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NASCAR Record: Joe Gibbs Leads Jack Roush and Dale Earnhardt Jr. In Xfinity Books

Gowtham Ramalingam
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From a Super Bowl Winner to a NASCAR Owner, How Joe Gibbs Managed the Epic Transition

From being known as the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series in 1982 to now the Xfinity Series, NASCAR’s second-tier circuit has come a long way. Along its path many teams have risen and seen glory. The brightest of the stars in its sky is Joe Gibbs Racing. Coach Gibbs created an Xfinity Series-arm only in 1997, roughly 5 years after he founded his Cup Series team.

Despite the relatively young age, the operation has gone on to win 211 races since then. It has also secured four Drivers’ Championships in 2009, 2016, 2021 and 2022. These achievements have come in the 863 races that the team has participated in thus far. Key figures who helped the team to success in this tier include Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.

The biggest name after Joe Gibbs Racing is RFK Racing. The Jack Roush-owned outfit made its debut in the Xfinity Series in 1992 with Mark Martin behind the wheel of the legendary No. 60 car. The team secured 138 victories and five championships came through courtesy of drivers like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chris Buescher before the operation was shut down in 2018.

The third Xfinity gargantuan is Richard Childress Racing. Though it only has 95 wins since 1995, it has five championships similar to RFK Racing. The latest of these titles came through Tyler Reddick in 2019. Kevin Harvick contributed hugely to this success by becoming champion twice, in 2001 and 2006. 19-year-old Jesse Love currently leads the team’s efforts in the series.

JR Motorsports should easily be the most followed outfit despite its numbers waning in comparison to its counterparts. Co-owned by popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., the team came to be of its current form only in the late-2000s. It has long-served as a training ground for Cup Series stalwarts and created stars like Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and William Byron. It has secured 84 wins and three championships.

Number five on the list is Team Penske. 25 years after Roger Penske entered a car in the Cup Series, he decided to take a stake in the second-tier as well. Beginning 1997, the team has won 81 races and brought in two championships through Brad Keselowski (2010) and Austin Cindric (2020). It does not have entries running in the ongoing season.

Post Edited By:Srijan Mandal

About the author

Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 350 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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