Welcome everyone to the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season preview. Here we will be taking a look at the many changes that occurred during the offseason. We will also take a look at what we can expect from these changes as well as some of the preseason top plays.
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We had some big changes over the offseason for the Xfinity Series. Numerous top drivers leaving the series, rule changes and schedule changes will make for a large shakeup for the 2020 season. In this article, we are going to take a look at these changes and discuss the effects they will have on the 2020 season.
Driver/Team Changes
The Dominators
There are some major changes to the elite tier of the Xfinity Series for 2020. In 2019 we saw three drivers absolutely dominate the Series scoring 21 wins in 33 races and leading 3,495 total laps. That means they led 62.2% of every lap available, a truly ridiculous stat. Those three drivers were Christopher Bell, Cole Custer, and Tyler Reddick. As a result of their success, all three drivers gained promotion to the Cup Series. Their success was a perfect storm of talented drivers with the right amount of experience driving for elite teams.
What this means for the 2020 season…
For starters, let’s take a look at what happened with the team. The #2 driven by Tyler Reddick essentially shut down with no replacement driver to be found. The SHR #00 team of Custer also shut down. The reason two elite cars would shutdown is simply due to no quality driver/sponsorship scenarios were available to keep the teams running. Harrison Burton will take over the #20 car driven by Christopher Bell and becomes someone to pay close attention to.
Next, we need to take a look at the front runners to take their place as series dominators. The two drivers that jump off the page are Justin Allgaier and Chase Briscoe. Both drivers won a race in 2019 while ranking 3rd and 7th in laps led. Briscoe was in his first full-time season where he also served as Cole Custer’s teammate. Considering drivers take a huge step forward in season two and with Custer out of the way I expect Briscoe to take a huge leap forward. Another notable driver to pay close attention to will be Ross Chastain. Chastain is making his full time return to the Xfinity Series with Kaulig racing. Chastain is primed for a killer year with eyes on a 2021 move to the Cup Series.
Other Notables
Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton who will be in the best equipment possible with Joe Gibbs Racing. While they aren’t the best drivers, the cars they are driving are simply untouchable at some tracks. Austin Cindric has still failed to become a top contender on ovals but is still the front runner to dominate the now FIVE road course races in 2020. We also have two part-timers who will have chances to dominate and win races. AJ Allmendinger will be in eight race for Kauling Racing all of which he will be a threat to win and Daniel Hemric will make the move back to the Xfinity Series racing 21 times in the #8 for JRM.
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The Best of the Rest
The Xfinity Series is very much in a state of flux these days. Lots of shakeups are happening year after year with teams depending on sponsorship availability or whether drivers are able to bring funding. The 2020 offseason with little surprise has lots of changes from top to bottom. We have already mentioned the majority of change with the top teams so now let us look at who else has made moves over the offseason.
Top Tier Equipment, Unproven Drivers
To start things off we should look at the #18 of Joe Gibbs Racing. In 2019 we saw this team driven by numerous drivers including Kyle Busch who won four races. One of those drivers who drove the car in 2019 for a few events was Riley Herbst who will now take over the car full time in 2020. He has a lot to prove but is in the best situation possible.
Next up, there are a couple of shared rides to pay close attention to. The #8 for JRM as mentioned above will be driven by Daniel Hemric in 21 races this year. That leaves 12 open races to be filled. Dale Earnhardt Jr will continue his one race a year tradition when he races at Homestead in late March. As for the other 11 races, we will see Jeb Burton return to the #8 after a rather successful part-time stint with the team in 2019. I expect this team to hunt around the top 5 and even contend for wins occasionally. The other top team with a shared ride will be the #21 for RCR. Essentially, a mixture of resources from the #2 and #21 teams from last year will make up the team driven by Anthony Alfredo (16 races), Kaz Grala (10 races), and Myatt Snyder (7 races). The expectation should be for top tens with an occasional top 10 mixed in.
Value Plays Changes
We left off the last section with Myatt Snyder so we will start of this one with Myatt Snyder. Snyder, in addition to his races with RCR, will also split the #93 car at RSS Racing with CJ McLaughlin. RSS will also run Jeff Green in a couple of races in 2020. Also, the team has committed to running every race and no longer operating with a start and park car. Another major change will see Joe Graf Jr. take over the #08 for SS Greenlight. This car was driven by Gray Gaulding in 2019 and one of the absolute best value plays of the year.
Quick Hits
- Jesse Little will race full time for JD Motorsports likely in the #4.
- Colby Howard will also join JDM with a partial schedule
- Tommy Joe Martins has gone back to running his own team and will compete full time with the #44 car
- Josh Bilicki heads back to BJ McLeod Racing where he splits the #99 car with newcomer Mason Massey
- Our Motorsports #02 will join the series with Brett Moffitt running the first four races. Other drivers TBD
- Mike Harmon will run 2 full-time cars #74 and #47. Drivers TBD
- MBM will downsize to two full-time teams with Chad Finchum and Timmy Hill. Stephen Leicht will run a partial schedule in 2020. The team is not expected to field start and parks at this time.
Even with only a week until teams show up to Daytona there are still some teams sorting out plans for 2020. We will likely see some additional part-time teams pop up from week to week.
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Rule Changes
The most important rule change for this coming season is the field size being cut to 36 cars from 38. This should see a reduction in start and park cars while also adding some increased revenue for teams. Cup Series drivers will now only be allowed to race in five total events.
The only other major rule change is that controlled cautions will be used at standalone races. Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Iowa Speedway, and Road America. This procedure includes restrictions on tire changes and refueling to prevent teams from hiring specialized pit crews for standalone races. The controlled caution procedure will not be in effect for weekends where either series is with the Cup Series.
The rules are as follows:
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- Each team will consist of eight pit crew members. This includes four to service the car, one fueler, and one driver assistant.
- On oval tracks, teams may add fuel and change two tires per pit stop.
- On road courses, teams may add fuel or change four tires per pit stop.
- Restarts under caution will be in the following order:
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- Cars that did not pit.
- Cars that pitted one time, followed by two times.
- Free Pass, Wave Around vehicles, Penalty vehicles.
- Teams involved in incidents are allowed to change four tires at once to avoid damaging the vehicle.
- Penalties are as follows:
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- A team must restart on the tail end of the lead lap if they exceed the time limit on pit road or they pit other than the designated lap.
- A team must serve a two-lap penalty if they change all four tires and add fuel on any pit stop, change tires under green (unless approved by NASCAR for damage caused by an incident), or perform a four-tire change on any pit stop (ovals only).
This will definitely bring some new strategy into play for these races and is something we need to pay attention to closely as this could be the future direction of the series!!
Schedule Changes
There were only a couple of schedule changes for this season but both are pretty significant overall.
Martinsville was added to the Xfinity Series schedule for the first time since 2006 and only the second time since 1994. This race will serve as the last race of the playoffs before the season finale at Phoenix. A knockout race at Martinsville should make for some high drama late in the year.
The other major change is with the July Indianapolis event. The Xfinity Series will go from racing on the oval to racing the Indianapolis road course. This will bring the total of road course races to five for the 2020 season. With the IndyCar Series off this race weekend, we should also be on the lookout for some of those drivers to potentially find rides to compete in this race.
Check out some of our other DFS Army NASCAR content for the 2020 season!!!
DFS Army Strategy Series – NASCAR Scoring Fanduel vs Draftkings
This will conclude the 2020 Xfinity Series Preview. I hope you enjoyed it and picked up some extra knowledge to help going into the new season. If you would like to follow me on twitter you can @Larkin8. Most importantly I hope you will join us at the DFS Army and become a VIP member. Join today and use my promo code LARKIN for 20% off membership