Atlanta 300
 |
|
| Venue | Atlanta Motor Speedway |
|---|---|
| Location | Hampton, Georgia, United States |
| Corporate sponsor | Rinnai |
| First race | 1992 |
| Distance | 251.02 miles (403.98 km) |
| Laps | 163 (Stage 1: 40 Stage 2: 40 Stage 3: 83) |
| Previous names |
Atlanta 300 (1992) Slick 50 300 (1993) Busch Light 300 (1994–1996) Stihl Outdoor Power Tools 300 (1997) Stihl 300 (1998) Yellow Freight 300 (1999) Aaron's 312 (2000–2005) Nicorette 300 (2006–2008) Degree Men V12 300 (2009) Great Clips 300 (2010–2011) NRA American Warrior 300 (2012) Great Clips / Grit Chips 300 (2013) Great Clips 300 benefiting Feed the Children (2014) Hisense 250 (2015) Heads Up Georgia 250 (2016) |
| Most wins (driver) | Kevin Harvick (4) |
| Most wins (team) | Roush Fenway Racing (7) |
| Most wins (manufacturer) | Chevrolet (15) |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1.54 mi (2.48 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
The Rinnai 250 is a NASCAR Xfinity Series held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, a few miles south of Atlanta. This race has long served as Atlanta's lone Busch/Nationwide Series date, and has been shuffled around the schedule several times. From its inception until 2001 the 300-mile race was run as part of Atlanta's spring Winston Cup race weekend, as the then-Busch Series ended its season at a different track than the then-Winston Cup series.
Following the transfer of the season ending Cup series race from Atlanta to Homestead-Miami Speedway after the 2001 season (although due to extenuating circumstances the 2001 Atlanta fall race was not the final race of the season), the now 312-mile race was moved to Atlanta's fall race weekend where it remained until Aaron's Rental, who was sponsoring the race, chose instead to sponsor the lone Busch event at Talladega. The race gained sponsorship from GlaxoSmithKline through its Nicorette brand and moved back to its traditional spring date.
In September 2008, NASCAR officials announced that Nicorette would not renew its corporate sponsorship for race after the 2008 season. On October 26, 2008 it was announced that Unilever's deodorant brand Degree will take over sponsorship of this race starting in 2009. It was later announced that the now-Degree V12 300 would be moving to September as part of the latest round of NASCAR realignment, which resulted in the Pep Boys Auto 500, the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega, and the Pepsi 500 at Fontana trading places. The Degree V12 300 took the place of the Camping World RV Service 300 on NASCAR's Labor Day weekend race schedule and serves as an accompanying race to the AdvoCare 500.
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