NASCAR insiders make case for Atlanta being best Cup Series track: ‘All you could possibly want’

After the show EchoPark Speedway put on last night, is Atlanta the best track in the NASCAR Cup Series? With another instant classic race two nights ago, it is worth asking.

Atlanta, Kansas, Homestead-Miami, Charlotte? Which of these tracks is the best track on the schedule right now? I think you could argue Atlanta gives NASCAR fans the best bang for their buck.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic think Atlanta might be the best track. It consistently puts on great racing and last weekend was another example of that.

“I mean, look, this is so embarrassing, ” Gluck said on The Teardown. “I mean, because I was down on this track. … Every race now, I look more and more like an idiot, because is this NASCAR’s best track? Like, legit?”

“Yes! We talk all of the time on this show on how great the intermediates are, the Charlottes, the Kansases [sic], maybe Vegas, just a little bit lesser degree,” Bianchi said about other NASCAR tracks compared to Atlanta. “Oh we are so excited they’re going to go there, and they’re going to put on a great show. And they do. Like Charlotte this year, the 600 was a terrific race. I’m sorry, I saw your stat, 50 lead changes in the Spring race here, 46 tonight, right?

“This is NASCAR’s most competitive, interesting track. And I don’t think you can watch this race tonight and sit there and say, ‘Oh, this is just a typical speedway,’ that kind of thing. Yes, I know there’s luck involved, I know there was accidents, but these guys were wheelin’ it. They were fighting the track tonight. You could see how hard it was. This was a handling race track. This was old school Daytona-esque. So, yeah, there’s superspeedway elements and circumstances, that kind of thing. But do not discredit what these guys did tonight.”

Bianchi had more to say about the new-look Atlanta in NASCAR. EchoPark Speedway or whatever name on it, the racing is compelling.

“This was a fantastic race, and this track consistently is one of the two or three very best on the circuit, hands down, every year since reconfiguration,” he concluded. He isn’t wrong, either.

Whether it is the three-wide finish or last weekend’s finish, the NASCAR Cup Series in Atlanta is producing great moments every single race. Even in the Spring race this season, before the caution came out on the last lap, we were about to get another three-wide finish at the line.

When it comes to the best decisions Speedway Motorsports and Marcus Smith have ever made, Atlanta’s reconfiguration might be the greatest. I like the Roval as much as the next guy (less and less each season), but the new Atlanta is a thriller of a track.