The NASCAR Xfinity Series is revving up for the Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, February 23, 2019, at 2 pm ET. Television pre-race coverage on FOX Sports 1 begins at 1:30 pm ET with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

Distance:  251.02 miles (163 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 40),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 163)

Preview Quick Hits: 

• Last year’s winner Kevin Harvick began a weekend sweep with his 4.183-second victory over fellow Ford driver Joey Logano. Harvick led 141 of the 163 laps en route to his track-record fifth win in the race.
• Harvick will be handling TV duties this year, however, and a full field of talented Xfinity championship drivers is ready to claim the first win by a non-Cup driver since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in his 2012 Xfinity Series championship year. Harvick (4) and Kyle Busch (2) have won the last six races.
• Christopher Bell boasts the top driver rating (123.4) among those entered this weekend, followed by John Hunter Nemechek (116.7) and reigning series champion Tyler Reddick (99.8).
• Bell only has one start in this race, but finished third behind Harvick and Logano last year, leading 12 laps – the most other than Harvick. He won the 2017 Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Atlanta from the pole position.
• Perennial Xfinity Series championship contender Justin Allgaier tops the field in green flag passes (356) and leads regulars in laps run in the top-15 (1009) – twice as many as any other driver entered this week. His best finish in the race is fifth (2012). 
• Michael Annett earned his first win in 230 career series starts last week in the Daytona season opener finishing .116-seconds ahead of JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier. He has one top-ten (tenth in 2012) in seven previous starts at Atlanta.
• Cole Custer, the 2018 championship runner-up to Tyler Reddick, finished 14th at Daytona and has one previous top-ten (tenth in 2017) at Atlanta.
• Highly-touted 20-year old rookie Noah Gragson finished 11th at Daytona. He was runner-up in last year’s Atlanta truck race, his best finish at the track.
• Jeffrey Earnhardt earned his first ever front row start (outside pole position) last week at Daytona and finished 15th. His best finish in two starts at Atlanta is 24th (2014).

Atlanta Motor Speedway is the Next Stop for the Xfinity Series

Following the season-opener in Daytona Beach, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Hampton, Georgia, to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second stop on the 2019 schedule, the Rinnai 250, this Saturday.

Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted 27 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, with the first being held on March 14, 1992, and won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon – the win still is the record for youngest winner in the series all-time at Atlanta. In total, the NASCAR Xfinity Series has seen 17 different drivers win the pole and 16 different drivers win the race at Atlanta.    

Big names like Kyle Busch, who holds the record for most poles (six), and Kevin Harvick, who holds the record for the most wins (five) at Atlanta Motor Speedway, have set the stage for an Xfinity Series field entered this weekend in which each entry will be looking for their first win on the historic 1.5-mile speedway.

None of the 38 drivers that will make up the field this weekend have visited Victory Lane at Atlanta.

Harvick (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018) and Kyle Busch (2016, 2017) have won the last six Xfinity Series races at Atlanta. The last series championship contender to win at Atlanta was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2012.

This weekend’s race, the Rinnai 250, will consist of 163 laps broken into three stages. The first two stages will be 40 laps each and the final stage will be 83 laps.  Kevin Harvick won this race last season driving the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing with Fred Biagi Ford Mustang. This weekend, Chase Briscoe will be in No. 98 Ford with crew chief Richard Boswell.

The pole starting position is the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners (six: 1992, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2016, and 2017) than any other starting position. The next best starting position is eighth, with five wins (2002, 2006, 2007, 2014 and 2015).    

JR Motorsport’s One-Two Finish at Daytona Provides Big Spark for 2019 Start

For JR Motorsports, the past two NASCAR Xfinity Series season-openers at Daytona have been like deja vu in that they have netted the same results – one-two finishes. Last year Tyler Reddick beat his then-JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler to the finish line in the closest finish in NASCAR history (0.0004 seconds), and this past weekend, Michael Annett snapped a 229-race winless streak when his teammate Justin Allgaier pushed him to the win. 

JR Motorsports once again looks formidable as the organization is looking for its third consecutive and fourth overall series driver championship. Michael Annett’s win at Daytona guarantees him a spot in the Playoffs, which is big since the Iowa native missed the postseason last year. His teammates all had solid finishes at Daytona last Saturday, as well, with Justin Allgaier in second, Chase Elliott in tenth, and Noah Gragson in 11th.

Turning to Atlanta, expect the JR Motorsports stable to contend this weekend in the Rinnai 250. Annett will be looking to become just the fourth driver in series history to win the first two races of the season joining Tony Stewart (2008), Chad Little (1995) and Dale Earnhardt (1986). Annett has made seven series starts at Atlanta posting an average finish of 16.2.

Allgaier has the most starts of the JR Motorsports drivers at Atlanta with eight, and during that time he grabbed one top-five and four top-tens. His average finish is a team-best 12.0.

Sunoco Rookie Noah Gragson will be making his series track debut at Atlanta this weekend. Though the Las Vegas native has made two NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts at Atlanta, posting a runner-up finish last season.

Atlanta’s Brandon Jones Races to the Top of the Xfinity Standings

Two solid stage runs, and a third-place finish has Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones on top of the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series standings following the season-opener at Daytona. Jones, an Atlanta native, has the wind in his sails as he heads home to defend his standings lead this weekend in the Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Jones is a mere six points ahead of second-place Ross Chastain and seven points ahead of third-place Michael Annett in the series driver points standings heading to Atlanta this weekend. Jones is coming off a great race in Daytona where finished fifth in the first stage, second in the second stage and third in the final stage, accumulating enough points to take the standings lead for the first time in his career. 

Jones wasn’t the only Joe Gibbs Racing star to have a nice start to their season. Christopher Bell finished sixth at Daytona and is currently sixth in championship standings. Also, Jeffrey Earnhardt made his JGR debut in impressive fashion last weekend at Daytona, leading the second-most laps (29) behind race winner Michael Annett (45) and ultimately being shuffled to a 15th-place finish. Earnhardt is currently ninth in the series standings.  

Brandon Jones has made three series starts at his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway, posting an average finish of 14.0. Earnhardt has made two series starts at Atlanta, posting a best finish of 25th in 2014. Bell made his series track debut at Atlanta last season, starting on the pole, leading 12 laps and finishing third. 

Ross Chastain Raced his Way to Second in Points following Daytona

After a one-race stint with the Kaulig Racing No. 10 team to start the season that has him sitting second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver championship standings, Ross Chastain returns to JD Motorsport’s No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro team for this weekend’s Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Chastain’s performance in the season-opener at Daytona was just a continuation of his growth in talent on display for everyone to see. The Florida native actually finished 13th in the final stage, but he finished second in the first stage and won the second stage, giving him enough points to catapult ahead of some of the drivers who finished the race ahead of him. Now the Florida watermelon farmer is second in the Xfinity championship standings, the highest he has ever ranked in the series points.

Heading to Atlanta this weekend, Chastain will look to build on his early 2019 success. Chastain has made four series starts at Atlanta, posting his career-best finish of 16^th last season.    

RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg has a Strong start to 2019

Starting out the season on the right foot can be imperative with how close the competition is in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. That’s why RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg was so happy following his top-five finish this past weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Leaving Daytona, Sieg is ranked seventh in the driver championship standings, which could have key championship implications down the road. Sieg has missed the Playoffs the past two seasons after making in the inaugural year in 2016.

Sieg has made five series starts at Atlanta, posting an average finish of 20.6. 

GMS Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek Comes Out of the Gate

as the Top Sunoco Rookie

 

Sunoco Rookie of the Year Standings
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Driver	Organization	Points
John H. Nemechek	GMS Racing	37
Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	31
Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	31
Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing w/ Fred Biagi	25
Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	19

The 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year class has come out swinging this year and look to be a force to be reckoned with in the run for a series title.

GMS Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek grabbed the first rookie of the race award this season as the highest finishing rookie in the season-opener at Daytona with an eighth-place result. Now Nemechek sits atop the 2019 rookie standings by six points ahead of second-place Justin Haley and third-place Noah Gragson as the series heads to Atlanta.

Nemechek made his Xfinity Series debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway last season, running up front for most of the day; starting third and finishing fourth.

As for the other four rookies, Chase Briscoe made his series track debut last season at Atlanta with a 15^th-place finish. Brandon Brown made his series track debut in 2017, posting a 23^rd-place finish. Both Gragson and Haley will be making their series track debuts this weekend in Atlanta.

New Winners Aplenty in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Over Last Three Seasons

One thing that the NASCAR Xfinity Series prides itself on is grooming the next wave of young talent. No stat proves that more than when the series ushers in new winners, and over the last three seasons the NASCAR Xfinity Series has seen a dozen first-time winners in the series – including Michael Annett’s big win last weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Below is a look at the 12 new winners the series has seen over the last three seasons (2017-2019):

Season	First-Time Winner	Organization
2019	Michael Annett	JR Motorsports
2018	Chase Briscoe	Biagi-DenBeste Racing
2018	John H. Nemechek	Chip Ganassi Racing
2018	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing
2018	Spencer Gallagher	GMS Racing
2017	Alex Bowman	Chip Ganassi Racing
2017	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing
2017	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing
2017	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing
2017	Ryan Preece	Joe Gibbs Racing
2017	Tyler Reddick	Chip Ganassi Racing
2017	William Byron	JR Motorsports

Atlanta Motor Speedway has been the home to five first-time winners in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – Jeff Gordon (1992), Mike Skinner (1999), Jamie McMurray (2002) and Carl Edwards (2005).