2017 Rinnai 250


The 2017 Rinnai 250 was the second stock car race of the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and the 26th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, March 4, 2017, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54 miles permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 163 laps to complete. At race's end, Kyle Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would pull away with the lead at the end of the race to win his 87th career NASCAR Xfinity Series win and his first of the season. To fill out the podium, Brad Keselowski of Team Penske and Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing would finish second and third, respectively.

Entry list

  • ' denotes rookie driver.
  • ' denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

    Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Friday, March 3, at 10:00 AM EST and lasted for 55 minutes. Aric Almirola of Biagi–DenBeste Racing set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.567 and an average speed of.

Second practice

The second practice session was held on Friday, March 3, at 1:30 PM EST, and lasted for 55 minutes. Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing set the fastest time in the session with a lap of 30.865 and an average speed of.

Final practice

The final practice session was held on Friday, March 3, at 3:30 PM EST and lasted for 55 minutes. Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.881 and an average speed of.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, March 4, at 9:15 AM EST. Since Atlanta Motor Speedway is under, the qualifying system was a multi-car system that included three rounds. The first round was 15 minutes, where every driver would be able to set a lap within the 15 minutes. Then, the second round would consist of the fastest 24 cars in Round 1, and drivers would have 10 minutes to set a lap. Round 3 consisted of the fastest 12 drivers from Round 2, and the drivers would have 5 minutes to set a time. Whoever was fastest in Round 3 would win the pole.
Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing would win the pole after setting a fast enough time in the first two rounds to advance to the next, with Bell achieving a lap in Round 3 with a time of 30.153 and an average speed of.
Three drivers would fail to qualify: Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd, and Mike Harmon.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Stage 1 Laps: 40
Pos#DriverTeamMakePts
122Brad Keselowski 'Team PenskeFord0
218Kyle Busch 'Joe Gibbs RacingToyota0
341Kevin Harvick 'Stewart–Haas RacingFord0
420Denny Hamlin 'Joe Gibbs RacingToyota0
521Daniel Hemric 'Richard Childress RacingChevrolet6
600Cole Custer 'Stewart–Haas RacingFord5
79William ByronJR MotorsportsChevrolet4
842Kyle Larson 'Chip Ganassi RacingChevrolet0
93Ty Dillon 'Richard Childress RacingChevrolet0
101Elliott SadlerJR MotorsportsChevrolet1

Stage 2 Laps: 40
Pos#DriverTeamMakePts
141Kevin Harvick 'Stewart–Haas RacingFord0
222Brad Keselowski 'Team PenskeFord0
318Kyle Busch 'Joe Gibbs RacingToyota0
442Kyle Larson 'Chip Ganassi RacingChevrolet0
520Denny Hamlin 'Joe Gibbs RacingToyota0
69William ByronJR MotorsportsChevrolet5
71Elliott SadlerJR MotorsportsChevrolet4
800Cole Custer 'Stewart–Haas RacingFord3
921Daniel Hemric 'Richard Childress RacingChevrolet2
102Austin Dillon 'Richard Childress RacingChevrolet0

Stage 3 Laps: 83