Drivers look forward to Xfinity series race in Atlanta
(WSPA) – While NASCAR drivers and teams have an entire offseason to get ready for Daytona, Atlanta comes at you fast.
Drivers are entering their fourth year of racing on the repaved track at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The track includes higher banking which makes it more like the super speedways at Daytona and Talladega only it's a mile shorter, which makes a big difference.
'It's almost like watching a video and you put it on normal speed, that's Daytona, and if you put it at 1.5 speed, that's Atlanta,' driver Daniel Suarez described. 'Everything happens quicker.'
Last February, Suarez edged Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide photo finish to get the victory.
Despite finishing third, just seven one-thousandths of a second behind Suarez, Busch said he loved the racing.
'We were all kind of skeptical of the new repave and the new layout and the higher banking and all that, but the last few races that we've been there have definitely put on some good racing,' said Busch. 'I was a part of that last spring, three-wide finish. Unfortunately, came home third in that one, but maybe learned a few things to where this time around we can come home first.'
In Saturday's Xfinity series race on CW, the driver to beat is Austin Hill, a Georgia native who grew up an hour away from the track but has made victory lane feel like home as of late.
'We're going to Atlanta where I've won four of the last five races so I feel really strong about this year,' Hill said. 'I think we're going to have a shot at winning and we're going to be in contention.'
Coming off a second place finish last weekend at Daytona, Sam Mayer comes to Atlanta with cautious optimism.
'You absolutely want to have that momentum going to each week and having a really solid team behind me, we have that momentum already built up, but each week is always a new week and you have to be careful of not getting too overconfident,' Mayer said.
You can catch Saturday's Xfinity race in Atlanta, the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250, live on the CW at 5 p.m. Eastern.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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