Tuesday, August 1, 2017

2018 National Series Driver Participation Guidelines Announced

2018 National Series Driver Participation Guidelines Announced

“I guess Joe (Gibbs) and I, we’ve always been joking for the last two or three years they’re going to kick us out and they are,” Kyle Busch related. “They’re trying year by year and race by race eliminating myself from competition in the XFINITY Series, so I figured I better hurry up and try to get to a number that I would think … is unreachable to others. [one hundred Xfinity Wins - Busch is currently at 89]”

William Byron, Driver of the #9 Liberty University Chevrolet, kisses
the yard of bricks after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Lilly
Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on July 22, 2017.

With the emergence of NASCAR’s next generation of stars defining the 2017 season, NASCAR today announced new guidelines that will further highlight the young talent battling for championships in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.


Starting next season, drivers with more than five years of full-time experience in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be limited to a maximum of seven races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and five races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Drivers who have elected to accumulate Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship points, regardless of series tenure, will be ineligible to compete in the regular season finale and playoff races in each series, as well as the Dash 4 Cash races in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

"Fans have made it clear that they want to see the future stars of the sport racing against their peers in the XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series," said Jim Cassidy, senior vice president of racing operations. "These guidelines achieve that and preserve limited opportunities for developing drivers to compete against the best in motorsports."

The 2018 rules continue the evolution of driver participation guidelines, and NASCAR’s effort to strengthen the identities of all three national series while allowing up-and-coming drivers important developmental opportunities. Guidelines implemented for the 2017 season limited drivers with five years of full-time experience in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to 10 XFINITY Series races and seven races in the Camping World Truck Series.

Ryan Preece, Driver of the #20 MoHawk Northeast Inc. Toyota, celebrates
in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series US Cellular
250 Presented by American Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on July 29, 2017
in Newton, Iowa in just his second Xfinity start of the season.

The updated guidelines do not apply to drivers who are competing for the championship in the NASCAR XFINITY Series or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.


Retired NASCAR Star Mark Martin admits “I don’t really know where I stand on that,” when asked about Cup drivers competing in the XFINITY Series.

“I was able to participate; I didn’t run that many races,” he said Tuesday during a paint scheme unveiling with driver Clint Bowyer at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I ran 14 to 16 races a year for a number of years. But at the time it was important, I think, for the series to have Cup drivers do the series for a lot of different reasons.”

“It’s a different day and age today,” Martin, 58, said. “I like what’s going on nowadays, I like the rule today and where they go with it from there I’m sure will work. … The racing, the world, the hardware, everything has changed since the ’90s. I’m OK with what they’re doing and OK with where they’re looking at heading to limit it even more.”



Related Posts:

  1. Ryan Preece Makes the Best of his Two Race Stint at JGR
  2. Sunoco’s Free Fuel 5000 is Back for the Thirteenth Year!
  3. Todd Gilliland Scores Back-to-Back Wins at Iowa Speedway
  4. NASCAR K&N Pro Series Rookie Derek Kraus Holds His Own at Bill McAnally Racing
  5. WIX® Filters Paint Scheme Marks Martin Truex Jr.’S No. 78 Toyota at New Hampshire

No comments: