Ryan Blaney breaks down NASCAR racing at Atlanta: 'More fun' than Talladega and Daytona

Ryan Blaney finished dead-last EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway) this past weekend due to a wild crash on Lap 58. He wasn’t happy, slamming the outside wall due to an accident that was set off by the No. 20 of Christopher Bell.

“I couldn’t see much. They kind of started spinning and coming down. I tried to get to the apron and by the time I got there, kind of got blocked. … The story of our year. Just getting caught up in other people’s garbage,” Blaney said regarding the wreck, via the TNT broadcast. “Just when we get it going pretty good and find some momentum, we don’t seem to have things go our way.”

It was another DNF for Blaney. He fell victim to the same fate at Phoenix, Las Vegas, Homestead, Talladega and Charlotte, as well. However, the result didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for Atlanta.

During this week’s episode of Door Bumper Clear, Blaney joined as a special guest. He revealed how much he’s been having at the track over the last couple of times the Cup Series has headed to EchoPark Speedway, and why it’s moving up his list of favorites.

“Throughout the race and especially towards the end, the leader couldn’t hold position. That place is just getting that way. The runs have always been big there, but I feel like it’s even more so now, because you handle worse in the corner, so it spreads a little bit more and that makes the runs that much bigger. So, the leader gets away,” Blaney stated.

“It’s getting to where it’s a handful. I mean, you saw multiple guys spin out on their own the other night. [Christopher] Bell spun out in that wreck, just trying to get clean air and he got offset and he just spun out. There was a lot of other guys that just lost it. Everyone had their handful.

“It’s becoming a pretty fun race. I’d say I have more fun at Atlanta, speedway racing, than Talladega and Daytona.”

That’s a pretty bold statement from Blaney, but he’s simply echoing some other driver’s sentiment with his comments, as well. Talladega and Daytona are the gold standard for speedway racing, but Atlanta has changed the game over the past couple of seasons.

It’ll be an interesting change of pace this weekend for Ryan Blaney, as he’ll try to tame the Chicago Street Course once again. When we return to Daytona and Talladega later in 2025, we’ll see if the racing can mimic what we saw this past weekend. Fans certainly will be hoping that’s the case.