By Toby Christie, Editor — Follow on Twitter @Toby_Christie
On Thursday, NASCAR released new rules for the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoor Truck Series seasons. While there were a ton of new rules announced — I will get to some of those in a few — nothing is bigger than the incentive NASCAR just gave car owners to keep Cup Series drivers out of their Xfinity and Truck Series rides.
Starting in 2019, wins by Cup Series drivers in either of the other two NASCAR National Series will not count toward playoff points, or berths for the teams in which they compete.
In essence this means if any owner wants to be able to run for the owner’s championship they must stick with series regular drivers. Cup drivers had already been eliminated from driving for lower tier series championships while running for the Cup Series title in recent years. Then NASCAR took their rules to the next step by limiting the races in which Cup Series drivers could participate in the NXS and NGOTS.
