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Xfinity Series
CURRENT SEASON
Xfinity Series logo 2022
Governing body NASCAR
Inaugural season 1982
Series sponsor Budweiser
(1982-1983)
Busch
(1984-2007)
Nationwide
(2008-2014)
Xfinity
(2015-present)
Manufacturers Chevrolet
Ford
Toyota
Most recent champion Cole Custer

The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCAR's second division and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level, the NASCAR Cup Series.

History[]

The series emerged from NASCAR's old Sportsman division, which was formed in 1950 as NASCAR's short track race division. It became the Late Model Sportsman series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks, such as Daytona International Speedway.

The modern-day Xfinity Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand. It switched sponsorship to the Busch brand in 1984, and in 1986, was renamed from the Sportsman series to the Busch Grand National Series. Grand National was dropped from the series' title in 2003.

Xfinity Series cars are slightly smaller versions of their Sprint Cup counterparts. In the past, the Xfinity Series used makes of cars not used in the Cup series, as well as V-6 engines instead of Cup's V-8s, but now the cars used in the series are more similar.

The series has become a minor league series in recent years but is frequently populated with Cup regulars, especially on the weekends where an Xfinity race is run on a Saturday prior to a Cup race being run at the same track on a Sunday, which is common. Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt was the first winner of a Nationwide Series race, and the winning-most driver in series history is Mark Martin, who won most of his races while driving in Winston Cup at the same time. Cup regulars that race in the Xfinity Series (often referred to as "Busch-whackers") are sometimes criticized for racing against inferior competition, but many NASCAR experts contend that without Cup drivers in Xfinity, and the large amount of fan interest that they attract, the series would cease to exist. However, to counter the "Xfinity-whackers" there are a few constant drivers in the series including David Green, Mark Green, Jason Keller, Stacy Compton, Kenny Wallace, and Ashton Lewis.

On August 5, 2004, NASCAR announced that the Busch Series would hold a points-paying race in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on March 6, 2005. This track has hosted both Formula One and Champ Car races in the past. Martin Truex Jr. was the winner of the race. For more information see 2005 in NASCAR Busch Series.

Beginning in 2007, ABC, ESPN and sibling network ESPN2 were the exclusive carrier of all Busch Series races.

Nascarbusch

Series logo under Busch

Some sponsors criticized the new television deal, noting a maximum of four races will appear on broadcast network television, and most likely none in prime-time; in previous years, as many as nine races in the Nationwide Series have aired on network television, with two 2005 races ending up in prime-time television. In April 2005, the Busch Series made its first appearance in prime-time network television; the Aaron's 312 at Talladega, because of a rain delay and excessive length caused by a crash, ended in near-darkness (7 PM CT) in prime-time, on Fox. In September 2005, the AmeriQuest 300 at California became the first Busch Series race to air in its entirety in prime-time network television, on NBC.

Nationwide-logo

Series logo under Nationwide

In 2007, NASCAR announced the Busch sponsorship would not return to the series. A number of companies, including Subway and KFC were in the running but in mid-October Nationwide took over the series. NASCAR also announced the series would run a new style car by 2009.

Nationwide would continue to sponsor the series through 2014. In September 2013 however, Nationwide announced that they would no longer sponsor the series and instead, would be forming a race team. In 2015, Nationwide was replaced by Xfinity, Comcast's cable division, as the new title sponsor for the series.

Name history[]

Name Year(s)
Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series 1982-1983
Busch Grand National Series 1984-2003
Busch Series 2004-2007
Nationwide Series 2008-2014
Xfinity Series 2015-present

Champions[]

Year Driver No. Sponsor Make Owner(s) Wins Earnings
1982 Jack Ingram 11 Oak Stove/Budweiser Oldsmobile Himself 7 $122,100
1983 Sam Ard 00 Thomas Brothers Country Ham Oldsmobile Howard Thomas 10 $140,660
1984 Sam Ard 00 Thomas Brothers Country Ham Oldsmobile Howard Thomas 8 $173,435
1985 Jack Ingram 11 Pantry/Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile/Pontiac Himself 5 $164,710
1986 Larry Pearson 21 Chattanooga Chew Chevrolet/Pontiac David Pearson 1 $184,344
1987 Larry Pearson 21 Chattanooga Chew Chevrolet/Pontiac David Pearson 6 $256,372
1988 Tommy Ellis 99 J&J Racing Buick John Jackson 3 $200,003
1989 Rob Moroso 25 Swisher Sweets Oldsmobile Dick Moroso 4 $346,849
1990 Chuck Bown 63 Nescafe Classic Pontiac Hubert Hensley 6 $323,399
1991 Bobby Labonte 44 Penrose Sausage Oldsmobile Himself 2 $246,368
1992 Joe Nemechek 87 Texas Pete Sauces Chevrolet Himself 2 $285,008
1993 Steve Grissom 31 Channelock Tools Chevrolet Wayne Grissom 2 $336,432
1994 David Green 44 Slim Jim Chevrolet Bobby Labonte 1 $391,670
1995 Johnny Benson, Jr. 74 Lipton Tea Chevrolet Bill Baumgardner 2 $469,129
1996 Randy LaJoie 74 Fina Chevrolet Bill Baumgardner 5 $532,823
1997 Randy LaJoie 74 Fina Chevrolet Bill Baumgardner 5 $1,105,201
1998 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 3 AC Delco Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt 7 $1,332,701
1999 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 3 AC Delco Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt 6 $1,680,599
2000 Jeff Green 10 Nestle NesQuik Chevrolet Greg Pollex 6 $1,919,937
2001 Kevin Harvick 2 AC Delco Chevrolet Richard Childress 2 $1,833,570
2002 Greg Biffle 60 Grainger Ford Jack Roush 4 $2,337,255
2003 Brian Vickers 25 GMAC Chevrolet Ricky Hendrick 3 $1,987,255
2004 Martin Truex, Jr. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 6 $2,537,171
2005 Martin Truex, Jr. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 6 $3,143,692
2006 Kevin Harvick 21 U.S. Coast Guard Chevrolet Richard Childress 9 $8,231,406
2007 Carl Edwards 60 Dish Network/Scott's Ford Jack Roush 4 $2,485,582
2008 Clint Bowyer 2 BB&T/Camping World Chevrolet Richard Childress 1 $2,428,824
2009 Kyle Busch 18 NOS Energy Drink/Z-Line Designs Toyota Joe Gibbs 9 $3,337,555
2010 Brad Keselowski 22 Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Dodge Roger Penske 6 $2,460,370
2011 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 6 Blackwell Angus Beef Ford Jack Roush 2 $2,328,584
2012 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 6 Blackwell Angus Beef Ford Jack Roush 6 $2,650,200
2013 Austin Dillon 3 Advocare Chevrolet Richard Childress 0 $2,483,030
2014 Chase Elliott 9 NAPA Chevrolet JR Motorsports 3 $2,199,200
2015 Chris Buescher 60 Roush Performance/Advocare Ford Jack Roush 2 $1,894,800
2016 Daniel Suárez 19 Arris   Toyota Joe Gibbs 3 N/A
2017 William Byron 9 Liberty University Chevrolet JR Motorsports 4 N/A
2018 Tyler Reddick 9 BurgerFi Chevrolet JR Motorsports 2 N/A
2019 Tyler Reddick 2 BurgerFi Chevrolet Richard Childress 6 N/A
2020 Austin Cindric 22 MoneyLion Ford Roger Penske 6 N/A
2021 Daniel Hemric 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Joe Gibbs 1 N/A
2022 Ty Gibbs 54 Monster Energy Toyota Joe Gibbs 7 N/A
2023 Cole Custer 00 Haas Automation Ford Stewart-Haas Racing 3 N/A

See also[]

External links[]

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