PREVIEW: This time at Kansas, Cup has a full field and Trucks come up short
 |
| PHOTO: @RCRracing |
TRUCKS Race 7 of 23
Digital Ally 250 at Kansas
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Kevin Donahue
ENTRY LIST
Just 28 trucks made the preliminary entry list for Friday’s Truck Series race, threatening not only the first short field of 2019, but the smallest in series history at Kansas. The previous mark was 31 trucks in 2014. The list then shrank to 27 on Wednesday following a pair of withdrawals (#7, #30) and the addition of a team truck (#87). UPDATE: Make that 29 with the addition of two more (#0, #1). UPDATE 2: And now 30 (#38).
MISSING: #19-Bill McAnally Racing
MISSING: #43-Tony Mrakovich Racing
MISSING: #49-CMI Motorsports
MISSING: #56-Hill Motorsports
MISSING: #97-JJL Racing
MISSING: #04-Roper Racing
No less than six teams entered in last week’s race in Dover are not entered this week. Two of these are teams that withdrew prior to qualifying last week (#43 and #04). The other four are part-time efforts which took the green last Friday. Headlining the group is the McAnally effort, whose driver Derek Kraus turned in another impressive 8th-place run last week. Following Kraus are the Hill brothers’ #56 Chevrolet - which ran 20th with Tyler Hill - Ray Ciccarelli’s 24th-place #49 Chevrolet, and Jesse Little’s 29th-place #97 Ford.
RETURNING: #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing
The short entry list afforded the opportunity for Jennifer Jo Cobb to enter her second truck for the first time since last year's Homestead finale. Added on Thursday, Joey Gase will drive and join his MBM teammate Timmy Hill in running double-duty.
RETURNING: #1-Beaver Motorsports
Originally not entered, Mark Beaver's team also joined the list on Thursday with Bayley Currey doing the double along woth his run for Rick Ware Racing (see below).
WITHDREW: #7-All Out Motorsports
On Wednesday, Korbin Forrister withdrew his #7 after a crash left him 30th in Dover.
WITHDREW: #30-On Point Motorsports
Also withdrawn following a crash in Dover is Brennan Poole, who qualified 8th prior to his pair of incidents during the race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #33-Reaume Brothers Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #34-Reaume Brothers Racing
One week after Ryan Sieg turned in an impressive 16th-place finish in his return to the Truck Series, Josh Reaume resumes the driving duties for his flagship #33 Chevrolet. Reaume moves from the #34 to do so, opening the door for a driver to be determined to drive. UPDATE: Josh Bilicki was named drover of the #34 on Thursday.
RETURNING: #38-Neice Motorsports
The third late addition on Thursday was the return of Al Neice's spare truck woth T.J. Bell driving. Bell last raced in the series last fall in Las Vegas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Neice Motorsports
Angela Ruch returns to Al Niece’s effort for her fourth Truck Series start of the season and first since Texas. Then as now, her sponsor is The Ruch Life. It will be Ruch’s first series start at Kansas, a track where she has a pair of XFINITY Series start with a best of 29th last fall. Ruch takes the place of Reid Wilson, who ran 28th at Dover after alternator trouble.
DRIVER CHANGE: #46-Kyle Busch Motorsports
Riley Herbst is slated to make his first Truck Series start of 2019, taking the place of 11th-place Dover finisher Raphael Lessard. Herbst, who brings with him sponsorship from Monster Energy and Advance Auto Parts, last ran the series last fall for DGR-Crosley, finishing 15th at Phoenix. His series best remains an 8th in his series debut at Gateway.
RETURNING: #87-NEMCO Motorsports
With the short field came the return Wednesday of Joe Nemechek's second truck, which Timmy Hill will drive in a now double-duty weekend with MBM.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, May 11, 2019
CUP Race 12 of 36
Digital Ally 400 at Kansas
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Ty Dillon
ENTRY LIST
The Cup Series sees just its third full field of 2019 and first since Talladega, two rounds ago.
RETURNING: #31-Richard Childress Racing
With the XFINITY Series taking the week off (see below), series point leader Tyler Reddick will compete in his second Cup Series start and first since a 27th-place finish in the Daytona 500. TAME the BEAST grooming products will back the effort at a track where Reddick has finished 2nd and 5th in his two XFINITY starts.
NEW TEAM: #46-Motorsports Business Management
RETURNING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
The XFINITY off-weekend has also allowed a small team to expand their Cup efforts. The rumored second team from Carl Long’s effort, originally scheduled to enter the Daytona 500, will make its series debut in the same race MBM first made a Cup start two years ago. Behind the wheel of the new #46 will be Joey Gase, whose most recent of three Cup starts came in the Sam Bass tribute car at Richmond. Car #46, Long's number in Cup when his own team was closed a decade ago, has been absent from Cup since the close of 2016, when Michael Annett wrapped up his latest Cup effort with the shuttered HScott Motorsports. The #66 will also rejoin the circuit for the first time since that Richmond race, and Timmy Hill will drive it for the first time since Bristol.
DRIVER CHANGE: #51-Rick Ware Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #52-Rick Ware Racing
Rick Ware’s two-car effort will return to their Richmond lineup with Cody Ware and B.J. McLeod swapped out for Jeb Burton in the #51 and Bayley Currey in the #52. Their last time out, the pair finished 31st and 32nd, respectively. While it will be Currey’s first Cup start at Kansas, it will be Burton’s third, his first since running both 2015 races for BK Racing, yielding finishes of 42nd and 37th. UPDATE: Cody Ware will drive in place of Burton in the #51.
MISSING: #53-Rick Ware Racing
The Ware team has not entered its third car, which was withdrawn without a driver without turning a lap at Dover.
TEAM UPDATE: #77-Spire Motorsports
Quin Houff is again the driver of the #77 this week following a rough weekend in Dover where he hit the Turn 2 wall and was flagged off the track for not maintaining minimum speed. The team carries new sponsorship into Kansas from Oilfire Rye Whiskey and Liqueur.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
XFINITY Race 11 of 33
Alsco 300 at Charlotte
2018 Last-Place Finisher: B.J. McLeod
The XFINITY Series takes two weeks off and will return for Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte.
LASTCAR STAT OF THE WEEK
Today in LASTCAR history (May 9, 1998): Doug George picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his Truck Series career in the NAPACARD 200 at the Evergreen Speedway when his #26 Auto Trim Design Network Ford lost an engine after 84 laps. The finish came in George’s final start driving for Mike Mittler, the longtime series team owner of the #63 still operated by D.J. Copp. The team, which trailed Kansas last year with Kevin Donahue, is not entered this week, but Copp stated the team is still in operation.
