Sunday marked the second NASCAR Cup Series race at the recently redesigned Atlanta Motor Speedway. Both races have produced a style of competition more like restrictor plate racing than what you would see at a traditional intermediate track.
In fact, the racing at Atlanta resembled that of Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in the early 1990s. Instead of one giant pack of 30 or more cars running closely together, the field broke up into smaller groups of around 10 cars. Handling was at more of a premium at Atlanta, and having a car that could navigate traffic was crucial to securing a good finish. Not everyone will like the new Atlanta, but it is interesting to see how the track’s reconfiguration brought back an old style of racing that is unique to the current landscape of NASCAR.
For the foreseeable future, it looks like Atlanta is going to produce superspeedway-style racing. Therefore, a schedule change is in order for 2023. NASCAR ought to move Atlanta’s summer race to the regular season finale. Daytona’s summertime race can then go back to its proper date around the Fourth of July. Road America’s race can remain on the Cup Series schedule in the date currently occupied by Atlanta.
It was extremely disappointing to see Daytona’s summer race get moved away from Independence Day. Although the “other Daytona race” is always going to be in the shadow of the Daytona 500, the 400-mile race had a unique history and prestige of its own. It always felt appropriate for NASCAR to, like so many Americans, head to the beach for a holiday weekend and celebrate the founding of the United States with a race at NASCAR’s signature track.
There was never a doubt that the Independence Day Daytona race was a special event. It was a race that a lot of drivers had circled on their calendars, one that all the teams put a little extra effort toward winning.
The TV networks treated it as special, too. Remember how, from 2001-2006, FOX and NBC used to swap the Daytona races with each other? It speaks to the significance of the summer race that the TV networks were willing to exchange it with the biggest race of the year on a rotating basis. One of the year’s biggest holiday weekends deserves a special race, and Daytona always delivered on and off the track.
But Daytona’s Fourth of July tradition came to an abrupt end in 2020 when the 400-mile race became the regular season finale. It was obvious why NASCAR made the switch….
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…