2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series


The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 39th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 on February 15. The regular season ended with the Go Bowling 250 at Richmond Raceway on September 11. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at Phoenix Raceway on November 7.
Tyler Reddick won the 2018 and 2019 championship, but did not defend his title as he moved up to the Cup Series in 2020, continuing to drive for Richard Childress Racing.
When the season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers from all NASCAR series, including many Xfinity Series drivers, participated in the inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series during that time.
Following the 2020 Virginia is for Racing Lovers 250 at Richmond Raceway, Austin Cindric clinched the Regular Season Championship. He went on to become the 2020 Xfinity Series Champion after winning the season-ending race at Phoenix. In addition, Team Penske claimed its sixth Owners' Championship, Chevrolet won the Manufacturer's Championship, and Harrison Burton took the NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors.

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Changes

Teams

  • On September 9, 2019, it was reported that GMS Racing was considering shutting down their No. 23 Xfinity team in 2020 if additional sponsorship couldn't be found, although the team would continue to compete in the Truck Series. This was officially announced on November 21, 2019. The team's assets and owner points would be purchased by the new Our Motorsports No. 02 team.
  • On October 28, 2019, ARCA Menards Series East team owner Sam Hunt announced that his Sam Hunt Racing team would move up to the Xfinity Series in 2020, with their East Series driver Colin Garrett also racing for the team in Xfinity. The team initially announced that they would run five races, and any additional races they would run depended on how much sponsorship the team's crowdfunding model would generate.
  • On October 30, 2019, it was announced that Our Motorsports, a part-time ARCA Menards Series team which also formerly competed in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, would compete full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2020 after buying cars and equipment from the GMS Racing No. 23 team, which closed down after the 2019 season. The team's No. 02 car would be driven by multiple drivers, including team co-owner Andy Seuss and later GMS Truck Series driver Brett Moffitt.
  • On December 8, 2019, MBM Motorsports driver Tommy Joe Martins posted a video to his Twitter saying that he would not be back with the team in 2020 because they would likely be reducing from four full-time cars to two. Team owner Carl Long confirmed this news on December 19, 2019.
  • On December 24, 2019, it was announced that Martins Motorsports, owned by driver Tommy Joe Martins and his father Craig, would be re-opening in 2020. They will field a full-time Xfinity Series team in 2020, the No. 44 Chevrolet, with Tommy Joe driving in all races unless other drivers who bring sponsorship are found which would take him out of the driver's seat at any time. Also, unlike when the team last competed, they will have another owner, Rodney Riessen, a longtime friend of the Martins family.
  • On January 15, 2020, DGM Racing announced that their No. 36 team would be renumbered to the No. 92 in 2020, which was previously the number for their third part-time team. Josh Williams will continue as the driver of that car for the second year in a row. In a number swap between DGM cars, the old No. 92 car will now have the No. 36, and Alex Labbé will drive it in at least three races, one of which is the season-opener at Daytona. It could even turn into a full-season effort if sponsorship is found.
  • On January 19, 2020, Mike Harmon Racing announced that they would be renumbering their second car, the No. 17, to the No. 47 for this season. Harmon took over the No. 17 in large part from Rick Ware Racing partway through the 2019 season.
  • On January 21, 2020, RSS Racing revealed that they would only be fielding two cars full-time, the No. 39 and the No. 93, with the No. 38, which was previously for the most part a start and park car, going down to part-time for 2020. The No. 38 will be entered at Daytona and Talladega with Jeff Green, and will only be fielded in other races if sponsorship is found.
  • On February 3, 2020, Bob Pockrass reported the following owner points transfers for 2020: GMS Racing No. 23 to the Our Motorsports No. 02, Stewart–Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste No. 98 to Jimmy Means Racing No. 52, MBM Motorsports No. 61 to the Hattori Racing Enterprises No. 61, Jimmy Means Racing No. 52 to the Mike Harmon Racing No. 74. Internal owners points transfers consist of the following: Stewart–Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste No. 00 to No. 98, DGM Racing No. 92 to No. 36, RSS Racing No. 93 to No. 39, MBM Motorsports No. 35 to No. 66 and No. 66 to No. 13, Brandonbilt Motorsports No. 86 to 68, B. J. McLeod Motorsports No. 99 to No. 78, and JD Motorsports No. 01 to No. 6, No. 0 to No. 4, No. 15 to No. 0, and No. 4 to No. 15.
  • On May 23, 2020, Ray Black Jr. announced that he would no longer be driving the No. 07 for SS-Green Light Racing in order to concentrate on helping his family business, the CDA Technical Institute, recover after it experienced financial problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Black's departure, it was announced that Rick Ware Racing had cut a deal with SS-Green Light to field some of their drivers in the No. 07 for the remainder of the season. This began with Garrett Smithley in the car for Charlotte and Carson Ware, Rick's son, making his series debut at Bristol.

    Drivers

  • On September 24, 2019, it was announced that Christopher Bell will move up to the NASCAR Cup Series for 2020, driving the No. 95 for Leavine Family Racing and vacating his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Xfinity Series.
  • On October 2, 2019, it was confirmed by Richard Childress Racing that Tyler Reddick will be moving up to the Cup Series with them full-time in 2020, replacing Daniel Hemric in the No. 8 Chevrolet.
  • On October 15, 2019, it was announced that Ross Chastain will be driving for Kaulig Racing full-time in 2020 in their No. 10 car after running part-time for the team in 2019. In that announcement, the team also confirmed that Justin Haley would be returning to drive the No. 11.
  • On October 17, 2019, it was announced that Harrison Burton would be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing full-time in 2020 in their No. 20 Toyota, replacing Christopher Bell while also competing for Rookie of the Year honors. In 2019, Burton drove full-time in the Truck Series driving the No. 18 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports while also making some limited starts in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 18 Toyota for Gibbs.
  • On October 18, 2019, Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice announced that the team intended on fielding their No. 16 car part-time in 2020, with the tentative plan being for A. J. Allmendinger to return for all the road course races plus the new Martinsville race in October. Rice also stated they will field the car at the restrictor plate races, but they have not yet decided on a driver. On December 30, 2019, Rice confirmed in an interview with Larry McReynolds on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that Allmendinger would drive the No. 16 at Daytona in February. On January 30, 2020, Kaulig Racing announced that Allmendinger would run for a total of eight races, which were all five road course events and all three restrictor plate races. Allmendinger would later add the spring Bristol race and Atlanta to his schedule as well. After winning the race at Atlanta, the Sunday Homestead race was also added to his schedule so he could run for the Dash 4 Cash.
  • On November 5, 2019, it was announced that Riley Herbst will drive the No. 18 Toyota full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2020.
  • On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Jesse Little will drive for JD Motorsports full-time in 2020.
  • On November 13, 2019, it was announced that Daniel Hemric will return to the Xfinity Series to drive the JR Motorsports No. 8 Chevrolet for 21 races. In addition, Jeb Burton will drive the car for 11 races and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. will return for one race.
  • On November 21, 2019, it was announced that Myatt Snider will run part-time for Richard Childress Racing in 2020, beginning at the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.
  • On November 22, 2019, it was announced that C. J. McLaughlin will return to RSS Racing for at least 20 races in 2020.
  • On December 3, 2019, it was announced that Anthony Alfredo would run a part-time Xfinity schedule for Richard Childress Racing in the same car as Myatt Snider, which was confirmed to be the No. 21 again in 2020. Last year, Alfredo drove for DGR-Crosley part-time in the Truck Series.
  • On December 4, 2019, Landon Cassill said that he plans to race full-time in the Shepherd Racing Ventures No. 89 Chevrolet in 2020, should funding be available. He drove that car part-time in 2019 as well as for the last race of the 2018 season.
  • On December 6, 2019, Richard Childress Racing publicly stated that they would be interested in hiring Daniel Suárez either to drive the No. 2 Chevrolet or if sponsorship was found, for a third Cup team in 2020. Suárez previously drove for Joe Gibbs Racing from 2015 to 2018 and for Stewart–Haas Racing in 2019.
  • On December 8, 2019, Tommy Joe Martins announced via Twitter that he would likely be let go by MBM Motorsports in 2020. He had previously signed with the team in Summer 2019 to return for this year, but that has changed since the team now looks to scale back to two cars. On December 24, it was announced that Martins will drive the No. 44 Chevrolet of the returning Martins Motorsports in 2020.
  • On December 19, 2019, Carl Long said that Joey Gase would not be back with his team in 2020 as part of their reduction from four full-time teams to two. The following day, Gase was announced to be moving up to the Cup Series full-time driving for Rick Ware Racing.
  • On January 9, 2020, JD Motorsports announced that Colby Howard will be joining the team for the majority of the season starting at Phoenix.
  • On January 14, 2020, RSS Racing announced the return of Jeff Green in the No. 38 Chevrolet. He is back after sitting out for the second half of the 2019 season due to having surgery. The team had previously stated before this happened that they wanted to have him back in 2020 if he was medically cleared to race.
  • On January 16, 2020, it was announced that Joe Graf Jr. will race full-time in the SS-Green Light Racing No. 08 Chevrolet.
  • On January 22, 2020, MBM Motorsports announced that Stephen Leicht would be joining the team to drive the No. 13 in a few races, the first of which will be at Las Vegas. In other races where he is not driving, such as at Daytona, he will be a spotter for one of the team's other cars. In 2019, Leicht ran a full season in the Xfinity Series in the No. 01 for JD Motorsports.
  • On January 28, 2020, it was announced that Mason Massey would drive the No. 99 for B. J. McLeod Motorsports in a number of races in the 2020 season, starting at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February.
  • On January 28, 2020, Chris Cockrum announced he would run at least three races in the ACG Motorsports No. 25 Chevrolet.
  • On January 30, 2020, Our Motorsports announced that Brett Moffitt would drive the No. 02 Chevrolet for the first four races in the season. Moffitt also ended up driving the fifth race of the season at Darlington on top of the first four races. Patrick Emerling was announced on May 20, 2020, to be making his debut in the series in the No. 02 at Bristol in May.
  • On February 7, 2020, JD Motorsports announced that Jeffrey Earnhardt would rejoin the team to drive in twelve races in 2020. He drove the No. 4 car full-time in 2014. For about half of 2019, Earnhardt was without a ride after being released from his part-time rides with Joe Gibbs Racing and XCI Racing.
  • On February 11, 2020, Jimmy Means Racing announced that J. J. Yeley will drive the No. 52 Chevrolet in the first three races of the season.
  • On February 20, 2020, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Kyle Busch will drive the No. 54 Toyota at Phoenix, Charlotte, Chicagoland, Loudon and Watkins Glen.
  • On March 4, 2020, Tony Stewart announced that he would come out of retirement and race at the Indianapolis road course race on the July 4th weekend. This is his first Xfinity start since 2013 at Daytona, a race that he won. It is also his first race in the series at a track other than Daytona since 2009. However, reporter Jenna Fryer tweeted on June 9, 2020, that Stewart had decided to not enter the race after it was announced that no fans would be allowed to attend it due to COVID-19.
  • On April 14, 2020, JD Motorsports announced that Mike Wallace, who drove for them from 2009 through 2013, would reunite with the team to drive the No. 0 car at the Indianapolis road course. This will be his first NASCAR and Xfinity Series start since 2015 following an unofficial retirement. On September 10, NASCAR suspended Wallace indefinitely and ordered him to perform sensitivity training after he made a post on social media that violated the sport's member conduct guidelines.
  • On May 18, 2020, David Starr tweeted that he has parted ways with JD Motorsports due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting sponsorship.
  • On July 22, 2020, it was announced that Andy Seuss had left Our Motorsports. He was set to make a number of starts with them in the No. 02 throughout the season, but had yet to make any at the time of his departure from the team. Meanwhile, hours later, it was announced that Andy Lally, would be driving for the team at Road America and the Daytona Road Course.