zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
NASCAR Further Limits How Often Its Top-Level Cup Drivers Can Race In Lower Series
NASCAR Further Limits How Often Its Top-Level Cup Drivers Can Race In Lower Series-March 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:08

Kyle Busch in the front of an Xfinity Series field at Bristol Motor Speedway.

NASCAR has made , and , over the past handful of years. But perhaps one of the new rules as of late has been the limitation of top-level Cup Series drivers’ participation in lower NASCAR series, and things are about to get even more limited.

NASCAR Wednesday that in 2020, Cup drivers with “more than three years” of experience in that top series will be limited to running five races per season in both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series. The Cup, Xfinity and Truck series are the three national levels of NASCAR that often share race weekends, with Cup being the highest and the trucks being the lowest, meaning it’s easy for drivers to run more than one race in a weekend.

The drivers affected by the rules changes, in addition to being limited in number of races, won’t be allowed to run in the regular-season finale or playoff races in the lower series. They also can’t run in the series’ events that count for bonus money, like the Xfinity Series Dash for Cash or the Triple Truck Challenge.

The 2020 rules will be different in a couple of ways. This year, the only drivers limited are ones with more than five years of Cup experience who are earning Cup Series points—not three—and even they’re allowed to run seven Xfinity races. The number of Truck Series races, five, won’t change next year.

NASCAR said the new rules “continue a trend of reducing the impact of Monster Energy [Cup] Series drivers in the Xfinity Series and Gander Trucks in an effort to better showcase those series’ competitors,” and said they don’t single out any particular driver, such as Kyle Busch, who visits and dominates the lower series as much as he’s allowed. (The other week, Busch at Bristol Motor Speedway even with a failing engine toward the end.)

From the announcement:

“We’ve made small tweaks since then, and this is third tweak, but the goal is to find a happy medium or that sweet spot where it works for all of our stakeholders,” said Meghan Miley, NASCAR senior director of racing operations. “We hear from the fans that we need to get Cup drivers out of Xfinity and Trucks, and they want to just see the regulars, but we hear from the younger drivers that, ‘Hey, we want to race against these guys because they make us better.’

The new rules also include lowering the maximum amount of cars in the Xfinity Series field from 38 to 36, after lowering it from 40 to 38 this year.

Miley’s quote from the announcement sums up part of the debate over the rules on driver limitation, which have made the lower series less of a playground for Cup drivers to dominate on and thus more entertaining to watch. But limitations can also have unexpected negatives, like Busch’s open dislike for them.

Busch—a team owner in the Truck Series, who was joined by Cup driver Brad Keselowski until he , saying it lost about $1 million annually—called the rules a “damn shame” to . He in 2017 that, as of then, his Kyle Busch Motorsports truck team also operated at a loss and mentioned the positives of him getting in a truck in terms of keeping the team going.

“I race in the Truck Series because I love to race, but it is also a business,” Busch told Jalopnik that year. “Being able to bring in sponsorship for the races that I drive helps subsidize the costs for our other teams in the building based on economies of scale.

“We are not going to comment on the amount of personal money I contribute, but just by saying that tells you that we operate at a loss. Too big of a loss or not having enough fun would make KBM seriously consider the alternative.”

That mention of “not having enough fun” is likely related to the limitations.

But entertainment comes at a price sometimes, and in 2020, it’ll come at the price of two more Xfinity Series races that Cup Series drivers will have to drop.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
A Hydrogen-Powered Car Will Compete In The Dakar Rally In 2024
A Hydrogen-Powered Car Will Compete In The Dakar Rally In 2024
While most automotive companies have been pivoting to electrification instead of hydrogen when dreaming up more sustainable power sources, some folks are still hellbent on proving that hydrogen works. One of those companies is GCK (or Green Corp Konnection) Motorsport, which is aiming to bring a hydrogen-powered car to...
Mar 30, 2026
This Is The Route For The 2021 Dakar Rally
This Is The Route For The 2021 Dakar Rally
‘Tis the season to start getting pumped about the Dakar Rally. The prologue kicks off on January 2, 2021 with the full rally beginning on January 3, after all—and now we have a route. While the full list of routes is available via the website, I’m going to share...
Mar 30, 2026
Excellent News: The Dog That Stopped F1 Practice In Bahrain Has Been Rescued
Excellent News: The Dog That Stopped F1 Practice In Bahrain Has Been Rescued
During Friday’s second Formula One practice session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, a nasty crash by Alex Albon brought the session to a halt. After cleanup, cars hit the track for another go, only to be foiled by a second red flag just 27 seconds later. A dog had...
Mar 30, 2026
Haas Driver Romain Grosjean's F1 Car Goes Up In Flames, Spears Through Barrier, Splits In Half. Grosjean Walks Away
Haas Driver Romain Grosjean's F1 Car Goes Up In Flames, Spears Through Barrier, Splits In Half. Grosjean Walks Away
At the start of this Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Haas driver Romain Grosjean sustained a frankly horrific crash that saw his car both split in half and burst into flames. While the driver sustained minor burns and the marshals in the area seemed to escape without injury, the images...
Mar 30, 2026
What's Going On With Pirelli's Tires For The 2021 Formula One Season?
What's Going On With Pirelli's Tires For The 2021 Formula One Season?
is struggling. Formula One drivers had a chance to test the different compounds for the 2021 tires during the Bahrain Grand Prix practice sessions, and, at the moment, the prognosis is not good. In fact, it seems like we have a redux of the 2020 placeholder compound, which was...
Mar 30, 2026
Being A Racer Doesn't Mean You Get To Drive Like An Asshole On Public Roads
Being A Racer Doesn't Mean You Get To Drive Like An Asshole On Public Roads
I think everyone who reads Jalopnik can appreciate a nice, fast car—but I’d also hope we all know that there’s a time and a place for that kind of speed, and it’s not a public road. Being a race car driver doesn’t exempt you from that. This reminder specifically goes...
Mar 30, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved