NASCAR: 5 Lessons Learned From the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta

Pit Road Is The Biggest Issue At Atlanta

One of the biggest topics heading into Atlanta Motor Speedway was how a repave was in the works for this historic track, but drivers spoke out against it.

A repave could have some impact on the racing at this track, but changing the surface won’t fix the major issue we saw on Sunday.

Driver’s didn’t seem to have problems with the surface of the speedway; some did get loose, but we saw no wrecks and drivers were able to pass each other during the race.

The real problem with Atlanta was all of the speeding penalties handed out on Sunday.

There were 12 speeding penalties given out on Sunday, one of which cost Kevin Harvick the race. This was a major increase from last year’s race at Atlanta, which saw only one pit road speeding penalty.

NASCAR clearly changed the way pit road speeds were measured at Atlanta and it changed the outcome of the race.

But it goes beyond taking Kevin Harvick out of the leading position; it also impacted other major drivers throughout the race and took away any strategy they were trying to use around the new stage format.

Drivers like Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott and Matt Kenseth all suffered pit road penalties and had to spend a majority of the race trying to come back.

The issue that needs to be fixed at Atlanta isn’t the track surface; it’s the speeding issues on pit road.