Adapting to this track

• Although Atlanta is only a little more than a mile and a half, the 24 degrees of banking in the corners and the absence of a restrictor plate make it the fastest track. The fuel mileage gambles and strategies are a lot of fun.
• The racetrack is fairly smooth with few bumps. You want to run the car as soft as you can run it, down on the ground with the valance sealed on the track. But because you run so fast and hard down in the corners, you can't run it too soft because the cars will bottom out. If you bottom out at these speeds, it can shoot you straight up into the wall.
• The track can be hard on engines because you are in the throttle so much, and you have high rpms.

Plotting strategy

• When the cars first hit the speedway on Friday, you'll see them run around the bottom of the track, and not a lot of rubber will be put down early in the weekend. You'll see cars start running on the bottom with fresh tires on Sunday and then move up the track. There will be several grooves, including one around the very top of the track.
• With all the different grooves, you can pass almost anywhere. The front is the safest place to be so you stay out of trouble, but I wouldn't be too upset if I had a bad qualifying run. If you get behind during the race because you're making adjustments to your car, you have a better chance of catching up at this track. And you'll need to make adjustments because you can't be loose going into the corner.

Where the action is

• There will be a lot of side-by-side racing. We see a lot of action in the middle of Turn 4. It gets really narrow there, and you run out of racetrack. The cars will get a push, get into each other and pinch off one another. You are running at such high speeds that you can get into trouble and not see it coming.