Team Penske to expand to 2 Xfinity Series cars next season

Logano passed Larson on a restart with 12 laps to go to win the Xfinity Series race Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Derik Hamilton/AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Team Penske will expand its Xfinity Series entries to two full-time cars in 2017.

The second Mustang will allow Ford Performance to use the entry in its driver development program. Stewart-Haas Racing will also field a new Xfinity team next year, giving Ford two new entrants in NASCAR’s second-tier series.

Penske scored its first Xfinity win of the season last Saturday when Joey Logano won at Watkins Glen. Penske has been fielding one full Xfinity entry since 2009 and won the driver championship the next year with Brad Keselowski.

Roger Penske said Friday he wants to use the Xfinity program to develop personnel that will eventually move to the Cup Series.

Since joining Ford in 2013, Team Penske has won 29 Xfinity races and back-to-back-to-back owners’ championships.

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