Dale Earnhardt Jr. addresses rumor of current NASCAR track gets Atlanta treatment

Dale Earnhardt Jr. set the record straight on a current NASCAR track, possibly getting the Atlanta Motor Speedway treatment. On Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt revealed whether Texas Motor Speedway will be repaved.

“There was a rumor going around that some track on the NASCAR circuit was considering getting the Atlanta treatment. But I believe that it’s not Texas,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. “I’d seen some messages on social about someone thinking that there was a track considering that, but it is not Texas. I know a lot of people were going, ‘Oh, it’s got to be Texas because Marcus [Smith] owns Atlanta, and he loves what’s happened there. So why wouldn’t he try to take it to Texas?’

“I think Texas right now is starting to get into its peak in terms of the age of the asphalt, how slick it was. Dude, those Xfinity guys were busting their ass all over the place. That’s what we need. Don’t change nothing. Don’t touch it.”

NASCAR has a long history with Atlanta Motor Speedway

In 2021, Atlanta Motor Speedway announced a repave to narrow the racing surface to produce a style similar to racing at Superspeedways like Talladega and Daytona. It was completed before the start of the 2022 season.

“I mean, it’s already one-of-one with it being a superspeedway, drafting mile-and-a-half,” Ross Chastain said last year, per NASCAR.com. “The corners are so much tighter than Daytona (and) Talladega, but we’re drafting, and as it changes, it’s going to be one-of-one with the steep banking and still a double-white-line rule. You will still draft a bit, but four years from now, no telling how strung out we get, how much off-throttle we have. It’s pretty exciting.”

Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted NASCAR events since it opened in 1960. It holds two NASCAR Cup Series races per season, and Christopher Bell won the spring race this year. The next time Atlanta will host a NASCAR Cup Series race is on June 28 in the Quaker State 400, and it will be a Saturday night race.

Texas Motor Speedway is like Atlanta Motor Speedway, as both tracks are 1.5 miles and owned by Speedway Motorsports. It opened in 1996 and has hosted a Cup Series race each year since 2005.