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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Weekend Holds Some Sadness At AMS
Atlanta Motor Speedway will host just one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race next year...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted September 03, 2010   Hampton, GA
Atlanta Motor Speedway is popular among NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
This is an unusual weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

It will feature the second Sprint Cup race – the Emory Healthcare 500 – of the season at AMS, and that’s a circumstance that isn’t likely to happen again, at least in the foreseeable future.

AMS, observing its 50th anniversary this year, was the big loser in NASCAR’s revamped scheduling for next season. Speedway Motorsports Inc. took one of Atlanta’s two dates and moved it to Kentucky Speedway, which will join the Cup schedule for the first time.

The move was not unexpected. AMS, which overbuilt its seating during the go-go years of the 1990s, has had attendance issues in recent seasons and was on the short list of tracks considered to be on the hitlist.

AMS will continue with its Labor Day weekend Sprint Cup date next season, but the “spring” race will disappear. For the first time in seemingly forever, the track will have only one Cup race.

So some drivers are approaching Sunday night’s race and the holiday weekend here with a tinge of sadness and resignation.

“A little piece of me hates to see that happen,” Mark Martin said. “It's a great place to race. I’ve been racing in NASCAR on and off since the 1980s, and there were always two races at Atlanta.

“There’s a side of me that hates to give that up like we did Darlington’s one race, or as we gave both races up at [North] Wilkesboro and Rockingham. I still miss going to both of those race tracks. It’s a sign of the times. We haven’t had the support at Atlanta that we needed to have, so unfortunately the date goes somewhere else.”

Kyle Busch, who owns one win at AMS, said it’s hard to lose a race at a track that often showcases impressive – and very fast – racing.

“For me, I run really well at Atlanta in the trucks and the Nationwide cars, but have struggled really badly in Cup cars there, except for my first time with JGR [Joe Gibbs Racing] in 2008,” Busch said. To only have to go there once…, it’s a tough place to miss a date because there is some great racing there. You can run all over the place – go high, go low.

“There are some other race tracks on the circuit that probably could be worth losing a date on. I feel like it’s going to be fun to go to Kentucky, as well.”
Mark Martin will miss racing twice at Atlanta next year. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Lance McGrew, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief, said the track’s wide passing lanes and fast surface are attractions that are difficult to leave behind.

“I hate that Atlanta is losing a race,” McGrew said. “I like that place. I’ve always liked it, and we’ve always run good there. It’s a driver’s race track – if one line isn’t working, then you can find another and somehow manufacture a lap time so the car doesn’t have to be quite as spot-on for you to be fast there.

“Obviously, if it is, then you are even faster. It’s a place that is fun to race at. From a driver’s standpoint – if your car is running good on the bottom and the guys are running on top, then you can pass them. So there’s a lot of passing situations there.

“Any time one of the old standards loses a race, I hate it.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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