PREVIEW: An interesting mix of returning young guns and series veterans on hand in Martinsville
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
David Starr’s MBM ride for his Cup return on Sunday.
(PHOTO: Motorsports Business Management, @MBMMotorsports)
Friday, April 5, 2024 (7:30 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 6 of 23
Long John Silver’s 200 at Martinsville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Stephen Mallozzi
ENTRY LIST
There are 34 drivers entered for 36 spots, meaning all will qualify. This marks the fourth short field in 2024.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
William Sawalich returns to the Truck Series for the first time since his 21st-place finish in Bristol, taking the place of 6th-place COTA finisher Jack Hawksworth. Starkey and Soundgear return as sponsor for Sawalich, who finished 9th in this race last year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
XFINITY Series regular Sammy Smith kicks off a four-race stint with Spire Motorsports, taking the place of COTA polesitter Connor Zilisch, who finished 4th after an eventful afternoon. Smith has just one previous Truck Series start, a 14th-place finish in last year’s season opener in Daytona. Smith also has three XFINITY starts at Martinsville, including a pole last fall and finishes of 2nd and 3rd last season.
MISSING: #12-Young’s Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Young’s Motorsports
The entry list didn’t originally list either of Randy Young’s part-time entries that returned at COTA: the #12 that Dale Quarterley drove to a 26th-place finish and the #20 that Vicente Salas steered to a 34th-place finish due to transmission issues. However, the #20 was then set to return with Blake Lothian, who made his second and most recent series start at IRP on July 29, 2022, finishing 35th after a mid-race driveshaft failure. Lothian carries sponsorship from GGT Energy Solutions, Inc. for his second Martinsville start, his first since his 28th-place series debut that same 2022 season.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
Listed as “TBA” on the preliminary entry list, Stephen Mallozzi will return to the site of his Truck Series debut last year, this time piloting Josh Reaume’s #22 in place of 21st-place COTA finisher Carter Fartuch. Ozark Rods is the primary sponsor, joining returning backers Outback Steakhouse, Stacking Dennys, and Win The Race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Niece Motorsports
Kaden Honeycutt, the last-place finisher of Martinsville’s XFINITY race last spring, looks to continue a strong start to his part-time Truck Series campaign in 2024. He aims to follow up a 6th-place run in Atlanta and 12th in Bristol by returning to the site of his own series debut on April 7, 2022. Driving for G2G Racing, Honeycutt finished 34th that night. He then finished 28th in this race last year, driving for Roper Racing. At Niece Motorsports, he takes the place of Ross Chastain, who finished 5th in COTA.
RETURNING: #66-ThorSport Racing
ThorSport brings their own part-time entry back to the series for the first time since Bristol, when Conner Jones finished 19th in his third start of the year. This time, the ride goes to 11-time Australian Supercar Series winner Cam Waters, who will make his NASCAR national series debut. The two-time runner-up of the Bathurst 1000 is the first Australian to make a Truck Series start since July 19, 2017, when Max Johnston ran 29th at Eldora.
MISSING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
Stefan Parsons is not entered this week following his 19th-place showing at COTA for Charlie Henderson’s team.
RETURNING: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports
Justin S. Carroll returns to make his second start of the season, his first since brake issues left him in last place at Bristol. This will be Carroll’s first Truck Series race at Martinsville after back-to-back DNQs in 2022 and 2023.
MISSING: #04-Roper Racing
Marco Andretti is not entered after his truck’s spectacular rear housing failure at COTA left him 31st in the final running order.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, April 6, 2024 (7:30 P.M. ET, FS1)
XFINITY Race 7 of 33
Dude Wipes 250 at Martinsville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Kaden Honeycutt
ENTRY LIST
Following the withdrawal of Jordan Anderson Racing’s #32 entry, there are 39 drivers remaining to attempt the 38-car field, meaning one will fail to qualify.
TEAM UPDATE: #4-JD Motorsports
TEAM UPDATE: #6-JD Motorsports
Garrett Smithley, who stepped in for Morgen Baird due to the impending birth of Baird’s child, reprises his role as driver of the #6 following his 21st-place showing in Richmond. Dawson Cram remains in the #4 after his own eventful afternoon that also saw him score a season-best 25th.
WITHDREW: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
The Anderson team has not entered their #32 this week after Ryan Vargas’ last-place finish in Richmond, but Mike Harmon will bring back his #74 for Vargas to drive.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports
As of this writing, Joey Gase plans to enter two cars this weekend in Martinsville despite the accident at Richmond which destroyed the rear clip of his Chevrolet. Following a $5,000 penalty from NASCAR for crossing a live track, Gase is listed to run the #53 Ford alongside a returning Akinori Ogata, who revealed he will run a Toyota this week. Kyowa-Eidemiller Machining returns as Ogata’s sponsor.
MISSING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
Carl Long’s XFINITY team is not entered this week after they withdrew from Richmond, but their Cup team returns on Sunday (see below).
DRIVER CHANGE: #88-JR Motorsports
Following a sterling 6th-placce finish by Bubba Pollard at Richmond, JR Motorsports’ #88 team enters another late model standout in Carson Kvapil. Sponsored by Chevy Truck Season, the second-generation Kvapil makes his XFINITY Series debut following a 12th-place Truck Series debut last summer in Bristol, driving for Spire Motorsports.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Filling another “TBA” entry after Josh Bilicki’s 19th-place finish in Richmond is a returning Dexter Bean, who seeks his first XFINITY Series start since a 27th-place finish at Loudon on July 17, 2021. After his entry was withdrawn from Fontana in 2022, Bean has since failed to qualify for his following two attempts at Road America in 2022 and last summer on the Chicago Street Course, then fell just short of getting Blackjack Racing’s #21 entry into the Truck Series’ return to Milwaukee. Badger Environmental returns as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Still another late addition to the entry list in place of a TBA is Myatt Snider, who will make his season debut after a six-race stint for Joe Gibbs Racing last year. The JGR run concluded last fall in the Phoenix finale where he came home 22nd, which was his worst finish of the season – his other five saw him run 15th or better. This time, Snider takes the wheel of Bobby Dotter’s #07 Superior Essex Chevrolet, taking the place of 36th-place Richmond finisher Patrick Emerling, who had brake trouble on the short track. Snider already has six series starts at Martinsville, completing all but two of 1,543 laps and finishing a best of 13th in the fall of 2021.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, April 7, 2024 (3:00 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Race 8 of 36
Cook Out 400 at Martinsville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: J.J. Yeley
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for 40 spots, meaning all will qualify. It remains the seventh straight short field in 2024 after 40 cars took the green in the Daytona 500.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
With a 12th-place finish in last Saturday’s XFINITY Series race, Josh Williams looks to also improve his fortunes on his part-time Cup effort for Kaulig Racing. We last saw him pilot the #16 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet at Atlanta, where he was the only driver eliminated from the massive pileup on Lap 2. He this time takes the place of 29th-place Richmond finisher Ty Dillon.
RETURNING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
As announced during the COTA weekend, MBM has returned to the Cup Series this weekend, reuniting with David Starr. Starr will thus make his first start in a NextGen car, his first Cup race since the 2021 finale at Phoenix, where late-race brake issues left him 33rd at the finish. Starr’s lone Cup start at Martinsville came in the June 2020, when he finished 32nd in Rick Ware Racing’s #53.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 5, 1997): Jeff McClure picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Series career in the Coca-Cola 300 – the first NASCAR national series event at Texas Motor Speedway – when his #77 Lear Corporation Ford crashed after 9 laps. This occurred during McClure’s final Busch Series season, when his drove for John Walsh through the season’s 18th round in Milwaukee that July.
