Great Clips 300

This article is about the race formerly called the Aaron's 312 held in Atlanta. For the race called the Aaron's 312 held in Talladega, see Aaron's 312.

Great Clips 300

Venue	Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sponsor	Great Clips
First race	1992
Distance	300.3 miles (483.286 km)
Laps	195
Previous names	Atlanta 300 (1992) Slick 50 300 (1993) Busch Light 300 (1994–1996) Stihl Outdoor Power Tools 300 (1997) Stihl 300 (1998) Yellow Freight 300 (1999) Aaron's 312 (2000–2005) Nicorette 300 (2006–2008) Degree Men V12 300 (2009)

The Great Clips 300 is a NASCAR Nationwide Series stock car race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, a few miles south of Atlanta. This race has long served as Atlanta's lone Busch/Nationwide Series date, and has been shuffled around the schedule several times. From its inception until 2001 the 300-mile race was run as part of Atlanta's spring Winston Cup race weekend, as the then-Busch Series ended its season at a different track than the then-Winston Cup series.

Following the transfer of the season ending Cup series race from Atlanta to Homestead-Miami Speedway after the 2001 season (although due to extenuating circumstances the 2001 Atlanta fall race was not the final race of the season), the now 312-mile race was moved to Atlanta's fall race weekend where it remained until Aaron's Rental, who was sponsoring the race, chose instead to sponsor the lone Busch event at Talladega. The race gained sponsorship from Johnson & Johnson through its Nicorette brand and moved back to its traditional spring date.

In September 2008, NASCAR officials announced that Nicorette would not renew its corporate sponsorship for race after the 2008 season. On October 26, 2008 it was announced that Unilever's deodorant brand Degree will take over sponsorship of this race starting in 2009. It was later announced that the now-Degree V12 300 would be moving to September as part of the latest round of NASCAR realignment, which resulted in the Pep Boys Auto 500, the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega, and the Pepsi 500 at Fontana trading places. The Degree V12 300 took the place of the Camping World RV Service 300 on NASCAR's Labor Day weekend race schedule and serves as an accompanying race to the Pep Boys Auto 500.

Past winners

Year	Date	Driver	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
				Laps	Miles (km)
1992	March 14	Jeff Gordon	Ford	197	299.834 (482.536)	2:24:36	124.412
1993	November 13*	Ward Burton	Chevrolet	197	299.834 (482.536)	2:44:05	109.64
1994	March 12	Harry Gant	Chevrolet	197	299.834 (482.536)	2:20:56	127.649
1995	March 11	Johnny Benson Jr.	Chevrolet	197	299.834 (482.536)	2:03:45	145.767
1996	March 9	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	197	299.834 (482.536)	2:08:15	139.656
1997*	March 8	Mark Martin	Ford	197	299.834 (482.536)	1:58:55	151.751
1998*	November 7	Mark Martin	Ford	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:10:23	138.193
1999	March 13	Mike Skinner	Chevrolet	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:33:46	117.178
2000	March 11	Mark Martin	Ford	203	312.62 (503.113)	2:27:47	126.924
2001	March 10	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	203	312.62 (503.113)	2:10:18	143.954
2002	October 26	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	203	312.62 (503.113)	2:15:09	138.788
2003	October 25	Greg Biffle	Chevrolet	203	312.62 (503.113)	2:08:17	146.217
2004	October 30	Matt Kenseth	Ford	208*	320.32 (515.505)	2:24:08	133.343
2005	March 19	Carl Edwards	Ford	203	312.62 (503.113)	2:23:34	130.651
2006	March 18	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:20:47	127.984
2007	March 17	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:21:39	127.201
2008	March 8	Matt Kenseth	Ford	198*	304.92 (490.721)	2:19:21	131.29
2009	September 5	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:04:04	145.228
2010	September 4	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:04:44	144.452
2011	September 3	Carl Edwards	Ford	195	300.3 (483.286)	2:15:40	132.811

• 1993: Race postponed from March to November due to Southeastern Blizzard.
• 1997: Last race on an old layout.
• 1998: First race on a new layout.
• 2004 & 2008: Race extended due to a Green-white-checker finish.

References

• Racing-Reference.info – Atlanta Motor Speedway Race Results

External links

• "What's Behind The Aaron's 312?"-referring to the race in Atlanta