PREVIEW: Many underdog stories waiting to be written at tricky Talladega
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Friday, October 4, 2024 (5:00 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 20 of 23
Round of 8: Race 1 of 3
Love’s RV Stop 250 at Talladega
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Bryan Dauzat
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 36 spots in this afternoon’s race, meaning two teams will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
William Sawalich will make his NASCAR superspeedway debut today as he returns to TRICON’s “all-star” #1 entry for the first time since his 11th-place run in Bristol, taking the place of 20th-place Kansas finisher Brenden “Butterbean” Queen. In this, his second ARCA Menards Series season, he has yet to compete in either of the races at Daytona and Talladega.
RETURNING: #6-Norm Benning Racing
Last offseason, I reported that Norm Benning was excited about the “best opportunity (he) ever had,” acquiring a Chevrolet from Henderson Motorsports which has since been tuned at Joey Gase’s shop. He’d hoped to enter the truck in the season opener at Daytona, but sponsorship issues pushed that moment to today, where he arrives as one of the drivers needing to lock himself in on speed. While MDIA returns as sponsor along with Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, Benning runs a white scheme instead of his usual black with red numbers. Benning last started this race three years ago, when he finished 17th – his third-best finish in 11 starts at the track.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
Also making his debut on a NASCAR superspeedway – excluding his victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona – is another young phenom in Watkins Glen XFINITY Series winner Connor Zilisch. Making only his fourth series start and first since a 19th at Bristol, where he won his second pole, Zilisch takes the place of Connor Mosack, who took home 10th in Kansas. The Austin Hatcher Foundation is the listed sponsor.
TEAM UPDATE: #9-CR7 Motorsports
Contrary to what the initial entry list showed, Grant Enfinger has not resurrected the Oldsmobile brand this weekend. The issue appears to be nothing more than a glitch. Enfinger will, however, be honoring short track ace Bobby Gill with his name on the passenger side roof rail as the four-time USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series champion battles cancer.
MISSING: #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing
Not among the entrants this week is Jennifer Jo Cobb, who with support from Andy Hillenburg and the Fast Track Racing group finished 31st last Friday in Kansas. Like Benning, Cobb has 11 previous Truck Series starts at Talladega, most recently a 32nd-place finish here two years ago, and led 16 laps here in 2020.
RETURNING: #16-Hattori Racing Enterprises
It’s a throwback of sorts on the #16 crew as the Hattori team makes another rare start in the 2024 campaign, and also brings back popular NASCAR sponsor Aflac, which has been absent from the sport since it last sponsored recent Hall of Fame inductee Carl Edwards in 2014, and has never backed a Truck Series entry. Aflac does so as an associate this time, backing the quarter-panels along with Toyota Tsusho. Driving is Johnny Sauter, who won this race in 2013 and nearly did again in 2019 before a yellow-line penalty.
RETURNING: #21-Floridian Motorsports
The Floridian team with Carl Long calling the shots will also make their bid at the Talladega field with Mason Maggio, whose 20th and most recent series start at Bristol yielded a 31st-place finish. Maggio and team failed to qualify for this year’s Daytona opener, but did finish a solid 24th in the “superspeedway” at Atlanta the next week, two laps down to the race winner.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
After a vibration left Frankie Muniz back in the order in Kansas, taking home 29th, Canadian driver Jason White brings his Powder Ventures Excavations sponsorship back to the Reaume team for his first attempt since a strong 12th-place showing in this year’s Daytona opener. White has competed in three of the last four Truck Series races at Talladega, including a 26th in his most recent outing last year.
RETURNING: #28-FDNY Racing
After a frustrating last-lap crash at Pocono left them with a damaged Chevrolet, Bryan Dauzat and the Jim Robinson team are back in action on the superspeedway, looking to follow up their excellent 9th-place showing in this year’s Daytona opener. Dauzat has also finished in the Top Ten in this race – doing so in his first attempt in 2018 – but also comes into this race as the defending last-place finisher.
DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Niece Motorsports
Welcome back Danny Bohn, who hasn’t started a Truck Series race since May 6, 2022, when he finished 22nd at Darlington, then failed to qualify with this same Niece #44 team last year at Bristol. Bohn takes the place of 17th-place Kansas finisher Conor Daly with sponsorship from Rust-oleum, his same backer from the Bristol DNQ. Bohn last started this race in 2021, when he finished a track-best 8th for On Point Motorsports.
TEAM UPDATE: #45-Niece Motorsports
New broke this week that Kade Honeycutt, another graduate of the On Point team in 2022, will compete full-time in the Niece #45 next season. Coming off a strong 4th-place finish last Friday in Kansas, Honeycutt carries returning sponsorship from Moore’s Venture Foods.
WITHDREW: #46-Young’s Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #02-Young’s Motorsports
Randy Young’s team made a couple surprising changes this week. They first had the #46 entered with no driver listed, one week after Justin Mondeik drove to a 26th-place finish. That team has since withdrawn. Also, the flagship #02 was revealed to be a Ford instead of the Young team’s usual Chevrolet, indicating a cooperation with Reaume Brothers Racing. Reaume’s driver Keith McGee will run the #02 in place of 19th-place Kansas finisher Nathan Byrd.
RETURNING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
Stefan Parsons returns for his tenth start of the season and at the scene where the team’s 2017 win with Parker Kligerman. Parsons and team most recently competed in Bristol, yielding a 16th-place finish for a second-straight Top Twenty.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-McAnally-Hilgemann Racing
For five seasons from 2014 through 2018, Ryan Reed was Roush-Fenway Racing’s full-time XFINITY driver with sponsorship from Lily Diabetes. Since then, he’s only made one XFINITY Series start and four in Trucks, most recently a 20th-place finish at the XFINITY race in Las Vegas last fall. He was that day sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care, which this week sponsors him in the third McAnally entry. He takes the place of 32nd-place Kansas finisher Corey Day, who was involved in a hard crash that night.
RETURNING: #95-GK Racing
This week, Clay Greenfield revealed he’d broken four metatarsals in one of his feet, and was just now cleared to return to racing today. He brings back GK Racing for the first time since his DNQ in this year’s Daytona opener, and seeks retribution after a mechanical issue on pit road prevented him from even attempting to qualify for this race last year. Greenfield has ten previous Truck Series starts at Talladega, most recently a 12th-palec finish two years ago.
DRIVER CHANGE: #04-Roper Racing
After brand-new dad Marco Andretti finished last in Kansas due to a persistent wheel issue in the opening laps at Kansas, Cory Roper returns to his own #04 entry for the first time since Daytona, when he once again found himself in contention to win the season opener, only to be collected in a last-lap crash that left him 22nd. Roper has just two previous Truck Series starts at Talladega, but his first in 2021 yielded a 6th-place finish.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, October 5, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, NBC)
XFINITY Race 28 of 33
Round of 12: Race 2 of 3
United Rentals 250 at Talladega
2022 Last-Place Finisher: Mason Massey
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 38 spots, so all will qualify.
MISSING: #10-Kaulig Racing
Not among the entries this week is the part-time Kaulig Racing entry with which Daniel Dye finished 34th in Kansas. Dye will instead focus on today’s Truck Series race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
David Starr makes just his ninth start of the 2024 season and first since a 22nd-place finish in Atlanta, his second-best finish of the year. He takes the place of 20th-place Kansas finisher J.J. Yeley, who will instead compete on Sunday as the NY Racing Team is again among the “open” entries. Starr has 12 previous XFINITY starts at Talladega, including a 24th-place run for Motorsports Business Management last fall. A decade ago, he finished 9th here for TriStar Motorsports.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-AM Racing
Next to take their turn in the struggling AM Racing entry is Dylan Lupton, who seeks his 42nd XFINITY Series start and first of 2024, his first in the division since a 24th-place run at Sears Point last summer, when he drove for Alpha Prime Racing. Lupton takes the place of Logan Bearden, who took 33rd in Kansas. Lupton’s only previous XFINITY start at Talladega came in 2018, when he finished 36th driving for the shuttered JGL Racing.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Running double-duty with the Truck Series race is Dean Thompson, who brings his Thompson Pipe Group sponsorship back to the Sam Hunt team for his second series start and first since a 34th-place run due to fuel pump issues at Charlotte this past May. Thompson takes the place of his TRICON Garage teammate Corey Heim, who finished 31st in Kansas.
RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Talladega mean another reunion between team owner Jordan Anderson and crew chief turned TV analyst Larry McReynolds, seeking a win in the #32 Chevrolet. Volpi Foods, Anderson’s sponsor from the summer Daytona race where he finished 6th, will again back his car in what will be his 25th series start.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Caesar Bacarella brings back his sponsor Prime Bites Brownie to the third Alpha Prime entry for his fourth start of the year and first since a 29th-place run in the summer race at Daytona. He takes the place of Brad Perez, whose frayed oil pump belt left him coasting into the Kansas garage, finishing 37th. Perez is preparing for his return to action next week on the Charlotte “Roval,” but is still seeking a primary sponsor.
RETURNING / DRIVER CHANGE / TEAM UPDATE: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports
WITHDREW: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
The developing Owner Points war between Joey Gase Motorsports’ #53 and Mike Harmon Racing’s #74 took another turn this week when the Gase team acquired the points from JD Motorsports’ shuttered #6 team, leap-frogging them back ahead of Harmon’s team with Richard Childress Racing’s #33 points from Kyle Busch’s one-off start in Charlotte. With the change, Harmon’s team withdrew without listing a driver in place of Ryan Vargas, who finished 29th in Kansas. Gase’s team will race instead, bringing Bristol starter Carson Ware in place of Joey Gase, who withdrew his own car from Kansas and drove the #35 to a 32nd-placce finish.
DRIVER CHANGE: #88-JR Motorsports
As he celebrates securing his full-time deal in the XFINITY Series with the team for 2025, Carson Kvapil returns to the series for the first time since his 14th-place run in Darlington. He takes the place of 4th-place Kansas finisher Connor Zilisch, who this week focuses on his superspeedway debut in Trucks. Clarience Technologies returns as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Nick Leitz makes his fifth XFINIY start of the year and first since last month in Atlanta, when he finished 20th in this same Precision Measurement, Inc. entry. Leitz, who makes his first Talladega start, takes the place of 35th-place Kansas finisher Dawson Cram, who had fuel pressure issues in his first start with DGM Racing.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Still another driver returning to action this week is C.J. McLaughlin, who makes his 45th series start and fifth of the year, his first since taking a 34th-place finish with this same team in the September Atlanta race. Then as now, McLaughlin carries sponsorship from Main Street Auto. He takes the place of Patrick Emerling, who finished 30th with this team in Kansas.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, October 6, 2024 (2:00 P.M. ET, NBC)
CUP Race 31 of 36
Round of 12: Race 2 of 3
YellaWood 500 at Talladega
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Kevin Harvick
ENTRY LIST
Sunday marks only the fifth “full” 40-car field of the 2024 season, and the first since the Chicago Street Course.
RETURNING: #13-Kaulig Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
A.J. Allmendinger returns to run double-duty with the XFINITY Series, bringing back Kaulig’s part-time Cup entry, the #13, for the first time since a disappointing 36th-place finish in Watkins Glen. This time, the team debuts new sponsorship from investment firm Strive, co-founded by Vivke Ramaswamy, once a Republican presidential candidate. Allmendinger has 20 previous Cup starts at Talladega with a best finish of 5th in 2014. Taking Kaulig’s full-time #16 this week is Shane van Gisbergen, whose WeatherTech sponsorship from XFINITY will carry over into Sunday. Van Gisbergen finished 28th in his Talladega Cup debut this past spring, and this week takes the place of 21st-place Kansas finisher Ty Dillon.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Cody Ware makes his 105th Cup Series start, taking the place of 31st-place Kansas finisher Kaz Grala. This week, the team carries sponsorship from Arby’s, which previously backed Motorsports Business Management’s #66 in Bristol. Ware has eight previous Cup starts at Talladega with a best finish of 19th in 2020, when he crashed on the final lap. He enters this race fresh off a career-best 4th two months ago in Daytona.
RETURNING: #62-Beard Motorsports
Another driver pulling double-duty with XFINITY is Anthony Alfredo, who rejoins the Beard team for the first time since he finished a strong 6th at this track in the spring. For his third Cup start of the year, he runs a third different primary sponsor, this time carrying the colors of Fortify Building Solutions on his Chevrolet.
RETURNING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
This past spring, B.J. McLeod electrified the crowd when he charged from nearly last on the grid to the lead, pacing the field for five laps before mechanical issues dropped him off the lead lap. Just like in the spring, McLeod comes into this race without sponsorship, but with plenty of excitement after a 25th-place run in the fall Atlanta race, where he led his first lap since Talladega.
MISSING: #84-Legacy Motor Club
Jimmie Johnson, a two-time Talladega winner, is not among this week’s entrants after involvement in the first-lap wreck at Kansas left him 36th last Sunday.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (October 4, 2003): Scotty Sands picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in the John Boy & Billy 250 at the South Boston Speedway when his #47 Elklor Flames Dodge had electrical issues without completing any of the laps. This was Sands’ second and final Truck Series start, following a 27th-place finish at IRP in 1999. He failed to qualify for another seven races from 1999 through 2004.
