Is Atlanta the Best Drafting Track on the Circuit?

Just 0.003 separated Suarez from Blaney, and only 0.007 separated Suarez and Busch, one of the greatest finishes we have ever seen. 

Suarez picked up his second career win, and his first since way back at Sonoma in June of 2022, during a time when the pressure was undoubtedly on Suarez to perform when it counts.

The win for Suarez also keeps Chevrolet’s 2024 chokehold on the three national series alive, as they remain undefeated. 

But What Really Happened?

New Atlanta put on a barnburner, a show for the ages, a race of the year candidate. Whatever you wanna call it, that’s what this race was. Many have been skeptical about the new configuration of Atlanta, myself included, largely due to some of the first few races we saw there — including last year’s spring snoozer, along with the Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series duds the track has produced.

However, something changed last July, in a very good way. This unique 1.5-mile drafting track began to age, and the rain-shortened July race, along with today’s race, were outstanding.

That leads to a fair question: Is Atlanta the best drafting track on the circuit? Does this new anomaly top the traditional Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway we all know and love?

While it’s a tough debate, I think the answer is yes, and here’s why. 

A quick look at the stats tells you that both Daytona and Talladega produce more passing for the lead, and throughout the pack, by a wide margin compared to Atlanta.

In five races at Daytona with the Next Gen car and four at Talladega, Daytona averages 37.8 lead changes per race and 59.5 green flag passes per lap, while Talladega averages 56.25 lead changes and 80.65 green flag passes per lap. 

As for Atlanta, the five races on the new configuration average 31.8 lead changes per race and 28.8 green flag passes per lap, which seems like a large gap.

However, when you factor that every race at Daytona and Talladega has been at least 500 miles, while only the first at Atlanta was 500 miles, followed by three 400 mile races and one rain-shortened 285-mile race, the numbers are much more comparable than it first appears. 

The same goes for green flag passes per lap. When you consider…