FYI WIRZ: NASCAR's Top Drivers Talk Atlanta

The top five drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this week—Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, and Denny Hamlin—talk about a driver favorite: the 1.5-mile quad-oval track with 24-degree banking at Atlanta Motor Speedway. 

The Emory Healthcare 500 at Hampton, Ga. commences this Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. 

This fast series includes comments by three of NASCAR’s most popular drivers—Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne.

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motor-sports topics compiled, condensed, and often written by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com. Quotes provided by NASCAR and Sprint Cup team media.

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

“Racing Atlanta at night is a lot different than racing it during the day,” Harvick said. “The hardest thing is that you practice during the day and you race at night. It is two totally different beasts. It's hard to know what you need in your car.

“You look at some of these markets such as California and Atlanta, the crowds have gone down so much that one race may be beneficial for them. The fans don't have an option to come to a second race, and it splits that crowd in half, so, hopefully, that works well.” 

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevrolet)

"I think it's all the preparation going into the Chase,” Gordon said. “You've got to understand that you're testing all the time, every weekend just about. There comes a point where okay, you're done testing and now you've got to put that stuff out there for the Chase. You just kind of hope that it pays off. That's where we're at.”

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota)

“I feel like going on into Atlanta, it’s going to be a test for us to see how good we are again at the mile-and-a-half stuff, and then we go to Richmond,” Busch said. “So looking forward to that, and then the Chase starts. We hit reset and we’ve got ten weeks to show what we’ve got, and hopefully it’s enough.”

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford)

“I can’t wait to go to Atlanta,” Edwards said. “It’s multi-grooved, fast, fun, and has a lot of history. We need a solid run to get locked into the Chase at Atlanta so we can go to Richmond next week and just focus on winning the race.”

Denny Hamlin (No.11 Toyota)

“Our attitude is to throw whatever we can at the car,” Hamlin said. “If we feel like we’re off, we’re going to take some risks and maybe run terrible, but maybe hit that magical setup and go out there and win and get 10 more bonus points for the Chase. Right now, it’s more about building momentum than anything.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet)

"Atlanta is really fast,” Earnhardt said. “It's a place where power really shows up and you've got to have good aero balance. I like Atlanta because you can hunt around for different lines—it's a driver's track.”

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Chevrolet)

“Everybody starts at the bottom, and the fast guys normally end up right around the wall midway through a run,” Stewart said. “I know that if my car isn’t driving all that well in a particular spot that I have the flexibility as a driver to move around on the racetrack. You can make a difference. 

“There’s nothing magical or mysterious going on here. Everybody is going out every week and we’re working with technology, but still at the end of the day, you’ve got a driver that’s driving the car. So you’ve got to tune these cars to the drivers and their feels, and that’s what makes them go fast.”

Kasey Kahne (No.9 Ford)

“Atlanta is one of my favorite race tracks,” Kahne said. “It’s a fast track and it’s wide enough so there are multiple grooves for racing. I like the fact that it lets the driver figure out where the car is handling best. It makes it a little more challenging, but it’s also a lot of fun.

“Your car may be good on the bottom early in the race, but as the track changes the car may work better up top. It's important to move around to make sure you are running the quickest line. A line that didn't work early may be the right line later in the race.”

Photo credit: Carl Edwards by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com