PREVIEW: Cup playoff storylines dominate Darlington – including the XFINITY race
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: SS-Green Light Racing, @SSGLR0708
Saturday, August 31, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, USA)
XFINITY Race 23 of 33
Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Kyle Larson
ENTRY LIST
With three races to go until the regular season finale in Bristol, there are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning one will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
Chad Finchum will make his 115th series start on Saturday, his first since a 34th-place finish in Nashville, when he drove this same #14 entry for Bobby Dotter. Finchum takes the place of 19th-place Daytona finisher C.J. McLaughlin with returning sponsorship from Ted Russell Ford of Knoxville.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-AM Racing
The first of no less than five full-time Cup Series drivers in Saturday’s field is Joey Logano, back in the AM Racing entry for the first time since the Chicago Street Course, earning the team’s season-best 8th. Carrying sponsorship from Panini trading cards, Logano takes the place of 36th-place Daytona finisher Gus Dean. It’s Logano’s first XFINITY start at Darlington since 2017, when he finished runner-up to Denny Hamlin. He won the spring race in 2012.
RETURNING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Chase Elliott will make his first XFINITY start since his win in Charlotte, bringing the #17 entry back to the series for the first time since William Byron’s 3rd-place run in Pocono. Elliott is also a past winner of a XFINITY race at Darlington, taking the checkers in the spring of 2014.
DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Joe Gibbs Racing
Third among the Cup contingent is Christopher Bell, who won his most recent XFINITY start at Loudon this past summer. Bell last started a XFINITY race at Darlington in the fall of 2022, when he finished 7th. His best finish was 4th in 2019. Bell takes the place of last week’s Daytona winner, Ryan Truex.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Stepping in for 28th-place Daytona finisher Jeffrey Earnhardt is a returning Corey Heim, who on an off-weekend for the Truck Series makes his 10th start of the season and first since a 16th-place showing in Pocono. Heim finished 10th and 15th in the two XFINITY races at Darlington last season.
RETURNING: #30-Rette Jones Racing
Drop Zone Hunting is this week’s sponsor for Noah Gragson, fourth among the full-time Cup drivers and the lone rookie. Gragson and team finished 6th in their most recent series start at Michigan.
MISSING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Jordan Anderson is not among this week’s entrants following another strong superspeedway effort, taking home 6th in Daytona.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
The preliminary entry list had no driver – nor sponsor – listed in place of Akinori Ogata, whose race in the #35 at Daytona ended after three-quarters of Lap 1. That changed later in the week with David Starr taking the wheel for his 265th series start and seventh of the season, his first since a 26th for SS-Green Light Racing at Indianapolis. Starr has 12 previous XFINITY starts at Darlington.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Darlington marks the 175th XFINITY Series start for Garrett Smithley, his first since a 31st-place finish at Indianapolis with this same Alpha Prime entry. Smithley takes the place of Caesar Bacarella, who finished 29th after a late-race accident. Smithley has five previous XFINITY starts at Darlington, all with the now-shuttered JD Motorsports, the team whose Owner Points are now held by the #45. Ken McKnight AC is the listed sponsor.
MISSING: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports
Joey Gase is not among the entrants this week after a 20th-place finish in his team’s second car at Daytona.
DRIVER CHANGE: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Originally not making the trip was the Harmon team with which Tim Viens finished 35th due to early engine trouble at Daytona. That changed on Thursday, as Dawson Cram was added as a post-entry, meaning he must qualify on time to make the show.
RETURNING: #88-JR Motorsports
Carson Kvapil returns to the site of his 19th-place finish in the spring race, his third series start at the time.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Last among this Saturday’s Cup regulars is Ross Chastain, who makes his third series start of the year and first since a 27th-place finish in Nashville driving Mario Gosselin’s same #92 entry. Chastain takes the place of 30th-place finisher Josh Bilicki.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
ARCA Menards Series underdog Greg Van Alst is back for his second start of the year and first since Indianapolis, where late-race ignition trouble forced him behind the backstretch wall in the final laps, leaving him 32nd. He takes the place of Patrick Emerling, who finished 18th in Daytona.
CUP INVADERS: #15-Joey Logano, #17-Chase Elliott, #20-Christopher Bell, #30-Noah Gragson, #92-Ross Chastain
Sunday, September 1, 2024 (6:00 P.M. ET, USA)
CUP Race 26 of 36
Regular Season Finale
Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington
2023 Last-Place Finisher: B.J. McLeod
ENTRY LIST
As the Cup Series’ regular season concludes with one of the sport’s most iconic races, 37 drivers are entered for 40 spots. This marks the first short field since Michigan and the 22nd of the 26 races run in 2024.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Kaz Grala rejoins the Rick Ware team for the first time since the Chicago Street Race, where he finished 26th. This will be only his second Cup start at Darlington, following an 18th-place finish in the spring race. Grala takes the place of Cody Ware, who finished a sterling 4th – Ware’s best career finish, and tied for the RWR’s best-ever showing.
MISSING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
MISSING: #44-NY Racing Team
MISSING: #62-Beard Motorsports
MISSING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
All four of the “open” teams from Daytona are not making the trip to Darlington this week, including the Beard Motorsports entry of Parker Retzlaff, whose race-winning push to Harrison Burton briefly moved him to 2nd before he slipped to 7th. Also missing are B.J. McLeod, whose Live Fast Motorsports entry finished 19th, just one spot ahead of Joey Gase in the NY Racing Team Chevrolet. Also missing is the part-time Richard Childress Racing entry with which Austin Hill took 25th after late-race crash damage.
RETURNING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
The lone “open” car this week is a returning Carl Long effort, which last ran at Indianapolis, where mechanical issues placed B.J. McLeod last in the order. This time, it’s Timmy Hill behind the wheel and sponsorship from personal care brand “W.” This would be Hill’s first Cup start since COTA, where he finished 36th, two laps down.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
TRUCKS Race 18 of 23
Round of 10: Race 2 of 3
UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Jack Wood
With Layne Riggs earning his first career win in Milwaukee as their Playoffs began, the series returns in three weeks to kick off the action under the lights at Bristol.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (August 30, 2003): Mike Potter picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career when his #52 Moy Racing Ford had clutch issues after 5 laps of the Winn-Dixie 200 Presented by PepsiCo at Darlington. Potter would score two more last-place finishes in his 21 series starts through the 2008 season.
