The Grand National East Series was created in 1972 by NASCAR as a reaction to the contraction of the Grand National Division (renamed the Winston Cup Series) schedule and in response to the desires of new series sponsor Winston.
This left many tracks that had previously hosted NASCAR's premier series without their headliner events, however, and NASCAR created the Grand National East Division to fill the gap.
However, the first version of a Grand National East Series would only last two seasons before being abandoned by NASCAR.
Eventually, NASCAR would develop by the 1980s the NASCAR North Tour before eventually abandoning it for the Busch Grand National North Series in 1987, which in 2003 became the Busch East Series when the West and North (renamed East as the tour began traveling to the Southeast) series rules were unified.
[5] A significant number of events of the series' 1973 season took place outside of NASCAR's traditional southeastern stronghold;[6] in addition, eight of the season's fifteen races were co-sanctioned with the Automobile Racing Club of America.