Top Row Seat - Atlanta Preview
Dateline: 11/11/97Last week the NASCAR Winston Cup series took the week off to prepare for the final points race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday. As the boys head off to Atlanta this weekend there are two major unknowns. First, what will racing be like on the newly reconfigured tri-oval? And second, who will be the 1997 Winston Cup Champion?
The Track
The folks who own Atlanta Motor Speedway were apparently sick and tired of providing three-wide door-to-door action and excitement around the old mile and a half oval which had a wide racing surface with 3 or 4 equal racing grooves. So they knocked out the backstretch wall, called it the frontstretch and put in a Charlotte - Texas - Michigan - California - Daytona - Talladega dogleg.
This may rank as the single dumbest thing any race track owner has done in the history of motorsports. Why on earth would you risk screwing up a fantastic racing facility just to add a dogleg? I guess there are some things that I'll just never understand. Now the last high-banked asphalt true oval has gone the way of North Wilkesboro as NASCAR abandons another small piece of it's history.
The Championship
The new race track could also play a part in deciding the Championship. With cars and engines turning speeds that they haven't had to run in years, mechanical failures are guaranteed. The question is whether or not they will affect any of the teams chasing the Cup.
With Jeff Gordon needing only to finish 18th or better to clinch the title it will take a serious mechanical failure or another stroke of bad luck for him to leave Atlanta without his second championship. However, if you're rooting against him there is some hope for you. Looking back over the last three races shows that Gordon wrecked at Talladega, hit the wall and had a mechanical problem in Rockingham (although he got through it ok), and then had a mechanical problem and nearly hit the wall in Phoenix.
However, through those three races and all that bad luck Gordon only finished out of the top 18 one time.
Prediction Time
Those of you who have been around since this column began back in February know that I had to give up trying to predict the races after going 0-8 however, this week the Championship is too good to pass up. I'm going to predict that Jarrett and Martin both finish in the top five with Jeff Gordon riding around to finish 10th or 12th thus clinching his second Winston Cup Championship. Let me be one of the first to congratulate Ray Evernham and the rest of the team on a fantastic season.
Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
Send your tips, rumors and comments to me at nascar.guide@miningco.com.
