Jake Finch making Xfinity Series debut with Hendrick Motorsports at Dover

This weekend is a big one for Jake Finch. The 20-year-old is going to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Dover Motor Speedway. Finch is suiting up for Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 17 car in a somewhat surprising move.

Jake Finch has a history at Dover. He won the 2023 ARCA East race at the track. Finch also has an ARCA national series win from Talladega in 2024. But he’s mainly driven Toyotas up to this point.

Finch’s father, James Finch Sr., was the owner of Phoenix Racing. His family has experience at the highest levels of NASCAR. Now, Jake is getting a major opportunity at a track where he’s had success. Hendrick Motorsports has had Corey Day primarily in the 17 car this season. Now, Finch takes over for a week.

Next up in the No. 17! @jamessfinch will drive the No. 17 @HendrickCars Chevy at the @MonsterMile. pic.twitter.com/g8SNtsqcsq

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) July 14, 2025

Jake Finch is a bit of an unknown. He has done well in ARCA competition. But we haven’t seen anything that jumps off the page. Even though he races in Venturini equipment most of the time, he hasn’t had the strength of a Jesse Love, William Sawalich, or Connor Zilisch.

This is a very interesting pairing. It could also be risky for Finch. Hendrick Motorsports won’t be the ones to blame if Finch has a poor showing at Dover. No one is expecting him to win, but if he can’t at least have a decent finish in this car, then it could do more harm than good.

Dover is a really challenging track. When Finch won that race, William Sawalich was still 16. Landen Lewis was 17. Luke Fenhaus was 19. Big names like Jesse Love were not in the race that week, and Finch took advantage of that to win.

Dale Jr. spilled Jake Finch Hendrick Motorsports news

All the way back in April, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was talking about the Hendrick Motorsports Xfinity Series program. It was after Kyle Larson had raced in the Xfinity Series race at Bristol. While talking about that team, he let it slip that Jake Finch was going to have a start in the 17 car.

So far, Earnhardt has been accurate. He also mentioned Rajah Caruth at the time.

“Hey, he’ll [Larson] tell us, ‘Well, the Hendrick car’s full – they got Day, Rajah, Finch, they got a season full.’ Well, there’s other Chevrolets out there,” Earnhardt explained. “He won’t be in that sweet, sweet Hendrick equipment carrying him around that racetrack, but hey, he’s the difference maker, right?

“And the CARS Tour would love for him – that’s one box he ain’t checked. He went to the CARS Tour and raced our car, a good car, at Caraway and finished 7th. So, there’s some mountains he ain’t climbed yet.”

Rajah Caruth races in the No. 71 Chevy for Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series. He won earlier this season at Nashville, his second career win. Caruth has raced in the 17 car before. He finished P14 at the Phoenix season finale in 2023. If I had to guess, Caruth could race this Hendrick Motorsports car at Gateway or Kansas later this season.