2013 Great Clips/Grit Chips 300
The 2013 Great Clips/Grit Chips 300 was the 24th stock car race of the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series and the 22nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, August 31, 2013, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54 miles (2.48 km) permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 195 laps to complete. At race's end, Kevin Harvick, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would manage to hold off eventual second-place finisher, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch, to win his 40th career NASCAR  Nationwide Series win and his first and only win of the season. To fill out the podium, Sam Hornish Jr. of Penske Racing would finish third. Background. Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) 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. <nowiki>*</nowiki>Withdrew. Practice. First practice. The first practice session was held on Friday, August 30, at 5:00 PM EST, and would last for an hour and 30 minutes. Trevor Bayne of Roush Fenway Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 31.029 and an average speed of . Second and final  practice. The second and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, August 31, at 10:30 AM EST, and would last for one hour. Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 31.029 and an average speed of . Qualifying. Qualifying was held on Saturday, August 31, at 4:05 PM EST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing would win the pole, setting a  time of 30.704 and an average speed of . No drivers would fail to qualify.