Raptor King of Tough 250

This article is about the race formerly called the Aaron's 312 held at Atlanta. For the race called the Aaron's 312 held at Talladega, see MoneyLion 300.

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.

Raptor King of Tough 250

NASCAR Xfinity Series
Venue	Atlanta Motor Speedway
Location	Hampton, Georgia, United States
Corporate sponsor	RAPTOR Coatings[1]
First race	1992
Distance	251.02 miles (403.98 km)
Laps	163 Stages 1/2: 40 each Final stage: 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) 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
Surface	Asphalt
Length	1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Turns	4

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]
2024	February 24	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	169*	260.26 ()	1:55:16	135.474	[40]

Notes

• 1993: Race postponed from March due to blizzard.
• 2004, 2008, 2022 and 2024: Races extended due to NASCAR overtime.
• 2020: Race postponed from March 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[41]

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
	Austin Hill	2023, 2024

Multiple winners (teams)

# Wins	Team	Years Won
7	Roush Fenway Racing	1997, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012
5	Richard Childress Racing	2006, 2007, 2013, 2023, 2024
4	JR Motorsports	2010, 2014, 2015, 2021
	Joe Gibbs Racing	2016, 2017, 2019, 2022

Manufacturer wins

# Wins	Make	Years Won
19	Chevrolet	1993-1996, 1999, 2001-2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013-2015, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024
10	Ford	1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2018
4	Toyota	2016, 2017, 2019, 2022

References

1. "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. "2024 Raptor King of Tough 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
41. "2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta Race Page". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved November 12, 2023.

External links

• Atlanta Motor Speedway race results at Racing-Reference
• "What's Behind The Aaron's 312?"

Previous race: United Rentals 300

NASCAR Xfinity Series RAPTOR King of Tough 250

Next race: Focused Health 250