NASCAR loses Xfinity 'series' while gaining Xfinity 'fastest lap'
Some of the old-timers never quit calling it the Busch Series. Others had eventually gotten accustomed to saying Xfinity.
Now we'll once again need to learn the new name of NASCAR's second-tier racing league. Xfinity, part of the Comcast family, has had its name attached to the series for the past decade, but after this year, its naming rights disappear — though Xfinity is still very much involved with NASCAR.
The company will remain one of NASCAR's 'premier' partners, along with Busch Light and Coca-Cola (Geico dropped its premier sponsorship last season).
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Also, Xfinity will gain visibility in the big-league Cup Series. Announced this week, the driver who turns the fastest lap in each race will earn one bonus point for turning the 'Xfinity Fastest Lap' — the same incentive is being enacted in the Xfinity and Trucks series.
Name changes are nothing new for the Xfinity Series, which was born as the Sportsman Division in 1950, NASCAR's third season as a sanctioning body after its founding in Daytona Beach in late 1947.
A rundown of the name changes:
1968: Late Model Sportsman Series
1984: Busch Grand National Series
2003: Busch Series
2008: Nationwide Series
2015: Xfinity Series
2026: ???
Who's next? Maybe no one. In 2020, after a few name changes of its own during this century, NASCAR's top division, which had been the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series since 2017, dropped all corporate attachments and became the NASCAR Cup Series.
June 19, 2003: NASCAR entered a new era when they announced that Nextel would replace Winston as Cup Series title sponsor pic.twitter.com/ju5ucDoxud
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) June 19, 2024
Keeping the 'Cup' in the name traces back to the change to Winston Cup in the early 1970s.
If there isn't a new corporate naming-rights deal, what name will NASCAR run with? Well, chances are, there will be another corporate label for the series.
But there's no doubting this: All options for 2026 and beyond are being discussed in the corner offices, even before the 2025 season begins.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Xfinity Series going away (in a way). Bring back Busch Series!
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