EchoPark Speedway is the center of the NASCAR world for two weekends each year, but keeping the track race-ready is a year-round effort.
Even this month, after the final checkered flag of the 2025 NASCAR season flew and the offseason began, crews have worked all around EchoPark Speedway’s racing surface to help keep it in tip-top shape.
Specifically, they used a hot-applied polymer modified sealant to seal cracks in the track. Over the course of two days, workers that specialize in this kind of maintenance at Speedway Motorsports facilities across the country circled the 1.54-mile speedway several times to ensure every crack and seam was filled.
This maintenance is a critical measure to lengthen the lifespan of the racing surface. The same process was completed annually on the 1997 configuration of the track, enabling it to host NASCAR events for 24 years before EchoPark Speedway was repaved and reconfigured ahead of the 2022 season.
While the process of sealing the track garnered plenty of attention in the final years of the 1997-spec of the speedway as its asphalt continued to age, maintenance like this is crucial even for EchoPark Speedway’s relatively new asphalt. The annual transitions between hot, sunny Georgia summers and cool, wet winters work to accelerate the degradation and aging of the racing surface; the yearly sealing process helps mitigate Mother Nature’s impact on the track.
That effort to extend the lifespan of the current asphalt is well placed. The 2026 NASCAR season will be the fourth year of racing on the revamped EchoPark Speedway, which has seen the quality and intensity of its high-speed, close-quarters NASCAR action ramp up with each successive year. Taking precautions to ensure the speedway’s racing surface lasts as long as possible will yield dividends in the form of thrilling racing for decades to come.
EchoPark Speedway’s first NASCAR action of 2026 will come during the Autotrader 400 weekend Feb. 20-22. NASCAR returns to Georgia for Atlanta’s Night Race weekend July 11-12, headlined by the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart. Tickets for EchoPark Speedway’s 2026 NASCAR events can be found online at EchoParkSpeedway.com or by calling 770-946-4211.
