The 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series season was the 62nd season of semi-professional in the United States. The season included thirty-four races, beginning with the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway and ending with the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. During the 2010 season, NASCAR announced a few notable calendar changes, including race additions at Iowa Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway, and the removal of Gateway International Raceway from the schedule. Jack Roush won the Owners' Championship, while Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. of Roush Fenway Racing won the Drivers' Championship with a second-place finish at the final race of the season. Ford won the Manufacturers' Championship with 212 points.
2010 NASCAR K&N East Series Champion Ryan Truex was intended to run 10–20 races with Pastrana-Waltrip Racing, and was the early favorite to win Rookie of the Year. However, sponsorship issues sidelined Truex's bid for the title, forcing him to sit out most of the season. He was later tabbed by Joe Gibbs Racing to drive their No. 20 Toyota late in the season. Blake Koch, returning to NASCAR after sitting 2010 out due to losing sponsorship, was to drive the No. 81 alongside veteran Donnie Neuenberger. However, Koch picked up sponsorship from Daystar Television Network, which eventually expanded to sponsoring Koch for the full year. Rick Ware Racing development driver Timmy Hill was 17 years old when the Nationwide Series hit Daytona, and thus was not approved to run until the next week in Phoenix. Jennifer Jo Cobb's rookie season was hampered by a fallout with 2nd Chance Motorsports owner Rick Russell over starting and parking, and she briefly moved to Rick Ware Racing before moving her own team up to Nationwide with limited success. Charles Lewandoski intended to make ten races for TriStar Motorsports, but ended up running some start and park efforts with Key Motorsports.