The future stars of the NASCAR Cup battle against each other in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. For nearly four decades, the NASCAR XFINITY Series has been a proving ground for the top rising talent in stock car racing, giving them a chance to compete at the same venues and on the same weekends as the NASCAR Cup Series races. It continues a long tradition of support races that basically serve as an undercard to the NASCAR Cup events, as well as a companion to qualifying events that also take place the day of the NXS event.

History of the NASCAR XFINITY Series

The NASCAR XFINITY Series began in 1982 as the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series and evolved from the NASCAR Sportsman and Late Model Sportsman Divisions. Dale Earnhardt, whose father Ralph won the Sportsman Division title in 1956, won the first-ever NXS race, the 1982 Goody's 300 at Daytona, while driver/owner Jack Ingram won the inaugural Series championship the same year. The series would become known as the Busch Grand National Series, the NASCAR Busch Series, and the NASCAR Nationwide Series throughout the '80s, '90s, and '00s, and it gained a reputation both as NASCAR's minor league and a further opportunity for NASCAR Cup stars to excel on the track.

NASCAR XFINITY Series vehicles differ significantly from their NASCAR Cup counterparts, especially after the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow was introduced in 2007. But they're similar enough for NXS drivers to excel in the main circuit, with two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch winning the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series title and a record 96 NXS victories. The NASCAR XFINITY Series playoffs were introduced in 2016 and feature a format similar to the NASCAR Cup Series, called Chase for the Cup. Tyler Reddick won the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship in 2018 and 2019 before transitioning to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020.