EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) has raced like the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega since its repave and reconfiguration in 2022.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Taylor Gray would like to see NASCAR take off the tapered spacers — the successor to the infamous restrictor plate — that are a part of the superspeedway engine package at the 1.5-mile venue in Hampton, Georgia.
“It’s one of those [races] where it’s kind of up in the air,” Gray said Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Never really know what’s going to happen. I wish they’d take the restrictor plate off of ’em and let us go take our mile-and-a-half package there and figure it out.”
How Atlanta’s changed
While Atlanta has turned into a drafting race in recent years, the torrid pace at which the track’s surface has worn out has produced racing more akin to 1990s superspeedway racing than recent Cup Series superspeedway racing. That’s made Atlanta appointment television for fans and one of the hottest tickets in NASCAR.
“I feel like Atlanta is a pretty tough place for speedway racing,” Gray said. “Everything just happens a lot faster than it does at Daytona and Talladega. It’s starting to get pretty worn out. When we first started going there, you were wide open in the pack. Now, it’s starting to get the point where we’re lifting more and we’re having issues with car handling. I think it’s probably going to be the most slick it’s been on Saturday.”
Gray could certainly use a good run on Saturday, given that he enters the race 11th in the series standings and only 52 points above the Chase cut line with four races left in the O’Reilly Series regular season.
