Driving from NYC to ATL?

well actually from ct. im gonna drive down to atlanta next week and theres a few things i need help with. first, my plan is to leave wednesday night around 9pm that way i can avoid most traffic by driving in the wee hours of night. is this a good idea? also is 95 to richmond the best route to take? and last, is this a heavily patrolled stretch of highway, if i can go a few miles over the speed limit to squeeze some time off that would help, i want to make it before 1pm thursday