Following the season-opener in Daytona Beach, the NASCAR XFINITY Series heads to Hampton, Georgia, to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second stop on the 2019 schedule. Saturday’s Rinnai 250, this Saturday (2 p.m. ET on FS1/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be the first race of the “real” season according to the drivers. 

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) in Atlanta. 

Here are the top five storylines for Saturday’s race.

New Winner For Atlanta

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 in 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).   

New Winners In The Series Recently

One thing that the 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

Also, the 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). 

JRM Looking to Build Further After Another 1-2 Finish In Daytona

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 – 1-2 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 second), 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 10th 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 10s. 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.

 Hometown Hero Brandon Jones Looking For Success In Atlanta

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, 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.