As Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia announced it was getting a second NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time in a decade, track officials hoped that would help their effort to build a $1 billion casino resort next door. The proposed venue would feature a casino, hotel, time-share condominiums, meeting space, shops, restaurants and possibly a theme park, and create 5,000 new jobs.
Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Brandon Hutchison said, “We have a lot of support at the state level and the local level for the gaming initiative. I think if it were to go the Senate floor, we would already have the votes. But this can’t hurt, right? It’s going to be a great shot in the arm for the tax base of Georgia and it’s going to be good for the local economy as well.”
Former Speedway President and General Manager Ed Clark, who retired earlier this year, pitched the casino resort to the legislature last year. In the wake of Covid-19, the project could offer some economic relief as budget cuts seem likely and lawmakers seek new revenue sources.
Hutchison said, “We definitely have already begun our push to stay in the forefront of everybody’s minds at the capital and at the local level for the gaming initiative for the 2022 ballot. So if we can get it to go to vote next year, it’ll be on the ballot in 2022. But our focus for the past 10 years since we lost that second race was to get it back. Regardless of what happens with the gaming initiative, we’re really stoked about getting that second race back at Atlanta Motor Speedway.”
Speedway Motorsports President and Chief Executive Officer Marcus Smith said in the meantime the track will undergo a repave and reprofile of its 1.54-mile surface. Smith said the Atlanta Speedway “probably still will be a mile and a half. We’re definitely going to make some pretty cool improvements. We’re going to be making an announcement about that. We have our ideas together, and now we’re doing some testing of those ideas working with iRacing on modeling and that sort of thing.”
Some social media buzz has hinted the course could revert from a quad-oval layout to its original, traditional oval shape, such as the course at Homestead Miami Speedway. Others speculate the Atlanta course could be reconfigured into a new NASCAR short track. “When we’re done and ready to tell the story properly, I think people will be really excited about it,” Smith said.
