During the season, races were broadcast byFox Sports andNBC Sports for the third consecutive year.
William Byron ofJR Motorsports won the driver's championship with a third-place finish in the season finale. Team Penske won the owner's championship whileChevrolet won the manufacturer's championship.
This was the second year that the Xfinity Series (and theTruck Series) had a playoff system. Two of the four "championship 4" drivers (who are shown below), were the same as last year's, the only differences beingWilliam Byron andDaniel Hemric were in it instead ofDaniel Suárez andErik Jones, who both moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 2017. Also, three of the four of them (Byron, Sadler, and Allgaier) all drove forJR Motorsports. As Hemric, the other driver in the "championship 4", drove forRichard Childress Racing, that meant that the "championship 4" was composed entirely of Chevrolet drivers. Also ironically, Sadler and Allgaier both ended up finishing in the same positions in the standings as they did in 2016, second and third, respectfully.
Derrike Cope Racing announced on January 30 that it would shut down its No. 70Chevrolet Camaro. Its owners' points were transferred to Stewart–Haas Racing.
Team Penske was originally planned to run a second full-time team for the season, but didn't due to sponsorship problems. The team once again started a part-time basis, that started at Las Vegas.
JGL Racing fielded 2 full-time teams. The team previously fielded 1 full-time team and 1 part-time team. However, at Chicagoland and Kentucky (fall) they entered only 1 team. On September 25, 2017, they announced that they would be releasingDakoda Armstrong and would shut down the No. 28Toyota Camry team effective immediately, due to a lack of funding. JGL also announced that they would focus their efforts on the No. 24 team for the remainder of the season.
Matt Tifft drove the No. 19 Toyota full-time forJoe Gibbs Racing in 2017, replacingDaniel Suárez who is moving to the Monster Energy Cup Series to drive for JGR. Tifft shared the No. 18 Toyota withKyle Busch and other drivers in 2016.
Spencer Gallagher moved up to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2017 withGMS Racing. Gallagher drove a partial Xfinity schedule and a full-time Truck schedule in 2015 and 2016.
Ryan Preece departed fromJD Motorsports to return to theWhelen Modified Tour. On July 5, it was announced that Preece would return to the Xfinity Series to drive the No. 20 Toyota Camry forJoe Gibbs Racing for 2 races at New Hampshire and Iowa in July. On August 3, following Preece's win at Iowa, it was announced that JGR would add another race to Preece's slate with him running the No. 20 at Kentucky in September. Preece also drove the No. 18 car for JGR at Homestead in November.
Jeff Green drove the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro full-time forB. J. McLeod Motorsports. Green had previously start and parked forTriStar Motorsports and ran 3 races with B. J. in the No. 99 car. After failing to qualify atCharlotte Green was released from the team. Green now start and parks forRSS Racing. However, he returned to the No. 8 for Daytona.
Casey Mears drove the No. 98 Ford Mustang in 12 races forBiagi-DenBeste Racing. His last race in this series was in 2010. Mears also replaced the injured Aric Almirola at Pocono andDaytona increasing his races to 14.
Ty Majeski made his first Xfinity Series start at Iowa in June in the No. 60 car forRoush Fenway Racing and drove at Iowa in July. On November 9, 2017, it was announced that Majeski would run the No. 60Ford Mustang in the season finale at Homestead-Miami.
Scott Lagasse Jr. drove the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro forRichard Childress Racing at Iowa in June, Road America, Mid-Ohio, and Homestead sharing the ride withTy Dillon, who drove the car for 27 races. On July 3, it was announced thatBrian Scott would come out of retirement to drive the car at Iowa in July and Kentucky in September. Scott had previously competed for RCR in the Xfinity Series from 2013–2015. In 2016, Scott drove the No. 44Richard Petty Motorsports Ford Fusion in theMonster Energy NASCAR Cup Series before retiring at the end of the season.
Kyle Benjamin drove the No. 18 Toyota Camry and the No. 20 Toyota Camry for 5 races forJoe Gibbs Racing. Benjamin drove the No. 20 at Richmond in April and Pocono. He drove the No. 18 at both of the Iowa races and Kentucky in September.
Ben Kennedy drove the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro forRichard Childress Racing for 9 races beginning with Talladega in May, sharing the ride withAustin Dillon andPaul Menard. On April 17, it was announced that Kennedy would also drive the No. 96 Chevrolet Camaro forGMS Racing for 12 races beginning at Charlotte in May. However, the No. 96 skipped some scheduled races such as Pocono in June, Richmond, Chicagoland, and Dover in September, and Charlotte in October. The reason is mainly they didn't have sponsorship for the race.
Christopher Bell drove the No. 18 Toyota Camry and the No. 20 Toyota Camry for 7 races forJoe Gibbs Racing. Bell drove the No. 18 at Charlotte in May, and the fall races at Kansas, Texas, and Phoenix. He drove the No. 20 at Iowa in June, Richmond in September, and Homestead in November. On August 5, it was announced that Bell would run another race in the No. 18 at Road America in August. Bell currently competes full-time in theNASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 4 Toyota Tundra forKyle Busch Motorsports.
Cale Conley returned to NASCAR for one-race deal at Charlotte after almost 3 years absence.
Sam Hornish Jr. drove the No. 22 Ford Mustang forTeam Penske for 3 races with the possibility of more races being added. Hornish drove the No. 22 at both Iowa races as well as at Mid-Ohio. Hornish had previously competed for Team Penske in theMonster Energy NASCAR Cup Series from 2008–2010 and in the Xfinity Series from 2011–2013. In 2016, Hornish drove part-time in the Xfinity Series driving the No. 18 Toyota Camry forJoe Gibbs Racing and the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro forRichard Childress Racing. After his win atMid-Ohio, Hornish returned to No. 22 at Kentucky (fall). Hornish also drove the No. 12 car at Charlotte in the fall, and the No. 22 car at Homestead in November.
Angela Ruch-Cope returned to NASCAR at Kentucky after almost 5 years hiatus.
Brett Moffitt drove the No. 96 Chevrolet Camaro forGMS Racing at the July Iowa Race. Moffitt has only 1 Xfinity Start back in 2012 driving the No. 99 Toyota Camry forRAB Racing, finishing 9th in the July Iowa Race. Earlier this season, Moffitt had planned to run the fullNASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule, driving the No. 7 Toyota Tundra forRed Horse Racing, before the team shut down in late May.
On August 8, it was announced that Open Wheel and Sports Car driverJames Davison, would be driving the No. 20Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry for 2 races, at Mid-Ohio and Road America. Davison previously made 1 start in the Xfinity series in 2016, driving the No. 90King Autosport Chevrolet Camaro to a 19th-place finish at Road America. Earlier this year, Davison replaced an injuredSébastien Bourdais in the Indianapolis 500, finishing 20th.
Matt Bell returned to NASCAR at Mid-Ohio. His last race in NASCAR was in 2012. Earlier this year, he compete in the24 Hours of Daytona.Sheldon Creed made his Xfinity Series debut at Mid-Ohio.
On August 19, it was announced thatAustin Cindric would be making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut driving the No. 22Ford Mustang forTeam Penske at Road America. Cindric currently competes full-time in the Camping World Truck Series driving the No. 19Ford F-150 forBrad Keselowski Racing.
John Graham returned to NASCAR at Road America. His last race in NASCAR was in 2007.
On September 25, 2017,JGL Racing announced that they would releasingDakoda Armstrong and that they would be shutting down the No. 28Toyota Camry race team immediately due to a lack of funding.
Matt Beckman served as crew chief of the car driven byMatt Tifft in 2017. Beckman was an engineer of the No. 11 Cup team in 2016.
Jeff Meendering arrived as crew chief of the No. 00 car driven byCole Custer in 2017. Meendering was the car chief of the No. 20 car driven byMatt Kenseth for the Cup Series in 2016.
Matt Swiderski served as crew chief for Ty Dillon in 2017. Swiderski was the head of vehicle development in 2016.
Scott Graves served as crew chief forKyle Busch and others in the No. 18 in 2017 as announced January 26. Graves was the No. 19 crew chief for Daniel Suárez 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.[41] They are also ineligible to drive in the Xfinity Dash4Cash races as well as the final eight races of the season. Exceptions were 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.[42]
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.[43]
Like the NASCAR Cup Series, all Xfinity Series races were split into three segments. Top 10 drivers in the first two segments were awarded points. The final stage awarded full points as usual. The first segment finish was about a quarter of the full distance, and the second segment finish was about half of the full distance.
All races except Indianapolis saw the rear spoiler size significantly reduced to reduce downforce. The Indianapolis race featured a restrictor plate package including front air ducts provided by NASCAR that could not be covered with tape and a return to the 2016 rear spoiler.
The initial schedule, comprising 33 races, was released on May 5, 2016.[44] A final schedule with some modifications made in conjunction with broadcast partners Fox and NBC was released on July 27, 2016.
The Fox and NBC broadcast networks aired four races each, where the rest aired on pay channels FS1 and NBCSN.
(key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time.Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or owner's points. * – Most laps led.1 – Stage 1 winner.2 – Stage 2 winner.1–10 – Regular season top 10 finishers. . – Eliminated after Round of 12. – Eliminated after Round of 8
† – Corey LaJoie and Stephen Leicht started receiving Xfinity Series points at Homestead-Miami. ‡ – Both Denny Hamlin's wins were encumbered so his best finish (excluding his two wins) was 5th so for that reason he is scored behind Ty Dillon in the championship. For purposes of the owners championship, both Hamlin wins were penalized with points penalties.
(key)Bold - Pole position awarded by time.Italics - Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.1 – Stage 1 winner.2 – Stage 2 winner.1–10 – Owners' regular season top 10 finishers. . – Eliminated after Round of 12. – Eliminated after Round of 8
