HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) – Last week at Las Vegas it was all about a new track configuration, iffy tires and the unknown lurking in every turn.

Now the NASCAR Nextel Cup series is at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a place where the speeds are high but there are likely to be few surprises.

“It’s nice to not have to worry about tires and new racetracks,” said Tony Stewart, the most vocal critic of the changes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the turns were modified from 12 to 20 degrees, raising the speeds by more than 10 mph.

That, combined with a hard tire brought by Goodyear, made the 1.5-mile oval treacherous and unforgiving. Only the combined skill of NASCAR’s best drivers on Sunday kept the race from turning into a mess.

Stewart finished seventh in the race but said it was one of the most uncomfortable afternoons of his racing career, a sentiment echoed by many other drivers.

But the cloud of concern hanging over the Nextel Cup garage at Vegas was gone when the teams arrived here.

“It’s nice to be able to just worry about working on your race car and figuring out how to make it go fast,” said Stewart, who finished fifth here last spring and won the fall race.

“I always like to come here because I like the track and Atlanta is the headquarters for a couple of our sponsors. But, after last week, it’s even that much more exciting to be coming back to a track like this,” he said. “With the tire that we have here you have control of the car, even if you get loose or get tight. You have control and have that security knowing you can feel the track and the race car, where we didn’t have that luxury last week.

“The good thing is I’m looking forward to getting in the car and making it go fast instead of just trying to get comfortable in it.”

Series points leader Mark Martin, who reiterated Friday that he plans to sit out the next two races, ending a string of 621 consecutive Cup starts, was also in an upbeat mood Friday.

“It may turn out to backfire on us, but I spent the whole weekend (at Las Vegas) trying to convince my crew that I would do a better job here, particularly in qualifying,” said Martin, who is cutting back to a partial schedule.

“Now, hopefully, I can make good on my promise,” added Martin, off to the best start of his Cup career with finishes of second, fifth and fifth so far this season. “This is a great racetrack, I’m having a ball and my team is on a roll and I just hope that we can continue to have the same result.”

Jimmie Johnson won the Vegas race, giving Hendrick Motorsports its 150th win. But he’s pretty happy to have that race behind him, too.

“It is nice to forget about all the what ifs that are out there and just show up at the track,” he said. “It’s hard for the guy that won the race to complain too much. But I can say it was a pretty uncomfortable race, even for as good as our car was.

“Somebody will always get it better than the rest, no matter what the situation, and we were that guy last week.”

Kyle Busch, Johnson’s teammate, who finished ninth last week, said he too is relieved to be past the uncertainty of the race in his hometown.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Busch said. “It’s always good to be able to be back at familiar territory.

“It’s back to normal. Coming out of Las Vegas, it was a tough weekend for most there and, especially with the way the cars drove. … I’m looking forward to being back here this weekend, as well as being able to go on to some of the more traditional stuff.”