The 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series will be the 36th season of semi-professional stock-car racing, the season will begin with the PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway on and end with the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Daniel Suárez will be the defending drivers' champion while Toyota will be the defending manufacturer's champion, although Suárez will not defend his title due to him racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
During the season, races will continue to be broadcast by Fox Sports and NBC Sports for the third consecutive year.
Stewart-Haas Racing will field the No. 00 Ford Mustang for the 2017 season. Stewart-Haas Racing formerly competed in the Xfinity Series from 2003 to 2006.
B. J. McLeod Motorsports will field 2 full-time teams and 1 part-time team. The team previously fielded a 1 full-time team and 2 part-time teams.
Rick Ware Racing will shut down its No. 15 team and move to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series.
Derrike Cope Racing announced on January 30 that it would shut down its No. 70 Chevrolet Camaro. Its owners points were transferred to Stewart-Haas Racing.
Cole Custer will drive the No. 00 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing full-time in 2017. Custer drove the No. 00 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for JR Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series and part-time in the Xfinity series, driving the No. 5 and No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro in 2016.
William Byron will drive the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro full-time for JR Motorsports in 2017. Byron drove the No. 9 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports full-time in the Camping World Truck Series in 2016.
Daniel Hemric will drive the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro full-time for Richard Childress Racing in 2017. Hemric drove the No. 19 Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing in the Truck Series.
Michael Annett will drive the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro full-time for JR Motorsports in 2017. Annett drove the No. 46 Chevrolet SS for HScott Motorsports from 2015 to 2016.
Matt Tifft will drive the No. 19 Toyota full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2017, replacing Daniel Suarez who is moving to the Monster Energy Cup Series to drive for JGR. Tifft shared the No. 18 Toyota with Kyle Busch and other drivers in 2016.
Tyler Reddick will join Chip Ganassi Racing, sharing the No. 42 Chevrolet with Kyle Larson and Justin Marks. Reddick drove for Brad Keselowski Racing in the Camping World Truck Series for the previous three seasons.
Spencer Gallagher will move up to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2017 with GMS Racing. Gallagher drove a partial Xfinity schedule and a full-time Truck schedule in 2015 & 2016.
Ryan Preece will depart from JD Motorsports to return to the Whelen Modified Tour.
Kevin Harvick will drive the No. 41 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing in 5 races with sponsorship from Bad Boy Buggies for Atlanta and Hunt Brothers Pizza for the other 4 races. Harvick drove the No. 88 car last year for JR Motorsports.
Jeff Green will drive the No. 8 Ford Mustang full-time for B.J. McLeod Motorsports. Green had previously start and parked for TriStar Motorsports.
Casey Mears will drive the No. 98 Ford Mustang in 12 races for Biagi-DenBeste Racing. His last race in this series was in 2010.
Matt Beckman will serve as crew chief of the car driven by Matt Tifft in 2017. Beckman was an engineer of the No. 11 Cup team in 2016.
Jeff Meendering will arrive as crew chief of the No. 00 car driven by Cole Custer in 2017. Meendering was the car chief of the No. 20 car driven by Matt Kenseth for the Cup Series in 2016.
Matt Swiderski will serve as crew chief for Ty Dillon in 2017. Swiderski was the head of vehicle development in 2016.
Scott Graves will serve as crew chief for Kyle Busch and others in the No.18 in 2017 as announced January 26th. Graves was the No. 19 crew chief for Daniel Suarez in 2016.
On October 26, NASCAR announced that drivers with more than five years of full-time racing on the Cup level may drive a maximum of 10 Xfinity Series races. They are also ineligible to drive in the Xfinity Dash4Cash races as well as the final eight races of the season. Exceptions will be given to drivers with more than five years of full-time racing on the Cup level if they declared to run points in Xfinity Series.
On February 8, 2017, NASCAR announced a new damaged vehicle policy for all three national series. Body panels can no longer be replaced after a wreck, and a team has five minutes on pit road to fix the damage before they are eliminated.
The initial schedule, comprising 33 races, was released on May 5, 2016. A final schedule with some modifications made in conjunction with broadcast partners FOX & NBC was released on July 27, 2016.
Changes from 2016 include:
The May Dover race moves to June, after the Charlotte race weekend.
The July race at Iowa Speedway will move from night to mid-afternoon.
Points are awarded to drivers in the three national series in the final stage by adding the total amount of segment points earned with the points earned in the final stage. Team owners only got the points earned in the final stage.
Points awarded in the first two stages:
Points awarded in the final stage:
(key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or 2015 Owner's points. * – Most laps led. 1 – Stage 1 winner. 2 – Stage 2 winner.
. – Eliminated after Round of 12 . – Eliminated after Round of 8
(key) Bold - Pole position awarded by time. Italics - Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.
