PREVIEW: Tributes to DW in Sonoma; youth movement central in Gateway
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| PHOTO: @roushfenway |
TRUCKS Race 11 of 23
CarShield 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway)
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Joe Nemechek
ENTRY LIST
The preliminary entry list of 31 drivers grew to 32 on Tuesday following one withdrawal (#30) and two additions (#1 and #6). All entrants will start the race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing
Jennifer Jo Cobb returns to her familiar #10, taking the place of Juan Manuel Gonzalez after a difficult morning in Iowa. Cobb’s return to the #10 opens the #0 for another driver to be announced. UPDATE: That driver is Greg Rayl, a 32-time starter in the K&N Pro Series West. Rayl makes his NASCAR national touring series debut after no major racing series starts since 2014.
RETURNING: #1-Beaver Motorsports
Added without a named driver on Tuesday, Mark Beaver’s single-truck effort is back in action for the first time since Kansas, where Bayley Currey steered his Toyota to a 29th-place finish. Beaver Bonding is the listed sponsor. The driver is to be announced. UPDATE: On Thursday, Cody McMahan was named the driver. McMahan has one previous attempt in 2016 when he DNQ'd Jennifer Jo Cobb's truck at Bristol. Saturday will be his series debut.
TEAM UPDATE: #6-Norm Benning Racing
Norm Benning wasn’t entered on the preliminary list, but that changed by Tuesday. No sponsor is currently listed.
TEAM CLOSED(?): #7-All Out Motorsports
News broke on Tuesday that All Out Motorsports, the team Korbin Forrister drove for on a part-time basis, has shut down. All Out, which last ran 25th in Charlotte, made 16 starts since their debut in the 2018 opener at Daytona. Their best finish was a pair of 13th-place runs that season in Kentucky and Las Vegas. UPDATE: Forrister tweeted Thursday that the team is still active, raising questions about the initial report.
DRIVER CHANGE: #8-NEMCO Motorsports
Camden Murphy seeks his second Truck Series start and first since charlotte, where he ran 30th in the NEMCO #8. Taking the place of Trey Hutchins, who ran 29th in Iowa, Murphy carries returning sponsorship from Toenjes Brick Contracting, Inc., which backed NEMCO twice last summer at Gateway and Pocono.
DRIVER CHANGE: #13-ThorSport Racing
Following his one-race suspension for wrecking Austin Hill during Sunday's race in Iowa, Johnny Sauter will not start a Truck Series race since November 14, 2008, the season finale at Homestead. In Sauter's place will be a driver to be announced. UPDATE: Myatt Snider became the replacement on Thursday.
DRIVER CHANGE: #17-DGM-Crosley
Anthony Alfredo will make his sixth start of 2019 and first since his breakout performance in Texas, where he ran 12th. He takes over for 9th-place Iowa finisher Raphael Lessard. Sponsorship comes from Steelsmith, Oxford Energy Group, ASDC, and the Friends of Jaclyn foundation.
WITHDREW: #30-On Point Motorsports
On Tuesday came news that Brennan Poole would not be competing in Gateway as the #30 team withdrew. It is the team’s second withdrawal of the season, the other coming at Kansas.
RETURNING: #32-Reaume Brothers Racing
Daniel Sasnett is again entered in what should be #32’s debut, following the pair’s withdrawal last week in Iowa.
DRIVER CHANGE: #33-Reaume Brothers Racing
Josh Reaume resumes driving duties of his team’s flagship #33, taking the place of 23rd-place Iowa finisher C.J. McLaughlin. Colonial Countertops returns as sponsor of his Chevrolet.
DRIVER CHANGE: #34-Reaume Brothers Racing
Bryant Barnhill returns to the site of his Truck Series debut last year, when he steered Premium Motorsports’ #15 Chevrolet to a 31st-place finish following engine trouble. This time, he replaces 21st-place Iowa finisher Mason Massey in another of Josh Reaume’s trucks.
MISSING: #42-Chad Finley Racing, Inc.
Not entered this week is Chad Finley, who saw his race in Iowa end after 68 laps due to rear end issues. It was in this race last year that Finley debuted this team, yielding a career-best 6th-place finish. The run remains his only career top 10 in eight series starts.
TEAM UPDATE: #44-Niece Motorsports
Ross Chastain and team lost their appeal on Wednesday. With his disqualification at Iowa, the race to make the Playoffs continues Saturday.
DRIVER CHANGE: #46-Kyle Busch Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #51-Kyle Busch Motorsports
KBM reloads their lineup with Chandler Smith, fresh off his strong start in Iowa, moving from the #51 to the #46 with sponsorship from iBUYPOWER. Smith takes the place of Riley Herbst, who ran 15th in Iowa and is not entered. Driving Smith’s #51 will be a returning Christian Eckes, who in this race last year started outside-pole and led 34 laps before a wreck left him 28th. SiriusXM sponsors Eckes, who now stands 4th in this year’s ARCA Menards Series standings.
MISSING: #56-Hill Motorsports
Timmy and Tyler Hill will not make the journey to Gateway this week following Tyler’s 26th-place finish in their Chevrolet in Iowa.
TEAM UPDATE: #74-Lou Goss Racing
Lou Goss will race in Gateway after his unfinished truck withdrew in Iowa. It will mark the first laps for the former Mike Harmon chassis since Mosport last summer. Kramer Service Group and A&A Haulers remain as sponsors of the new venture, which now is listed with Goss as team owner.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, June 23, 2019
CUP Race 16 of 36
Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sears Point
2018 Last-Place Finisher: A.J. Allmendinger
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered in Sunday’s first road course race of 2019, meaning all drivers entered will qualify. It is the third short field in a row and the twelfth in sixteen races this season. It’s also the third-straight year Sonoma has seen just 38 drivers take the green flag, the fewest for a Cup race held there.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Premium Motorsports
In addition to his Truck effort at Gateway, where he seeks to shake off the disappointment of a disqualification in Iowa, Ross Chastain will make his first-ever Cup start at the Sonoma Raceway. As in previous Cup efforts, he drives Jay Robinson’s #15 Chevrolet, which does not yet have a listed sponsor. He takes the place of Garrett Smithley, who ran 30th the last time the Cup Series was in action at Michigan. UPDATE: Kyle Weatherman will practice and qualify this car while Chastain runs Trucks at Gateway.
PAINT SCHEME: #17-Roush-Fenway Racing
PAINT SCHEME: #38-Front Row Motorsports
PAINT SCHEME: #95-Leavine Family Racing
At least three cars in Sunday’s field will carry paint schemes saluting the final FOX Sports broadcast for Darrell Waltrip. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #17 Fastenal Ford will carry a scheme resembling Waltrip’s Western Auto Chevrolet he ran from 1991 through 1997, complete with chrome-foil numbers. David Ragan’s #38 #ThanksDW Ford carries a white-and-red scheme with Waltrip’s famous catchphrase on the hood. Matt DiBenedetto is also listed in the orange-and-white scheme Waltrip ran when he ran #95 in 1974. The scheme, unveiled on Wednesday, will again be sponsored by Procore, which will also present Saturday's K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma.
RETURNING: #27-Premium Motorsports
Jay Robinson has also entered his second car for the first time since Pocono, and again enters Reed Sorenson in the #27 Chevrolet. Sorenson has four Sonoma starts in Cup competition, but none since 2014, when he finished 32nd for Tommy Baldwin Racing. Baldwin continues his role as crew chief for the team.
DRIVER CHANGE: #51-Rick Ware Racing
J.J. Yeley rejoins Rick Ware Racing, and brings his Steakhouse Elite sponsorship to complement the Ware team’s Jacob Companies backing. He takes the place of Kyle Weatherman, last in Michigan after the P-40 paint scheme wrecked early in Michigan. Yeley has seven Sonoma starts, but none since 2015, when a crash driving for BK Racing left him 41st in the last 43-car field here.
DRIVER CHANGE: #52-Rick Ware Racing
Cody Ware returns to the #52 which he debuted in this same race last year, and local construction firm SBC Contractors will again back the effort. Ware takes the place of Josh Bilicki, who ran 33rd two weeks back in Michigan.
DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Spire Motorsports
Welcome back Justin Haley, who on Sunday will make his first Cup start since his strong run at Talladega ended with a crash not of his doing. It was on this same weekend just last year that Haley scored his first Truck Series victory in Gateway driving for GMS Racing. Formula One Imports will be the sponsor. He takes the place of Quin Houff, driver of the #77 for the last five races, most recently his 32nd-place showing in Michigan.
RETURNING: #96-Gaunt Brothers Racing
Parker Kligerman returns to Cup competition on Sunday, as does the Gaunt Brothers. We last saw them both in the Coca-Cola 600, where Kligerman ran 26th, his second-best finish of the year behind a 15th in the Daytona 500. As at Talladega, the car will carry logos celebrating the 40th anniversary of Toyota Racing Development, likely a tie-in with Toyota’s sponsorship of the race itself.
Saturday, June 29, 2019
XFINITY Race 15 of 33
Camping World 300 at Chicagoland
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Kaz Grala
The XFINITY Series takes the week off and will return next Saturday in Chicago.
LASTCAR STAT OF THE WEEK
Today in LASTCAR history (June 20, 1957): Bob Welborn picked up the first last-place finish of his Cup Series career in a 200-lap event on the Columbia (South Carolina) Speedway when his #49 1957 Chevrolet did not start, leaving him last in the 21-car field. The bad luck didn’t last long for Welborn, the polesitter of the first Daytona 500 two seasons later. That October, he scored the first of his nine Cup wins with a decisive victory in Martinsville. Welborn led 435 of 500 laps that day, just 11 fewer than Brad Keselowski’s mark of 446 this past spring.
