The 2023 RAPTOR King of Tough was the 5th stock car race of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, March 18, 2023, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54 miles (2.48 km) permanent tri-oval shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 163 laps to complete. In a chaotic finish, Austin Hill, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would hold off the field on the final restart, and earn his fifth career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, and his third of the season.[1] Hill dominated the race as well, leading 103 laps. To fill out the podium, Daniel Hemric, driving for Kaulig Racing, and Ryan Truex, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 33 of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | March 18, 2023 | ||
| Official name | 32nd Annual RAPTOR King of Tough 250 | ||
| Location | Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.54 mi (2.48 km) | ||
| Distance | 163 laps, 251 mi (403 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 163 laps, 251 mi (403 km) | ||
| Average speed | 91.382 mph (147.065 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||
| Grid positions set by competition-based formula | |||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 103 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | FS1 | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander, Daniel Suárez, and Joey Logano | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | MRN | ||
Background edit
Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.54-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit. In July 2021 NASCAR announced that the track would be reprofiled for the 2022 season to have 28 degrees of banking and would be narrowed from 55 to 40 feet which the track claims will turn racing at the track similar to restrictor plate superspeedways. Despite the reprofiling being criticized by drivers, construction began in August 2021 and wrapped up in December 2021.[2][3] The track has seating capacity of 71,000 to 125,000 people depending on the tracks configuration.
Entry list edit
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Starting lineup edit
Qualifying was scheduled to be held on Friday, March 17, at 4:30 PM EST, but was cancelled due to constant rain showers.[4] The starting lineup would be determined by a performance-based metric system. As a result, Sammy Smith, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would earn the pole.[5] Dawson Cram would fail to qualify.
Race results edit
Stage 1 Laps: 40
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 8 |
| 4 | 16 | Chandler Smith (R) | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 6 |
| 6 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | AM Racing | Ford | 5 |
| 7 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 3 |
| 9 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | Justin Haley (i) | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 1 |
Stage 2 Laps: 40
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 9 |
| 3 | 9 | Brandon Jones | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8 |
| 4 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 7 |
| 5 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | B. J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 5 |
| 7 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 9 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 2 |
| 10 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clememts Racing | Chevrolet | 1 |
Stage 3 Laps: 83
| Fin[6] | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 103 | Running | 53 |
| 2 | 11 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 39 |
| 3 | 4 | 19 | Ryan Truex | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 163 | 0 | Running | 34 |
| 4 | 13 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 5 | Running | 43 |
| 5 | 5 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 163 | 11 | Running | 47 |
| 6 | 12 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | AM Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 36 |
| 7 | 9 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 34 |
| 8 | 2 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 163 | 10 | Running | 37 |
| 9 | 10 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 28 |
| 10 | 18 | 10 | Justin Haley (i) | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 5 | Running | 0 |
| 11 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 34 |
| 12 | 8 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 29 |
| 13 | 29 | 6 | Brennan Poole | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 24 |
| 14 | 15 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | B. J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 18 | Running | 29 |
| 15 | 23 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 23 |
| 16 | 16 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 21 |
| 17 | 1 | 18 | Sammy Smith (R) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 163 | 0 | Running | 20 |
| 18 | 32 | 35 | Patrick Emerling | Emerling-Gase Motorsports | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 19 |
| 19 | 21 | 9 | Brandon Jones | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 10 | Running | 26 |
| 20 | 35 | 08 | Gray Gaulding | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 1 | Running | 17 |
| 21 | 7 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 32 |
| 22 | 36 | 07 | Blaine Perkins (R) | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 15 |
| 23 | 24 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 14 |
| 24 | 37 | 91 | Chad Chastain | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 25 | 27 | 38 | Joe Graf Jr. | RSS Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 12 |
| 26 | 26 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 161 | 0 | Running | 11 |
| 27 | 17 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff (R) | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 154 | 0 | Accident | 10 |
| 28 | 6 | 16 | Chandler Smith (R) | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 127 | 0 | Rear Gear | 16 |
| 29 | 19 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 77 | 0 | Accident | 8 |
| 30 | 25 | 24 | Connor Mosack (R) | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 69 | 0 | Accident | 7 |
| 31 | 30 | 45 | Sage Karam | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 43 | 0 | Radiator | 6 |
| 32 | 22 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 33 | 0 | Accident | 5 |
| 33 | 20 | 02 | Kyle Weatherman | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 26 | 0 | Accident | 4 |
| 34 | 31 | 44 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 11 | 0 | Accident | 3 |
| 35 | 28 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 11 | 0 | Accident | 2 |
| 36 | 34 | 4 | Garrett Smithley | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet | 11 | 0 | Accident | 1 |
| 37 | 35 | 53 | Joey Gase | Emerling-Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | 1 | 0 | Accident | 1 |
| 38 | 38 | 66 | Caesar Bacarella | MBM Motorsports | Chevrolet | 1 | 0 | Accident | 1 |
| Official race results | |||||||||
Penalties edit
During the first stage, Josh Williams sustained heavy damage on lap 27. When debris from his repaired car caused another caution, NASCAR parked him under the Damaged Vehicle Policy. In response, Williams stopped his car on the start/finish line and walked back to pit road with the car behind.[7] As a result, NASCAR handed Williams a one-race suspension for the next race.[8]
Standings after the race edit
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References edit
- ^ Skala, Chris (March 18, 2023). "Austin Hill Dominates Atlanta Xfinity Race for 3rd Win of 2023". Frontstretch. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway to re-profile track in 2022 and drivers are expressing frustration with the changes". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
- ^ "Atlanta Motor Speedway track reprofile begins | NASCAR". Official Site Of NASCAR. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
- ^ "2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta Motor Speedway Spring Race Page". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
- ^ Watson, Wyatt (March 17, 2023). "Xfinity Qualifying Canceled; Sammy Smith Wins Atlanta Pole". Frontstretch. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
- ^ "2023 Raptor King of Tough 250 - Racing Reference". Racing-Reference.info. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
- ^ Spencer, Reid (March 18, 2023). "Austin Hill fends off Kligerman, Hemric for Xfinity win at Atlanta". NASCAR. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ Hembree, Mike (March 22, 2023). "Josh Williams suspended for one race after Atlanta infraction". NBC Sports. Retrieved March 22, 2023.