NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Return to Kentucky in 2019

NASCAR released the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series schedules on Wednesday.

Both series begin their respective seasons at Daytona International Speedway and conclude with finales at Homestead-Miami Speedway, akin to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and mirroring recent years with a tripleheader at both sites. All three series also will be off Easter weekend (April 20-21), and track dates bring a measure of consistency to both series.

The current Camping World Truck Series will be renamed the Gander Outdoors Truck Series beginning in 2019, which NASCAR announced in May.

"What we've been trying to do the last couple years is getting the schedules out, along with the start times, as early in the process as possible," said Steve Herbst, NASCAR Vice President, Broadcasting and Production. "We were able to get the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series dates out obviously a few weeks back, so we were happy to get that and come with this soon after.

"It's just a real positive for everyone involved; (for) NASCAR in getting their plans together, for the tracks to start getting their marketing materials together and marketing the races for next year, for the fans to make their plans as ahead of time as possible. So, I think the No. 1 thing is try to get it out as early as possible. … We'll follow up soon for the start times for everything and people can really lock in their 2019 plans."

MORE: NASCAR releases 2019 Monster Energy Series schedule

The race weekend for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway is moved to later in the season, set to run on Thurs., Aug. 1. The series' standalone race at Texas will also be moved from November to Friday, March 29, shortening the long spring break for the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. The rest of the schedule closely mirrors the 2018 lineup for both series.

"Consistency over the course of a couple years is something that was also really important to us," Herbst said. "Doesn't mean we won't make tweaks here and there, date switches that make sense. But we like to make some changes and let it breathe for a while. We're making some changes this year for 2018 on the Monster Energy Series side that haven't even taken place yet; Chicago and Las Vegas in the fall, and other things, too, (like) Richmond and Indy.

"It's hard to already make changes on things before they actually breathe a little bit. We want to get people accustomed to it, test it, see how it works - does it work for the fans, does it work for the tracks? And then do a little bit more of an analysis after a couple years of data (to figure out) do we want to keep it the same or do we want to make any further changes."

One aspect of the two series that Herbst doesn't expect to change is the level of excitement and quality of racing from both groups.

"For the Xfinity and Gander Outdoors Truck Series, I think for us, this offers some of the best racing that we have available to us," he said. "Obviously we're proud of all three series; they've all delivered great racing week in, week out over the course of a 10-month season.

"On the Monster Energy Series side, you've got some of the best drivers in the world, competing week after week over a course of a 10-month season, 36 races. On the Xfinity side, you've got the stars of tomorrow who are getting ready to make that leap. And then of course on the Gander Outdoors Truck side, you've got some of just the straight-out, old-school, best racing you'll see."

2019 NASCAR XFINITY SERIES SCHEDULE

2019 NASCAR GANDER OUTDOORS TRUCK SERIES SCHEDULE

-NASCAR-