Atlanta Motor Speedway stole the spotlight after producing an action-packed NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, July 13th. This has left the analysts Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi praising the race the track produced. 

While recapping the race at Atlanta on their podcast 'The Teardown', Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi said that the speedway delivered exactly what NASCAR fans expect. 

"If you got to see this race, there's really no conceivable way that you could be like, 'That was a bad race,'" Gluck said. " Like, it was everything you would want from NASCAR racing, from drafting. It was so good, and it was just throughout the entire night just so enjoyable. There were so many great moments."

In recent years, Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Speedway have received a lot of criticism from fans. This is mostly because of fuel conservation, which has taken over since 2022. Due to this, the drivers are forced to run their cars at half throttle. However, the recent race at Atlanta proved that speedway racing can still produce close competition. 

"Old Daytona had tire wear. They were separated; the pack was separated. You could make passes by yourself. You saw guys busting their b****, making passes, and it was like car control. You could see all of these elements. This is what it was like back in the day with Daytona," Bianchi explained.

And there's a reason for the same. Back in 2021, the track was repaved. Since then, it seems to be a smaller version of Daytona. Last weekend proved the same. After a rain-delayed start, the Quaker State 400 had Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, and Tyler Reddick fighting for the lead, coming down to a last-lap three-wide battle that Blaney won. It felt like a return to the Daytona of old.

With Atlanta continuing to receive praise for the racing it produced, the spotlight now shifts to the upcoming race at Daytona, where NASCAR will introduce its new upgrades to the car. 

NASCAR all set to bring new upgrades at Daytona

Ahead of their visit to Daytona later in August, according to Denny Hamlin, NASCAR is all set to bring new updates to the car to improve speedway racing.

Before this, in an effort to reduce fuel-saving strategy, the sanctioning body announced shorter stage lengths for Talladega. However, the efforts were in vain as there was a 26-car wreck just a few laps in. 

During the pre-race conference at Atlanta, Hamlin was questioned by Steven Taranto if any changes would be made to the car in August at Daytona.

"I don't know if I should say anything," he said, per Cup Scene on YouTube) "There's definitely going to be a change, and it's definitely going to be in the right direction," Hamlin added. "Just don't know how much. From the numbers that I’ve seen, what it’s gonna do to the car when you pull out of line, it roughly cuts that to two-thirds of what it is currently."

As of now, only time will tell whether these new upgrades will improve the race at speedways like Daytona. 

Read more on the Daytona Racing Digest! 

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar