Atlanta Motor Speedway
Atlanta Motor Speedway Race:
The Atlanta Motor Speedway has had two identities since it opened in 1960. The first identity was as Atlanta International Raceway. It was a 1.5 mile oval that had very limited seating and even more limited restroom facilities. The speedway struggled financially and went through several different changes in management. It eventually declared bankruptcy. The speedway recovered but still struggled as a second rate racing facility. All that changed in 1990 when Bruton Smith purchased the speedway. The first thing that changed was the name to Atlanta Motor Speedway. Among the many changes were the addition of luxury suites more grandstand seating capacity and the addition of Tara place. Tara place is a building overlooking the speedway that contains 46 luxury condominiums. Unfortunately in 2011 NASCAR took away the spring race at the track in order to make room on the schedule for a race at the Kentucky Speedway,
Two dog-leg turns and the start/finish line were added to the old backstretch and the backstretch became the frontstretch. The 1.5 mile oval became a 1.54 mile quad-oval.
"Hello and welcome to the Kobalt Tools four-hundred-ninety-eight-point-nine-six..."
Race Details There must be something about that extra HALF mile because this speedway is known for its close finishes. In the 2005 Golden Corral 500 Carl Edwards just beat out Jimmie Johnson by 0.028 seconds on a last lap pass at the start finish line. Another memorable close finish was the 2001 Cracker Barrel 500. Kevin Harvick held off Jeff Gordon by 0.006 seconds to win in just his third race since taking over for Dale Earnhardt after his tragic death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. That win was emotional not only for Harvick but especially for Richard Childress Racing. All the fans, drivers and teams were happy to see that team in victory lane after what had happen just three weeks before.
NASCAR requires engines to use restrictor plates at
Daytona
and
Talladega.
The restrictor plates slow the cars down which makes Atlanta one of the two fastest tracks on the Circuit.
Davey Allison had the points lead over Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliot. But Davey Allison was knocked out of the race in a wreck, Alan Kulwicki led the most laps and Bill Elliot won the race. But in the end Alan Kulwicki won the Cup Championship by 10 points over Bill Elliot which at the time was the closet championship finish ever. Also in the 1992 Hooters 500 Richard Petty drove his last race. And if all that wasn't memorable enough it was the first race for some upstart rookie named
Jeff Gordon
driving for
Hendrick Motorsports
who within nine years would become a FOUR TIME Cup Series Champion.
So come out to a race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and see how close it gets!
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Because the track is now 1.54 miles long the '500' mile races are actually 500.5 miles long otherwise if they didn't race that last lap it would only be 498.96 miles which would be really difficult for the announcers. 
