Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a 1.54-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.
*Was replaced by Phil Parsons after injuring himself in first practice.[4]
Practice
Originally, two practice sessions were scheduled to be held, with one on Friday, March 6, and one on Saturday, March 7, However, due to rain on Saturday, the Saturday practice session was cancelled.[5]
The only practice session was held on Friday, March 6. Robert Pressley, driving for Jasper Motorsports, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.359 and an average speed of 188.834 mph (303.899 km/h).[6]
During the session, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. rookie driver Steve Park would blow a tire heading into turn 4, causing him to slam the outside wall. The car, which had lost brakes by this point, would then proceed to ricochet again into front stretch outside wall two times. After proceeding the second front stretch hit, the car would proceed to head onto pit road, where Park slammed the pit road wall, with the car eventually stopping. Park would suffer fractures of the right thighbone, the left shoulder blade and collarbone and two broken front teeth. In replacement, Phil Parsons would attempt to qualify the car.[4] Park was out for five months before eventually returning in the 1998 Brickyard 400.[7]
Qualifying was originally meant to be split into two rounds, with the first round ran on Friday, March 6, and the second round on Saturday, March 7. However, due to rain, second-round qualifying was instead condensed into one round ran on Friday.[5]
Qualifying was held on Friday, March 6, at 12:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set at time.[8] On January 24, 1998, NASCAR would announce that the amount of provisionals given would be increased from last season. Positions 37-43 would be based on provisionals. Six spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.[9]
John Andretti, driving for Petty Enterprises, would win the pole, setting a time of 28.732 and an average speed of 192.956 miles per hour (310.533 km/h).[10]
