page_title: NASCAR Xfinity Series
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: NASCAR Xfinity Series / History
caption_attribution_description: 2019 Daytona 500
context_page_description: The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's "minor league" circuit, and is considered a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level circuit, the NASCAR Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a Cup Series event scheduled for that weekend.
  The series was previously called the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series in 1982 and 1983, the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series from 1984 through 2002, the NASCAR Busch Series from 2003 through 2007, and the NASCAR Nationwide Series from 2008 through 2014. It is currently sponsored by Comcast via its consumer cable brand Xfinity.
context_section_description: The series emerged from NASCAR's Sportsman division, which had been formed in 1950 as NASCAR's short track race division. It was NASCAR's fourth series (after the Modified and Roadster series in 1948 and Strictly Stock Series in 1949). The sportsman cars were not current model cars and could be modified more, but not as much as Modified series cars. It became the Late Model Sportsman Series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks such as Daytona International Speedway. Drivers used obsolete Grand National cars on larger tracks but by the inception of the touring format in 1982, the series used older compact cars. Short track cars with relatively small 300 cubic inch V-8 motors were used. Drivers used smaller current year models featuring V6 motors.
  The modern-day Xfinity Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand. The series switched sponsorship to Busch in 1984. It was renamed in 1986 to the Busch Grand National Series.
  Grand National was dropped from the series' title in 2003 as part of NASCAR's brand identity (the Grand National name was now used for the Busch East and Winston West series as part of a nationwide standardization of rules for NASCAR's regional racing). Anheuser-Busch dropped the sponsorship in 2007; Nationwide Insurance took over the sponsorship for the 2008 season, renaming it the Nationwide Series. The Nationwide sponsorship was a seven-year contract, and did not include the banking and mortgage departments of Nationwide. The sponsorship reportedly carried a $10 million commitment for 2008, with 6% annual escalations thereafter.
  On September 3, 2014, it was announced that Comcast would become the new title sponsor of the series via its cable television and internet brand Xfinity, renaming it the Xfinity Series. In 2016, NASCAR implemented a seven-race Chase system similar to the one used in the NASCAR Cup Series.
  On August 21, 2019, NASCAR announced that the field size of the NXS will be cut from 38 to 36
caption: Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett in 2019.
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