The 2024 Focused Health 250 was the 24th stock car race of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the 4th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, September 7, 2024, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54 miles (2.48 km) permanent quad-oval shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 163 laps to complete. Austin Hill, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would take advantage of a late-race restart, and held off the Parker Kligerman earn his 9th career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, his fourth of the season, and sweeping Atlanta, with a win in the spring. A. J. Allmendinger dominated most of the race, leading a race-high 40 laps. To fill out the podium, Kilgerman, driving for Big Machine Racing, and Allmendinger, driving for Kaulig Racing, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 24 of 33 of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | September 7, 2024 | ||
| Official name | 4th Annual Focused Health 250 | ||
| Location | Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.54 mi (2.48 km) | ||
| Distance | 163 laps, 251 mi (404 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 163 laps, 251 mi (404 km) | ||
| Average speed | 118.514 mph (190.730 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Richard Childress Racing | ||
| Time | 32.927 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | |
| Laps | 40 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | USA | ||
| Announcers | Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | PRN | ||
Report
editBackground
editAtlanta Motor Speedway is a track in Hampton, Georgia, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of 111,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5-mile (2.4 km) 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. The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Qualifying
editQualifying was held on Saturday, September 7, at 11:00 AM EST.[2] Since Atlanta Motor Speedway is an intermediate racetrack with superspeedway rules, the qualifying system used is a single-car, single-lap system with two rounds. In the first round, drivers have one lap to set a time. The fastest ten drivers from the first round move on to the second round. Whoever sets the fastest time in Round 2 wins the pole.[3]
Jesse Love, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would score the pole for the race with a time of 31.927, and a speed of 173.646 mph (279.456 km/h).
Qualifying results
editRace results
editStage 1 Laps: 40
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 8 |
| 4 | 18 | Sheldon Creed | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 7 |
| 5 | 2 | Jesse Love (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 7 | 9 | Brandon Jones | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
| 8 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 3 |
| 9 | 81 | Chandler Smith | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2 |
| 10 | 19 | Taylor Gray (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 0 |
Stage 2 Laps: 40
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | A. J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 2 | 8 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 9 |
| 3 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 8 |
| 4 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 7 |
| 5 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 6 |
| 6 | 2 | Jesse Love (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 10 | 19 | Taylor Gray (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 0 |
| 8 | 81 | Chandler Smith | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 3 |
| 9 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen (R) | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 2 |
| 10 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 1 |
Stage 3 Laps: 89
| Pos.[4] | St. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 12 | Running | 50 |
| 2 | 16 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 35 |
| 3 | 6 | 16 | A. J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 40 | Running | 44 |
| 4 | 8 | 81 | Chandler Smith | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 163 | 28 | Running | 38 |
| 5 | 21 | 26 | Corey Heim (i) | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | 163 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | Jesse Love (R) | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 23 | Running | 42 |
| 7 | 19 | 8 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 39 |
| 8 | 13 | 11 | Josh Williams | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 29 |
| 9 | 18 | 9 | Brandon Jones | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 32 |
| 10 | 7 | 20 | Ryan Truex | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 163 | 0 | Running | 27 |
| 11 | 37 | 29 | Kyle Weatherman | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 26 |
| 12 | 17 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | Jorden Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 25 |
| 13 | 22 | 15 | Lawless Alan (i) | AM Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 14 | 15 | 5 | Anthony Alfredo | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 23 |
| 15 | 26 | 44 | Brennan Poole | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 22 |
| 16 | 28 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 21 |
| 17 | 35 | 42 | Leland Honeyman (R) | Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | 163 | 1 | Running | 20 |
| 18 | 27 | 35 | Mason Maggio (i) | Joey Gase Motorsports | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 0 |
| 19 | 24 | 29 | Blaine Perkins | RSS Racing | Ford | 163 | 0 | Running | 18 |
| 20 | 25 | 92 | Nick Leitz | DGM Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 17 |
| 21 | 34 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 16 |
| 22 | 33 | 14 | David Starr | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 15 |
| 23 | 30 | 45 | Garrett Smithley | Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | 163 | 0 | Running | 14 |
| 24 | 20 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Jorden Anderson Racing | Chevrolet | 162 | 0 | Running | 13 |
| 25 | 5 | 18 | Sheldon Creed | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 160 | 1 | Running | 19 |
| 26 | 9 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 158 | 0 | Running | 26 |
| 27 | 12 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen (R) | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 157 | 0 | Running | 12 |
| 28 | 2 | 19 | Taylor Gray (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 154 | 12 | Suspension | 0 |
| 29 | 36 | 51 | Jermey Clements | Jermey Clements Racing | Chevrolet | 149 | 0 | Suspension | 8 |
| 30 | 10 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 146 | 19 | Accident | 23 |
| 31 | 3 | 00 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 144 | 0 | Accident | 17 |
| 32 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford | 144 | 0 | Accident | 5 |
| 33 | 32 | 53 | Morgan Baird | Joey Gase Motorsports | Ford | 142 | 0 | Running | 4 |
| 34 | 23 | 07 | C. J. McLaughlin | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet | 112 | 0 | Engine | 3 |
| 35 | 28 | 38 | Matt DiBenedetto | RSS Racing | Ford | 80 | 0 | Oil Line | 2 |
| 36 | 11 | 1 | Sam Mayer | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | 77 | 0 | Accident | 6 |
| 37 | 31 | 74 | Dawson Cram (i) | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | 18 | 0 | Mechanical | 0 |
Standings after the race
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References
edit- ^ "2024 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ "2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta Motor Speedway Summer Race Page". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ "2023 NASCAR Qualifying Procedures". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
- ^ "2024 Focused Health 250". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 7, 2024.