NASCAR Cup

Atlanta: Kevin Conway preview

Atlanta Motor Speedway Defined by Its Speed No Time for Time Off at Fast Oval Statesville, N.C. (March, 2, 2010) - Leading Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Kevin Conway and the No. 37 ExtenZe Racing team will continue their ...

Published: Mar 3, 2010, 5:08 AM

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Atlanta Motor Speedway Defined by Its Speed
No Time for Time Off at Fast Oval

Statesville, N.C. (March, 2, 2010) - Leading Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Kevin Conway and the No. 37 ExtenZe Racing team will continue their rookie quest this weekend at the 1.5-mile Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway for the running of the Kobalt Tools 500. Conway heads into this weekend's event coming off his second straight top rookie of the race performance at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Lynchburg, Va., native, who currently calls Cornelius, N.C., home, made one of his first professional starts at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when he competed in an ARCA Series event in 2002. Conway started fifth in that race and was running up front before finishing 13th. Conway also has two Nationwide Series starts (2003, 2005) at the track with an average starting position of 25.5 and an average finishing position of 33.5.

ExtenZe Racing Driver Kevin Conway Comments on Atlanta Motor Speedway:

"We go to a lot of tracks, but you rarely ever hear of anyone complain about Atlanta and the racing there. It's one of the coolest tracks that we go to. It's a very, very fast, high-banked, mile-and-half oval that is challenging. A big part of that challenge is because of the pavement.

"The racing surface has gone through some long winters. The pavement has a lot of wear to it. It gets slick pretty quick on older tires. The driver comes into play on longer fuel and tire runs so I expect to have my hands full on Sunday. You can't ever take a lap off because you'll be in trouble pretty quick if you do.

"The racing groove is really wide because of the racing surface. It's a place where you can race up top, run on the bottom or race in the middle. It's comparable to a really fast Darlington, and that's fun. It's a great place to race if you like driving these cars and being up on the wheel all day.

"With fresh tires, this track is all about speed. It's one of the fastest tracks on the circuit. Some of our corner speeds will be over 200 miles per hour in qualifying. In qualifying trim, you have to make sure you hit your marks. There is a big dip in Turn 1 that you have to drive around. You have to arc around it so you're not too tight coming out of the turn.

"Turn 3, you're getting into the corner really deep and you're just wide open for so long before you lift. If you have a good handling car you shouldn't have to use the brake that much before you get on the gas again. You are heavy on the gas around the turn and you are going fast into the first part of the turn. Right before you get back into Turn 1, it gets really narrow. You have to concentrate and it can be pretty demanding for 500 miles.

"We're going to be ready. This is a track that I have racing experience on. That's a big advantage and gives me a lot of confidence. I'm looking forward to this weekend."

-source: front row motorsports

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