PREVIEW: Exciting newcomers join the Trucks in Gateway while “road ringers” rise in Portland
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Spire Motorsports, @SpireMotorsport
Saturday, June 1, 2024 (1:30 P.M. ET, FOX)
TRUCKS Race 12 of 23
Toyota 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Clay Greenfield
ENTRY LIST
There are 32 drivers entered for 36 spots, meaning all will qualify for what will be the eighth short field in 12 races this season, tied with Las Vegas and Darlington for the fewest entries in 2024.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
Colby Howard makes his third start of the season and first since his series-best 7th in Darlington as he rejoins TRICON Garage in the #1 entry, again sponsored by Coastal Sports Cards. He takes the place of Brett Moffitt, who finished 15th last time out in Charlotte.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
DRIVER SWAP: #45-Niece Motorsports
Saturday will see the NASCAR national series debut for Andres Perez of Mexico, who finished a close runner-up in last year’s ARCA Menards Series standings, just 142 points behind champion and current XFINITY Series regular Jesse Love. That year saw Perez finish in the Top Five in half the season’s 20 races and claim a Top Ten in all but five. He enters this race as the points leader, though still pursuing his first series victory. Perez drives for Spire in the #7 entry, a bright green Chevrolet sponsored by Wholly Guacamole and Herdez. He takes the place of 8th-place Charlotte finisher Connor Mosack, who slides over to Al Niece’s #45 in place of 7th-place finisher Kaden Honeycutt. Honeycutt, who came his closest so far to his first Truck Series victory, is not entered this week.
MISSING: #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing
MISSING: #20-Young’s Motorsports
MISSING: #21-Floridian Motorsports
MISSING: #67-Motorsports Business Management
MISSING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
MISSING: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports
No less than six teams that entered last week’s race in Charlotte are not making the trip to Gateway. Included are both DNQs of Jennifer Jo Cobb in her #10 and the #90 of Justin S. Carroll, plus unofficial last-place finisher Jeffrey Earnhardt, whose MBM #67 was classified last before Corey Heim’s disqualification. Young’s Motorsports will not field the #20 with which Memphis Villarreal finished 29th last week, nor will Floridian Motorsports enter 27th-place Mason Maggio, nor Charlie Henderson’s team which saw Stefan Parsons finished 26th in the #75.
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-ThorSport Racing
The preliminary entry list had no driver listed for this truck, most recently driven by Conner Jones to an 11th-place finish. Jones has had more than his share of on-track scuffles in recent weeks, including a call to the NASCAR hauler at North Wilkesboro, and Daniel Dye expressed frustration with how Jones raced him just last week. Taking Jones’ place on Saturday will be late model standout Luke Fenhaus, who you’ll recall electrified the crowd at Slinger Speedway in his native Wisconsin three years ago with a runner-up finish to Marco Andretti in the SRX event. He’s since claimed his first win the ARCA Menards Series East, taking the checkered flag at Iowa, scene of a long-awaited inaugural Cup Series race in two weeks. As with Perez, this will be Fenhaus’ NASCAR national series debut.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-McAnally-Hilgeman Racing
Making his second career Truck Series start is Vicente Salas, whose #91 entry was likewise listed as a “TBA” earlier in the week in place of 21st-place Charlotte finisher Jack Wood. Salas finished 34th after transmission issues in his series debut earlier this year at COTA, when he drove the part-time #20 entry for Young’s Motorsports. This week, he carries sponsorship from Servpro and Pape Material Handling.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, June 1, 2024 (4:30 P.M. ET, FS1)
XFINITY Race 13 of 33
Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Brennan Poole
ENTRY LIST
It’s back to road course racing for the XFINITY Series, which sees 39 drivers for 38 spots, meaning one will fail to qualify.
DRIVER SWAP: #4-JD Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #6-JD Motorsports
First among the “road ringer” contingent is a returning Patrick Gallagher, who will make his eighth XFINITY Series start and first since a 25th-place showing in COTA. He will this time drive Johnny Davis’ #6 entry, moving Garrett Smithley to the other team car in the #4. While Gallagher runs without a primary sponsor, Smithley carries returning sponsorship from Dozer Winch Parts and Thomson Equipment, which backed him in a 24th-place finish here last year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
Welcome back to Andre Castro, who last year qualified Jesse Iwuji Motorsports’ struggling #34 Chevrolet into the inaugural XFINITY Series street race in Chicago. This year, Iwuji’s team joins forces with SS-Green Light Racing to field a Chevrolet sponsored by Ryvid. Castro last started a XFINITY race last summer at Indianapolis, where he came home 36th. He takes the place of 21st-place Charlotte finisher J.J. Yeley, who made it to the checkered flag despite a failing air conditioning unit. The car will again be a Ford next week in Sonoma, when Brad Perez is scheduled to return.
MISSING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Chase Elliott not entered after winning last Saturday’s race in Charlotte. Boris Said will drive this car next week in Sonoma.
DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
After 204 combined starts across NASCAR’s top three series dating back to 2016, Josh Bilicki has landed by far the best ride of his career, earning a part-time schedule in Joe Gibbs Racing’s “all-star car.” The schedule begins this Saturday, as he takes the place of 12th-place Charlotte finisher Taylor Gray. Ditec Marine Products will sponsor the effort as the road racer Bilicki makes his first series start at Portland.
DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Joe Gibbs Racing
Alongside Bilicki comes Dover winner Ryan Truex, who returns in place of Charlotte’s last-minute substitute in polesitter and 9th-place finisher Ty Gibbs. Truex will make his 96th career start on Saturday with Toyota Gazoo Racing as sponsorship, and he will likewise make his first XFINITY start at Portland.
RETURNING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing
The lone “go-or-go-home” entry is the returning part-time second entry from the Sam Hunt Racing stables, which this week boasts former IndyCar driver Ed Jones. With this same team, Jones made his XFINITY debut earlier this year at COTA, where he was eliminated in a late-race crash that left him 35th. He is still another entrant attempting the Portland race for the very first time, although unlike the other two he has three IndyCar starts here, including a series-best 11th his last time out in 2021.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Teamed with Jones is another returning IndyCar veteran in Sage Karam, who’s been a more regular sight in the XFINITY Series with 28 starts, including three this year, most recently a 17th-place finish in COTA, where he qualified a strong 6th. Karam takes the place of Dean Thompson, who after running three of the four races at Charlotte last week will focus on his Truck Series effort in Gateway.
MISSING: #30-Rette Jones Racing
Noah Gragson is not entered after his longtime partnership with the Rette Jones effort led to him qualifying the team into its first XFINITY Series race, yielding a 10th-place finish.
RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Austin Green returns for the first time since his breakout performance at COTA, where he steered this same 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet to an incredible 7th-place finish. Green looks for another impressive finish in what will be the first series start for the #32 entry since Jordan Anderson’s 31st-place run in Talladega.
MISSING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Kyle Busch is not entered to focus on the action in Gateway, and neither is the returning #33 entry from the Childress stables.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Racing
Just as questions began to swirl about if he’d return to the XFINITY Series, Frankie Muniz will make his third start of the 2024 season and first since the season’s fourth round in Phoenix, where he finished in 30th place. He takes the place of Akinori Ogata, whose struggles in qualifying handed him one of the day’s two DNQs – the latest in a series of misfortunes for this team.
RETURNING: #36-DGM Racing
Road course racing means Preston Pardus, who this week will run the returning part-time entry from Mario Gosselin’s stables, the #36 Chevrolet. This will be Pardus’ first start of the season following a DNQ at COTA that was caused by a broken right-rear axle, stopping a car that ran 10th in practice. As the Spec Miata veteran looks for another strong run, he and father Dan Pardus will bring back their own #50 entry next week in Sonoma.
TEAM UPDATE: #38-RSS Racing / Viking Motorsports
The #38 entry of Matt DiBenedetto will be run in conjunction with Motorsports Business Management both this week and in Sonoma as the RSS/Viking program doesn’t have a road course car of their own.
MISSING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Despite driver Jade Buford’s own road racing background, the Mike Harmon Racing team will again not make the long trip west to Portland. Buford joined Ogata on the Charlotte DNQ list last week.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Taking the place of Natalie Decker, whose Bikini Zone car finished 29th in Charlotte, the “Byrdman,” Nathan Byrd, will make his NASCAR national series debut in the #92 entry with CleanCore Solutions as sponsor. According to the Byrd Racing website, in 2021 alone, the racer from Arizona competed in 83 races in 23 cars from 15 different racing series. While he eyes an attempt at the Indianapolis 500, he now gives stock cars a try this weekend.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Logan Bearden makes his third series start, rejoining with the Bobby Dotter team after finishes of 22nd at Richmond and 30th at Martinsville earlier this year. He takes the place of 30th-place Charlotte finisher Patrick Emerling in the #07 and carries sponsorship from Environmental Controls Corporation on his Ford.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, June 2, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Race 15 of 36
Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Carson Hocevar
ENTRY LIST
After the first 40-car field in a race other than the Daytona 500 for the first time since 2021, only the 36 Chartered entries will make the trip to Gateway. The result is the 13th short field in 15 races this season.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Back in action comes Cody Ware, who makes his second series start and first since his 24th-place return to action in Talladega. He takes the place of Kaz Grala, who this week steps aside after a 34th-place showing in Charlotte. Ware finished 35th in the inaugural Cup race here in 2022, the result of mid-race power steering issues.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
Derek Kraus marks his fifth career Cup start on Sunday when he returns to the Kaulig #16 entry for the first time since his 29th-place showing in Darlington. He takes the place of Shane van Gisbergen, the 28th-place finisher in Charlotte’s rain-shortened event, who will focus on the road racing action in Saturday’s XFINITY Series race.
MISSING: #44-NY Racing Team
MISSING: #50-Team AmeriVet
MISSING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
MISSING: #84-Legacy Motor Club
All four of the “open” teams from last week’s Coca-Cola 600 are not among this week’s entries. This includes last-place finisher J.J. Yeley, whose NY Racing Team entry lost power steering in the early laps, plus 36th-place Ty Dillon in the reorganized Team AmeriVet entry, then the combined Live Fast and MBM effort driven by B.J. McLeod, the 37th-place runner, plus 29th-place Jimmie Johnson’s part-time third entry from the Legacy Motor Club.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (May 31, 2002): Lance Norick picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in the MBNA America 200 at Dover when his #90 Express Personnel Services Chevrolet crashed after 1 lap. Norick started 14th, but tangle with 15th-place qualifier Brian Rose on the backstretch.
