Atlanta Motor Speedway set to repave, reprofile track for 2022

Atlanta Motor Speedway will repave its racing surface and reprofile its facility ahead of the 2022 season.

Atlanta was last repaved following the 1996 season when reconfigured into a quad-oval like Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. It is the third-oldest racing surface in NASCAR.

In addition to laying down the new pavement, Atlanta will increase its banking from 24 degrees to 28 degrees while narrowing the racing surface. The frontstretch will be 52 feet, the backstretch 42 feet, and 40 feet in the turns (the overall decrease in width going from 55 to 40 feet).

“As Atlanta’s racing surface has aged, we’ve challenged ourselves to reimagine what NASCAR racing at an intermediate track can be,” said Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith. “With high banks in the turns, narrower width and new pavement technology, Atlanta will be unlike any other mile-and-a-half track on the circuit. It’s all new for ’22 and this will be specifically designed for close, competitive racing.”

Atlanta will remain a 1.54-mile facility. With 28 degrees of banking, it will be the highest-banked intermediate track on the current NASCAR schedule.

The project will begin next week and be completed ahead of the ’22 race season and introducing the Next Gen race car. Atlanta will host both the Xfinity and NASCAR Cup Series this weekend.

“Our partners at Speedway Motorsports have reprofiled Atlanta Motor Speedway to optimize the racing with the Next Gen car, and early simulations suggest the racing will be closer and even more competitive,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “From the Charlotte Roval to the Bristol Dirt Race and now a re-imagined Atlanta, Marcus Smith and his team continue to take bold, innovative steps to bring unique and exciting racing experiences to our fans.”

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Speedway Motorsports partnered with iRacing during the 10-month research process. iRacing was able to provide virtual renderings of each of the new concepts.

“Flexing the muscles of our virtual track-building capabilities to prototype Speedway Motorsport’s vision for Atlanta Motor Speedway has been a fun and exciting process,” said iRacing executive vice president and executive producer Steve Myers. “From one concept to the next, we’ve seen the future of AMS take shape; all without moving a shovel of dirt in the real world.”