Atlanta Motor Speedway 2025 NASCAR Track Profile

[Editor’s note: The following article is from Athlon Sports’ 2025 Racing Annual magazine. Order your copy online today, or buy one at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

Despite its intermediate status, ever since Atlanta Motor Speedway was repaved prior to the 2022 season, the 1.5-mile track has evolved into a mini-superspeedway. The increase of banking to 28 degrees has allowed for the field to race in a pack, similar to Daytona and Talladega. But as the track surface starts to age, grip is decreasing and handling is coming back into play.

Hendrick Motorsports got the early jump on AMS with the new configuration, winning three of the first four races. William Byron got his Chevy to victory lane twice in that span, while Chase Elliott won the summer race in 2022. Team Penske is the only other team to win in that timeframe via Joey Logano in the spring of 2023. The Connecticut native followed it up with another Atlanta win in the fall of 2024 that helped fuel his run to a third Cup Series championship. Logano has led the most laps (199) at AMS in the last six races despite just two top-5 finishes (both wins).

HMS was shut out at the track last season, as Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez won in a three-wide photo finish in February. Suarez has posted the most top 5s since the repave (4) and has three straight top-2 results.

Despite being winless in the last six Atlanta races, Ryan Blaney has the best average finish (7.2) in that span and is tied with Suarez for the most top 10s (5). As is the case at superspeedways, Michael McDowell is always fast at Atlanta. He leads the series in poles since the repave (2) and has notched one top 5 and two top 10s. Austin Cindric has the fifth-best average finish at AMS thanks to two top 5s and has led the third-most laps (146). In the second Atlanta race last year (10th), Cindric led 92 laps.

Atlanta Motor Speedway track info

Site: Hampton, Georgia

Laps: 1.54-mile quad-oval

Banking/Turns: 24 degrees

Banking/Straightaways: 5 degrees

2025 Dates: February 23; June 28

Distance: 260 laps; 400.4 miles

2024 Race Winners

February: Daniel Suarez

September: Joey Logano

Scouting report

Way quicker than anyone anticipated, Atlanta is becoming something other than what it was intended to be after its reconfiguration prior to the 2022 season. The new pavement and steeper banking successfully produced racing similar to Daytona and Talladega.

But the surface is aging quickly and tire wear is breaking the pack apart. So drivers and teams are already wondering when and if NASCAR will reduce horsepower to try to maintain superspeedway-style racing. If not that, does NASCAR increase power and again make it the fastest intermediate track on the schedule? That remains a question.