Changes: Xfinity Series

**Xfinity Series**
CURRENT SEASON
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	Tyler Reddick

Revision as of 05:50, 23 February 2020

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.

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.

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	Car#	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 Racing	6	N/A

External links

Official website