Made the three hour trek from Savannah to Atlanta yesterday for our first NASCAR race since 2019. With all the talk about the reconfigured AMS, we couldn’t pass this one up. It did not disappoint.
We rolled in a couple hours before race time, as we usually do, and our first impression was the crowd. This was only my third time at AMS, but my wife has been there probably 20 times. The crowd was fantastic. The biggest I’ve seen there. Not the biggest she’s seen there, because she was going back before they removed some seating, when her family sat in the Elliott Grandstand outside Turn Three. But by all accounts, the best AMS crowd in a long time.
The new track is beautiful. The surface, the walls, the new configuration … all of it, fantastic. The old track was worn out. Even after it was resurfaced in the 90’s, it didn’t look anything like this. But the main thing is the racing. Nothing else matters if the racing isn’t good. And damn was the racing good.
From the first lap to the last lap, the new AMS delivered big time. For the first time in NASCAR history, we have a mini Super Speedway. It’s not as big as Dega or Daytona, but it races a lot like Daytona. It even has the “roar”. Anyone who has attended a Super Speedway race knows what I mean. When the pack comes out of four, the cars create a roar as they pick up horsepower and pass by the grandstands. Our seats were in Section 245, row 48, straight up from the flag stand. So as the cars exit four they’re headed right at us. The roar starts then and it gives you chills every time.
Once the racing started, and the whole field ran side by side lap after lap, I kept thinking they couldn’t keep that up. Not at these speeds, with half the track being as narrow as it is, and with these drivers having zero racing experience here. But it stayed the same until the checkered waved. It was amazing. Atlanta is probably our favorite track now and we can’t wait to go back.
