RAPTOR King of Tough 250
NASCAR Xfinity Series
VenueAtlanta Motor Speedway
LocationHampton, Georgia, United States
Corporate sponsorRAPTOR Coatings[1]
First race1992
Distance251.02 miles (403.98 km)
Laps163
Stages 1/2: 40 each
Final stage: 83
Previous namesAtlanta 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)
Rinnai 250 (2017–2019)
EchoPark 250 (2020–2021)
Nalley Cars 250 (2022)
Most wins (driver)Kevin Harvick (5)
Most wins (team)Roush Fenway Racing (7)
Most wins (manufacturer)Chevrolet (18)
Circuit information
SurfaceAsphalt
Length1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Turns4

The RAPTOR King of Tough 250 is a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, a few miles south of Atlanta. This race had been Atlanta's lone Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity Series date until 2021 when a second race was added in July. Although it has been shuffled around the schedule several times, most years, it has been held at the beginning of the season in February or March.

History

EchoPark Automotive was the title sponsor of the race in 2020 and 2021
The 2022 Nalley Cars 250

Jeff Gordon, Mike Skinner, Jamie McMurray, and Carl Edwards have gotten their first series wins in this race.

Following the transfer of the season ending Cup series race from Atlanta to Homestead-Miami Speedway after the 2001 season (although due to the September 11 attacks, the 2001 Atlanta fall race was the second-to-last race of the season when the race at New Hampshire was moved from September to November as the last race of the season), the then 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[2][3] 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/Auto Club Speedway 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.

In 2015, the Xfinity race at Atlanta moved along with the Cup race (Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500) to the second weekend of the season and ran as a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon along with the Truck Series. The race was also reduced to 250 miles in order to make the race a doubleheader on the same day.[4]

EchoPark Automotive became the title sponsor of the race in 2020,[5] replacing Rinnai. That year, the race had been moved from being in February and the second race of the season and the first race before the three-race west coast swing to March and as the fifth race of the season as the first race after the west coast swing. However, the race was moved again from March to June due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] In 2021, the race returned to March. In 2022, Nalley Automotive Group replaced EchoPark as the title sponsor and the new name of the race was the Nalley Cars 250.[7] In 2023, RAPTOR Coatings replaced Nalley as the title sponsor and the new name of the race was the RAPTOR King of Tough 250.[1]

Past winners

Year Date No. Driver Team Manufacturer Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)		 Ref
Laps Miles (km)
1992 March 14 1 Jeff Gordon Bill Davis Racing Ford 197 299.834 (482.536) 2:24:36 124.412 [8]
1993 November 13* 2 Ward Burton A.G. Dillard Motorsports Chevrolet 197 299.834 (482.536) 2:44:05 109.64 [9]
1994 March 12 7 Harry Gant Whitaker Racing Chevrolet 197 299.834 (482.536) 2:20:56 127.649 [10]
1995 March 11 74 Johnny Benson Jr. BACE Motorsports Chevrolet 197 299.834 (482.536) 2:03:45 145.767 [11]
1996 March 9 5 Terry Labonte Labonte Motorsports Chevrolet 197 299.834 (482.536) 2:08:15 139.656 [12]
1997* March 8 60 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 197 299.834 (482.536) 1:58:55 151.751 [13]
1998* November 7 60 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:10:23 138.193 [14]
1999 March 13 19 Mike Skinner Emerald Performance Group Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:33:46 117.178# [15]
2000 March 11* 60 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 203 312.62 (503.113) 2:27:47 126.924 [16]
2001 March 10 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 203 312.62 (503.113) 2:10:18 143.954 [17]
2002 October 26 27 Jamie McMurray Brewco Motorsports Chevrolet 203 312.62 (503.113) 2:15:09 138.788 [18]
2003 October 25 7 Greg Biffle Evans Motorsports Chevrolet 203 312.62 (503.113) 2:08:17 146.217 [19]
2004 October 30 17 Matt Kenseth Reiser Enterprises Ford 208* 320.32 (515.505) 2:24:08 133.343 [20]
2005 March 19 60 Carl Edwards Roush Racing Ford 203 312.62 (503.113) 2:23:34 130.651 [21]
2006 March 18 21 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:20:47 127.984 [22]
2007 March 17 29 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:21:39 127.201 [23]
2008 March 8 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Racing Ford 198* 304.92 (490.721) 2:19:21 131.29 [24]
2009 September 5 33 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:04:04 145.228 [25]
2010 September 4 88 Jamie McMurray JR Motorsports Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:04:44 144.452 [26]
2011 September 3 60 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing Ford 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:15:40 132.811 [27]
2012 September 1 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:32:51 117.88 [28]
2013 August 31 33 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:08:01 140.747 [29]
2014 August 30 5 Kevin Harvick JR Motorsports Chevrolet 195 300.3 (483.286) 2:08:37 140.091 [30]
2015 February 28 88 Kevin Harvick JR Motorsports Chevrolet 163 251.02 (403.977) 1:40:32 149.813 [31]
2016 February 27 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 163 251.02 (403.977) 1:49:53 137.065 [32]
2017 March 4 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 163 251.02 (403.977) 1:57:16 128.435 [33]
2018 February 24 98 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing with
Biagi-DenBeste		 Ford 163 251.02 (403.977) 1:56:09 129.67 [34]
2019 February 23 20 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota* 163 251.02 (403.977) 1:48:00 139.456 [35]
2020 June 6* 16 A. J. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 163 251.02 (403.977) 2:02:37 122.832 [36]
2021 March 20 7 Justin Allgaier JR Motorsports Chevrolet 163 251.02 (403.977) 2:10:50 115.117 [37]
2022 March 19 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 172* 264.88 (426.282) 2:36:39 101.454 [38]
2023 March 18 21 Austin Hill Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 163 251.02 (403.977) 2:44:49 91.382 [39]

Notes

Track length notes

  • 1992-1997: 1.522 mile true oval
  • 1998-present: 1.54 mile quad-oval

Multiple winners (drivers)

# Wins Driver Years Won
5 Kevin Harvick 2009, 2013-2015, 2018
3 Mark Martin 1997, 1998, 2000
2 Jamie McMurray 2002, 2010
Matt Kenseth 2004, 2008
Carl Edwards 2005, 2011
Jeff Burton 2006, 2007
Kyle Busch 2016, 2017

Multiple winners (teams)

# Wins Team Years Won
7 Roush Fenway Racing 1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012
4 JR Motorsports 2010, 2014, 2015, 2021
Joe Gibbs Racing 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022
Richard Childress Racing 2006, 2007, 2013, 2023

Manufacturer wins

# Wins Make Years Won
18 United States Chevrolet 1993-1996, 1999, 2001-2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013-2015, 2020, 2021, 2023
10 United States Ford 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2018
4 Japan Toyota 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022

References

  1. 1 2 "RAPTOR King of Tough 250 and Fr8 208 Doubleheader". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Speedway Motorsports. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
  2. ↑ "NASCAR leaves smoking days farther behind". ESPN. 2005-01-27. Archived from the original on 2015-01-08. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
  3. ↑ Horovitz, Bruce (2005-01-26). "Nicorette, NASCAR sign sponsorship deal". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
  4. ↑ "NASCAR reveals 2015 schedules for national series". NASCAR. August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ "EchoPark Automotive to sponsor NASCAR Xfinity race on March 14 at AMS". Atlanta Motor Speedway. March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ "NASCAR postpones Atlanta, Homestead races". ESPN. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Nalley Automotive Group, Alsco Uniforms Sponsoring Xfinity Races at Atlanta in 2022". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. October 21, 2021.
  8. ↑ "1992 Atlanta 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  9. ↑ "1993 Slick 50 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  10. ↑ "1994 Busch Light 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  11. ↑ "1995 Busch Light 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  12. ↑ "1996 Busch Light 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  13. ↑ "1997 Stihl Outdoor Power Tools 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  14. ↑ "1998 Stihl 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  15. ↑ "1999 Yellow Fright 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  16. ↑ "2000 Aaron's 312". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  17. ↑ "2001 Aaron's 312". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  18. ↑ "2002 Aaron's 312". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  19. ↑ "2003 Aaron's 312". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  20. ↑ "2004 Aaron's 312". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  21. ↑ "2005 Aaron's 312". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  22. ↑ "2006 Nicorette 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  23. ↑ "2007 Nicorette 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  24. ↑ "2008 Nicorette 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  25. ↑ "2009 Degree V12 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  26. ↑ "2010 Great Clips 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  27. ↑ "2011 Great Clips 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  28. ↑ "2012 NRA American Warrior 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  29. ↑ "2013 Great Clips Grit Chips 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  30. ↑ "2014 Great Clips 300 to benefit Feed the Children". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  31. ↑ "2015 Hisense 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  32. ↑ "2016 Heads Up Georgia 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  33. ↑ "2017 Rinnai 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  34. ↑ "2018 Rinnai 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  35. ↑ "2019 Rinnai 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  36. ↑ "2020 Echo Park 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  37. ↑ "2021 Echo Park 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  38. ↑ "2022 Nailey Cars 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  39. ↑ "2023 Raptor King of Tough 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  40. ↑ "2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta Race Page". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
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