I was like hmm might be like Charlotte. And low and behold, he talks about Charlotte. Iracing teaches.
Really does
Wow Dale Junior is doing a great job as a podcast host. Not everyone can do it. As people have said, he is passionate about racing and also knowledgeable.
There's one track that also needs improvement and it not the track it just needs a few additions that needs to be added. I'm talking about Talladega Superspeedway. 1 it needs a state of the art LED lighting system for night race. 2 it needs a third row seats for the grandstands and plus bring back the grandstands in the back stretch. 3 build a press box just like Daytona that they placed in front of the start and finish line but put that press box at Talladega put that in front of that finish line. 4 later on down the road when it's time to repaved Talladega let go with concrete pavement instead of asphalt because concrete can make the lighting brighter on the track and be smother the asphalt and plus it will make the track looked even bigger.
Honestly I would Reconfigure Atlanta back to its Old Oval Configuration, keep the Banking to 24 Degrees
JR might know racing, but that loose mic arm was kickin' his ass all video long. LMAO!!
I think Mike needs to stay in his lane on this one. The drivers know way more than any suit ever will. Also, Iracing is a simulation, it's not always the same in real life. And Dale isn't a racer anymore, so his input on a new track configuration is null and void. Why couldn't they get current drivers to drive the simulation? I'm not a fan of the new configuration at all. NASCAR is making moves without any of the drivers inputs. It's really a joke nowadays.
Hey now, dont you know a guy who has been nothing but a lapdog for Jimmy Spencer and Dale Earnhardt Jr for 15+ years knows more about racing then current drivers....
Sports been a joke since 2004
"im butthurt over something that doesnt exist yet!"
@@youfillmylifewithjello6661 Yep.
If it's the same then why change it? Just repave it with the same config and move on. I love Dale but not on the same page with him on this one.
SMI has not had a good history of track reconfiguration. They've been around for so long mainly because they own signature tracks in key markets that NASCAR can't do without. Texas was mediocre for stock cars and frankly a death trap for open wheel racing when it opened. If not for safer cars, the rosters would be shorter because of that track.
Honestly the only reason I'd be sad to see the place leveled and replaced with a flat oval is because of Jr.'s first win.
Vegas, is basically the same, only there's no good memories tied to it at all.
Bristol I honestly struggle to sit through a whole race because it's been a different track every race for a few years as they chase something that's entertaining and fun to drive. Dirt's not the answer. Slower cars and more grip across the surface will make a better show. Heck, randomize the starting order or cut the fuel tanks in half would help.
Atlanta never should have abandoned the pure oval. It's problems were never the track. Schedule and weather were always the issue. Finding a good time of year to run there where you weren't more likely to get rained out seems like a research project that's never been done properly. They wanted more fans in seats, but the show rarely got any better. Yes there were epic moments, but it was mostly kinda dull to watch, even though it was clearly fun to drive.
Changing the width of the track is just going to crank the aggression up as you won't have that extra lane to dive into or drift up to. It'll probably affect fuel mileage for those that run the bottom, as it'll be a slightly longer distance. Don't know if it'll be enough to be a huge hit on strategy, but its there.
I think making both these changes at the same time is a mistake. Hopefully they'll get more feedback from drivers before committing to it.
Don't forget about Kentucky once SMI acquired it.
@@PhantomThiefOfSports Kentucky started off from a hole with horrible access to the track. Whoever put it where it is didn't take access and traffic impact into consideration at all. And it's still yet another D-Oval.
If they want to mix it up run the other way.
Yes. Clockwise.
I think people's biggest issue is that smi has a history of screwing up tracks, and making absolutely stupid decisions. The fact that they haven't done a damn thing with north wilkesboro, when loads of fans, current, and former drivers want it to reopen, shows that they aren't the best decision makers. On top of that. They screwed bristol up so bad, that they can't even draw half the crowd that they did before they reconfigured it.
So changing the width by 15' and adding four degrees of banking (just in the center of the turns, btw)......is going to "fill the seats" ??!!! Don't piss down my leg and tell me it's raining !!!!
SIMPLE QUESTION : If there is "no difference" as Dale said then why make the track 40 feet instead of staying at 55? Basically making the track more narrow for no reason.
It's basic trigonometry. Keeping the outer walls where they are at while increasing the banking with the apron/infield stays at the level it's at will result in a narrowing of the track at the points of greater banking. Maybe I'm stating the obvious here
@@ChuckHickl You missed my point... why do it if there is no difference in the feel of the racetrack. Why make it more narrow?
@@stlouisrams4me you missed his point. By increasing the banking, you are decreasing the width of the track. The track being more narrow was not the goal but is an unintended consequence of increasing the banking. An unintended consequence that they are willing to deal with.
@@devinbagwell8924 WOW you people are dense. Try to follow along...Dale Jr said there would be no difference in the way the track drives by increasing the banking.. well if that is the case then why increase the banking?
@@stlouisrams4me I agree with you there, but that's not what you said in your OP. You said "why make it more narrow?" And "basically making the track more narrow for no reason".
as cost of tickets and refreshments keep rising, attendance DROPS!!!!
@NolanEP No they don't. They've had a drastic decrease in attendance ever since they started that kneeling crap.
@@happywrenching33 Proof of that.
@@codydisney9959 Look at the stands of the games.
@@happywrenching33 man some stadiums didnt allow fans in the stands last year
And the smiths have been fucking up a lot more recently.
Increasing the banking has never made the racing worse.
@@bigrooster6893 The narrowing might though. I would have narrowed it maybe 5-10 feet in the turns, not 15. Cost difference probably won’t be that much with the added banking now.
@@bigrooster6893 they'll slow em down to. Very tired of NEW aged nascar. Give me the days of GREAT driving and horse power.
@@easyenetwork2023 That’s no narrower than Daytona
@@easyenetwork2023 If a driver can't handle going from 55ft to 40ft, they don't need to be in Nascar. That's enough room to go 3 and 4 wide at Daytona...
Mike was spot on with everything he said.
Keep forgetting Davis grew up in my area. Atlanta sports make me sad but i love em
I saw Earnhardt win at the Atlanta original configuration in 1995. He was trying to chase down Jeff Gordon for the points championship. Jeff won his first Championship that day. Great Race, but terrible traffic then at the Speedway. Took me almost 20 years before I finally came back due to the horrible conditions to get to the speedway back in 1995.
I'm new to NASCAR again (I'm a 50 year old F1 guy), but I'd say 3-wide + 1 would be a great track layout for these cars....like Daytona, etc. It's a large/wide layout still at 1 1/2 miles. School me if I'm wrong.
This is one of the few times I can't agree with you guys. Putting aside the bias of your friendship with Marcus Smith and the fact that Jr WAS consulted in this, I think the drivers' biggest complaint...and it's a VERY VALID one...is that entities like IRacing WERE consulted and apparently the drivers were NOT, despite NASCAR's constant assurances over recent years that drivers would be consulted on EVERYTHING and in fact they've been consulted on very little.
I belive atlanta fans are a lot of older nascar lovers and have been left behind by nascar and have become disenfranchised with all the bs
I think most of the concern from drivers is that the term pack racing was being thrown around as if SMI's goal is to replicate Daytona and Talladega's action at Atlanta. Obviously, a lot of fans would be on board (regardless of what the ratio on Twitter suggests) just look at Daytona and Talladega's crowds. But I can definitely see why drivers would be concerned.
But then Darlington has been thrown around in that discussion. At first, that was presented as the optimistic take, but then Kyle Busch mentioned Darlington in a way that suggests Darlington is a bad track that drivers hate.
I trust Junior and his opinion
I don't agree that the drivers were only upset because they didn't have a voice. I think the major concern coming from the drivers is that the track is going to be turned into a mile and a half version of Talladega. That's a legitimate concern. They have more room at Talladega for pack racing and cars still end up on roof tops.
I disagree Dale 4 degrees not much for banking but 15 feet a lot I mean that's the whole difference between another car width fifteen feet is a really big deal
I would love for them to go back to the old configuration, I love watching those races. And seen your dad win alot of those races
Taking the best 1.5 miler with the most grooves and making it narrower is a bad idea, then comparing it to Charlotte is an even worse idea, this is exactly what fans don't want is another Charlotte.
Most of the current drivers hate anything that makes them drive the car more instead of running around on rails.
Texas is the one that needs more banking not Atlanta. SMI made Texas worse then it was and messed up Bristol too. I understand Atlanta needs a repave but leave it at that.
A lot of the fan base does not want to attend the race there is because of that city and crime and traffic. I would never travel there again no matter how good the racing is.