HAMPTON, Ga. - Things happen fast at a racetrack, so it’s no surprise that a lot has changed at Atlanta Motor Speedway in just 18 days.
The NASCAR Cup Series race on July 11 was the final event on the 24-degree banked quad-oval configuration of the speedway.
Within minutes of the conclusion of the race, the AMS operations department began removing the foam inserts in the speedway’s SAFER barriers. Just a few days later, the steel portions of the barriers wrapped around the entire 1.54-mile outer wall had been meticulously removed.
The pace of the project has only accelerated from there. On Monday, July 19, the first chunks of asphalt were removed from turn 1 of the speedway. Since then, all the asphalt in the speedway’s corners has been removed, exposing the Georgia clay underneath.
Crews have now started carving into the embankment in turns 1 and 2 to yield the steeper 28-degree banking that will be in place when NASCAR returns in spring of 2022.
While a lot of progress has been made in short time, a great deal of work remains.
Grading of the speedway’s corners is currently in progress. In the coming weeks, the old asphalt that has been ripped up from the speedway will be crushed and repurposed as the base layer surrounding a new drainage system. A new top layer of asphalt designed to wear-in quickly will be paved on top.
Project leaders anticipate paving for the fresh asphalt will start in four weeks, with the entire speedway project completed in October. Fans can continue to watch the entire process unfold live on Atlanta Motor Speedway’s YouTube page.
