PREVIEW: Extra cars and international stars make for big fields in return to Chicago Street Course
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Motorsports Business Management, @MBMMotorsports
Saturday, July 6, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, NBC)
XFINITY Race 18 of 33
The Loop 110 at Chicago Street Course
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Justin Marks
ENTRY LIST
There are 43 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning five teams will be sent home. This marks the biggest XFINITY entry list since the season opener in Daytona, which sent six drivers home.
DRIVER CHANGE: #4-JD Motorsports
Since 2022, four of Ty Dillon’s last eight XFINITY Series starts have come driving for JD Motorsports on a road course. This includes his most recent start at COTA this past spring, where suspension issues left him next-to-last in the running order. He returns to Chicago, where suspension issues also cut short his Cup start last year, leaving him 35th, in place of 37th-place Nashville finisher Dawson Cram. Crav’n Flavor joins as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #6-JD Motorsports
Back in the XFINITY Series garage for the first time since his 34th-place series debut at Sonoma last month, Thomas Annunziata will take the place of 36th-place Nashville finisher Garrett Smithley in the second Johnny Davis entry. Just last week, Annunziata finished a strong 4th in the ARCA Menards Series race at Mid-Ohio, already his second top-five finish in three series starts this year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing / Jesse Iwuji Motorsports
Last season, Andre Castro was the biggest surprise in XFINITY Series qualifying when he qualified for his first series start in his first-ever attempt, driving for the struggling Jesse Iwuji Motorsports. He followed this up last month by joining forces with SS-Green Light Racing to qualify Iwuji’s car at Portland, where he finished a career-best 23rd despite being collected in a wreck on the frontstretch. This week, he again drives a Chevrolet in place of SS-Green Light’s Ford, taking the place of 34th-place Nashville finisher Chad Finchum.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-AM Racing
After a frustrating 2024 season that has fallen well short of the team’s high expectations from last year, 28th-place Nashville finisher Hailie Deegan is not entered in this week’s XFINITY race. Through the season’s first 17 races, Deegan has only finished 20th or better in four of them with a season-best 12th in Talladega. Taking her place is last Sunday’s winner Joey Logano, who will help the team evaluate their issues. Klutch Vodka is the sponsor this week.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Sage Karam eyes his 30th career XFINITY Series start and a rebound from failing to qualify for his most recent attempt at Sonoma for Joey Gase Motorsports. Karam takes the place of Cup regular Tyler Reddick, who finished 14th last week in Nashville, and welcomes new sponsorship from Colture Sports.
MISSING: #30-Rette Jones Racing
Noah Gragson, who struggled tremendously during last year’s inaugural Cup race on the Chicago Street Course, is not entered in Saturday’s XFINITY race, one week after he drove Mark Rette’s entry to a team-best 5th-place finish in Nashville. The focus remains his Sunday effort for the closing Stewart-Haas Racing.
RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing / Peterson Racing
Back in action for the first time since his career-best 4th-place finish at Sonoma, site of only his third series start, Austin Green and the Peterson Racing team look to keep the momentum going. Green did not compete in this race last year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
Brad Perez seeks his 10th series start and first since Sonoma, where he finished 24th for SS-Green Light Racing. For his third time in as many starts this year, Perez drives for a different team. This week, he reunites with Joey Gase’s team for the first time since last summer at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit. He takes the place of Logan Bearden, who finished 32nd last week in Nashville.
RETURNING: #36-DGM Racing
Daniel Suarez will pull double-duty this weekend in what would be his second XFINITY start of the year, his first since a 35th-place run in the Daytona opener. For the first time, he teams up with Mario Gosselin’s DGM Racing, driving the team’s part-time #36 entry, last seen at Portland, where Preston Pardus’ track bar issue left him in last place. Van Der Hagen is the listed sponsor of his orange-and-white Chevrolet.
RETURNING: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Welcome back four-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion Alon Day, who has not competed in a NASCAR national series race in six years, nor a XFINITY race in eight. The racer from Israel last competed in the XFINITY Series at Road America on August 27, 2016, when he finished 30th for Carl Long. He this time brings back Alpha Prime Racing’s part-time #45, which last ran at Talladega, finishing 7th with Caesar Bacarella.
RETURNING: #50-Pardus Racing
Preston Pardus debuts a new pastel paint scheme for his family’s #50 Chinchor Electric, Inc. Chevrolet for his first start since a 25th-place run in Sonoma. In last year’s rain-shortened event on the Chicago Street Couse, Pardus and team qualified an impressive 13th and finished 12th, already his fifth-best finish in 25 series starts.
RETURNING: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports
Also attempting Saturday’s race from the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is Kenko Miura of Japan, who seeks his first NASCAR national series start since Mid-Ohio two years ago, where he finished 33rd driving for Josh Reaume in the Truck Series race. This time around, he’s Brad Perez’ teammate in the second Joey Gase entry. Miura was announced as driver on Wednesday after it was listed as “TBA” on the preliminary entry list. He carries multiple sponsors, including 24 Needs 24, Smile, Next Innovation, Cortech USA, and Jidoshano Gakkou.
MISSING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Jade Buford and the Harmon team are not entered this week after an inspection issue prevented them from attempting to qualify for their first start of the year in Nashville.
DRIVER CHANGE: #88-JR Motorsports
Connor Mosack takes the place of 12th-place Nashville finisher Carson Kvapil in JR Motorsports’ own part-time entry, the #88, with sponsorship from Porter Pipe & Supply. This would be Mosack’s first XFINITY start of the year, his first since a 34th-place showing in last fall’s championship race at Phoenix.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Josh Bilicki looks to kick off a double-duty weekend (see below) as he takes the place of 27th-place Nashville finisher Ross Chastain in the #92 entry, which carries sponsorship from Bilicki’s longtime backer Insurance King.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Alex Labbe seeks his 155th career XFINITY Series start and third of the season, his first since a season-best 19th in Sonoma. He takes the place of Nashville last-place finisher Patrick Emerling and carries sponsorship from Flood Brothers.
CUP INVADERS: #15-Joey Logano, #17-Kyle Larson, #19-Ty Gibbs, #20-John Hunter Nemechek, #36-Daniel Suarez
Sunday, July 7, 2024 (4:30 P.M. ET, NBC)
CUP Race 20 of 36
Grant Park 165 at Chicago Street Course
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Alex Bowman
ENTRY LIST
For just the third time in 20 races this season, and the first since the Coca-Cola 600, 40 cars will attempt a “full” field for Sunday’s Cup race, including four “open” entries.
RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #13-Kaulig Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
Shane van Gisbergen looks to defend his crown at the site of his victorious Cup debut last year, carrying sponsorship from Wendy’s to promote their “Saucy Nuggs.” He will do so in the Kaulig #16 entry, piloted to an 11th-placce finish by A.J. Allmendinger at Nashville last Sunday. Allmendinger will also compete on Sunday as Kaulig brings back their part-time #13 entry for the first time since his 6th-place showing in COTA. Benesch will sponsor the effort, the same company that backed Justin Haley last year, when he charged from last on the grid to finish 2nd.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Kaz Grala returns to the RWR #15 for the first time since his 22nd-place run in Loudon, and this time carries sponsorship from Remixers.com in addition to returning backer Meat ‘n Bone. Grala finished 10th in last year’s XFINITY race on the Chicago Street Course, when he was driving for Sam Hunt Racing. He takes the place of Riley Herbst, who finished 37th after a crash in Nashville.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Austin Hill makes his ninth Cup Series start, his third of the season, and first since a 33rd-place finish in Kansas. Pulling double-duty, Hill again carries the United Rentals colors on RCR’s part-time #33 entry, one year after he took 5th in the XFINITY race at Chicago.
MISSING: #50-23XI Racing
With so many teams running extra cars this weekend, 23XI Racing has chosen not to field the #50 with which Corey Heim earned a 29th-place finish in his third career start at Nashville. The team also did not enter their COTA driver Kamui Kobayashi, who took home 29th that weekend.
RETURNING: #60-RFK Racing (“Stage 60”)
As for Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing, the “Stage 60” entry is back for the first time since Sonoma, where Cameron Waters Cup debut ended with crash damage that left him in 35th. This time, the ride goes to a returning Joey Hand, who we last saw in a Cup ride on the Charlotte “Roval” in 2022, where he finished 38th for Rick Ware Racing after a late-race crash. That same year saw him qualify an impressive 9th at Road America.
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Motorsports Business Management
Josh Bilicki completes his double-duty effort with Power Source as sponsor, replacing Nashville last-place finisher Chad Finchum. As the team continues to work out its mechanical gremlins, Bilicki will make his 98th career Cup start and first of 2024. He last took the green in this series last fall at Homestead, where he ran 35th for Live Fast Motorsports.
Friday, July 12, 2024
TRUCKS Race 14 of 23
CRC Brakleen 175 at Pocono
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Tanner Gray
The Truck Series takes the week off and returns to kick off the action on “The Tricky Triangle.”
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (July 5, 2003): Ricky Craven picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona when his #32 Tide Pontiac was involved in a multi-car accident after 79 laps. Craven would finish last in just one more Cup Series race the following April at Talladega.
