MOORESVILLE, N.C. — In every on-track session last week at Daytona International Speedway, Cody Ware felt speed in his No. 51 Chevrolet. And when the green flag waved on the 68th Daytona 500 on Sunday, that speed was validated when Ware drove to the lead, pacing the 41-car field for two laps before finishing 17th.
It was no walk in the park as the race featured five multi-car crashes, with the final one coming as the leaders crossed the stripe and took the checkered flag, some sliding sideways and even one driving in reverse.
Ware expects more of the same this Sunday at EchoPark Speedway in the Autotrader 400.
The 1.54-mile oval located just south of Atlanta in the rural town of Hampton, Georgia, is a mile shorter than Daytona and features corners banked at 28 degrees and a relatively narrow, 40-foot-wide racing surface.
The layout allows drivers to go wide-open in qualifying where it’s just them on the track in a race against the clock, but on Sunday when all 39 cars are on track at the same time, drivers have to work the throttle more, as the pack seemingly becomes a living, breathing organism, expanding and contracting. More often than not, this ebb and flow catches drivers out and, in turn, multiple drivers get caught up, creating a sense of déjà vu after enduring similar scenarios a week ago at Daytona.
“Superspeedway racing is always a game of mental chess. It tests your reaction times, how you process information, how well you make decisions in the heat of the moment, and it all comes with a healthy dose of stress, but the stress is amped up to a hundred at Atlanta,” Ware said.
“The time you have to make decisions is pretty much zero. You’re relying on instincts and your spotter. To be able to run well and have a good finish at Atlanta is a testament to your subconscious. Reaction time, judgment, decision-making – it all gets pushed to its absolute limit at Atlanta.”
It helps to be like water at Atlanta and just flow. In that regard, Ware’s cause in the Autotrader 400 is backed by BlueHighway.ai, an integrated waterway infrastructure platform that is designed to move people, goods and vehicles more efficiently in some of America’s largest cities.
Moving efficiently at EchoPark Speedway is key. Drivers typically run with a handling package that frees up their racecar. It enhances speed, but also puts drivers on a knife edge of control.
“You’re always freer than you really want to be at Atlanta, but you really have to be with the way the aero works,” Ware said. “Between the draft and the dirty air and drag that comes with it, you’ve got to have a free racecar to keep going wide open, or almost wide open. It puts you on a knife’s edge, but you make a lot of speed that way. You find a way of getting comfortable being uncomfortable at Atlanta.”
Exacerbating the style of racing featured at EchoPark Speedway is its tight confines. At a mile-and-a-half, the oval is certainly bigger than the kind of half-mile short tracks typically associated with tight confines, but when turning laps at nearly 180 mph, closing rates are quicker and sightlines are diminished.
“At Daytona when we’re in the middle of the corner, the whole track is wide, and when you’re in the banking, you can see a good bit through the corner,” Ware said. “Even when you’re in the draft, even when someone’s bumper is right in your windshield, you can still see pretty well.
“But at Atlanta, the tight radius of the corners means you can only see three or four car-lengths ahead. So, all the information about what’s happening way ahead of you needs to be portrayed to you really well, precisely and quickly by your spotter.
“You’ve got to have a good, close relationship with your spotter. Brent Wentz, my spotter, knows what I need to hear and he delivers what I need to know quickly and efficiently. It’s important, because I need to digest what he’s telling me and make judgements based off something I may not even see yet. That does happen to an extent at Daytona, but nothing like what it is at Atlanta.”
This makes competing at EchoPark Speedway a taxing experience, both physically and mentally.
“One of the biggest things is, honestly, just remembering to breathe,” Ware said. “You feel like you’re on a qualifying lap every lap, and so the G-forces just push you down into the seat. And with the downforce, steering feels a little bit heavier, so your arms and your forearms get more of a workout at Atlanta.
“Keeping yourself loose, remembering to hydrate, staying calm – all basic things – but at Atlanta, they’re massively important. When you keep your mind fresh, you keep your body fresh, all the way through to the finish.”
