PREVIEW: Nashville sees drivers young and old return to action with plenty at stake
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: 23XI Racing, @23XIRacing
Friday, June 28, 2024 (7:00 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 13 of 23
Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Lawless Alan
ENTRY LIST
After a three-week break in the schedule, there are 39 drivers entered for 36 spots in the next Truck Series event, meaning three will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
Brenden “Butterbean” Queen looks to follow-up his outstanding 4th-place debut in North Wilkesboro as he returns to the seat of TRICON Garage’s “all-star” entry, taking the place of Gateway last-place finisher Colby Howard. Best Repair Company is the listed sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
Saturday will also see the return of Clint Bowyer to the driver’s seat for the first time since his 541st and final Cup Series start at the conclusion of the 2020 season. This time, he makes just the 15th Truck Series start of his career and first since a 5th-place run at his home track in Kansas on May 6, 2016. He brings sponsor Rush Truck Centers to Spire Motorsports, where he takes the place of Andres Perez, who finished a sterling 9th in his series debut at Gateway. Bowyer won his first career XFINITY Series race at the Nashville track back in 2005, and the team reports this could be his last as a driver.
RETURNING: #20-Young’s Motorsports
Young’s Motorsports brings the #20 entry back to the track for the first time since Memphis Villarreal drove to a 29th-place finish in Charlotte, so far the entry’s best finish of 2024. This time, Akinori Ogata drives with Hirotec as sponsor. This would be his first Truck Series start of the season and, like Bowyer, just his 15th in the series. His last Truck start came last year in the spring Atlanta race, where he ran 17th for G2G Racing.
RETURNING: #21-Floridian Motorsports
Welcome back to the Floridian Motorsports team, which with driver Mason Maggio finished 27th in their third and most recent start back at Charlotte. Maggio is back once more for his 16th series start and first-ever at Nashville.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #27-Reaume Brothers Racing
After a catastrophic engine failure prevented him from even attempting to qualify for the XFINITY race at Portland, it appeared Frankie Muniz was looking to step away from the sport for a while. But Muniz has quickly regrouped and landed a ride in the Truck Series with the Reaume Brothers, his first attempt in the series. Muniz will pilot the #22 in place of 27th-place Gateway finisher Keith McGee, who slides over to the team’s returning part-time entry, the #27.
RETURNING: #26-Rackley-W.A.R.
Overshadowed by “Butterbean’s” debut in North Wilkesboro was the first NASCAR national series start for one Dawson Sutton, who finished 28th in the second Rackley-W.A.R. entry. Sutton, who lives in the same town as the Nashville Superspeedway, returns for his own second career start in the race sponsored by the Rackley Roofing company.
RETURNING: #28-FDNY Racing
In its long history dating back to the very founding of the Craftsman Truck Series in 1995, FDNY Racing has only once qualified for a Truck Series race at Nashville – 2002, when his then-driver Conrad Burr finished 26th, seven laps down. This year, Bryan Dauzat looks to bring the team back to the track for their first start since a fantastic 9th-place finish in the opener at Daytona.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Niece Motorsports
At Kansas and then particularly at Charlotte, Kaden Honeycutt came tantalizingly close to scoring his first career Truck Series victory, only to be undone by a bad pit stop. He returns once more seeking the prize, taking the place of 22nd-place Gateway finisher Connor Mosack. Honeycutt comes into this race with four top-ten finishes in his five starts and no finishes worse than 12th. AutoVentive and Precision are his listed sponsors.
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-ThorSport Racing
Conner Jones has become a controversial figure in the Truck Series this year for his on-track aggression. Making just his 17th series start and first since Charlotte, he takes the place of another of Gateway’s breakout performers in 10th-place finisher Luke Fenhaus. This will be Jones’ first Truck Series start at Nashville.
RETURNING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
Stefan Parsons seeks his 18th series start and his own first since Charlotte, where he took home 25th. Popsells.com continues as his sponsor from Charlotte in what would be Henderson Motorsports’ first Truck Series start at the Nashville track since 2022, when Parker Kligerman took 20th.
RETURNING: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports
Justin S. Carroll returns to action, looking to bounce back from his DNQ in Charlotte driving his family’s #90 Toyota. This would be just the seventh series start for Carroll, whose most recent start was at Martinsville, taking home 32nd. His entry was withdrawn from this race last year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-McAnally Hilgemann Racing
Running a white truck with little to no sponsorship, Jack Wood is back behind the wheel of the #91 for the first time since his 21st-palce showing in Charlotte. He takes the place of Vicente Salas, who finished 25th last time out in Gateway.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, June 29, 2024 (5:00 P.M. ET, USA)
XFINITY Race 17 of 33
Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Stefan Parsons
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers for 38 spots, meaning one will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #4-JD Motorsports
DRIVER SWAP: #6-JD Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
MISSING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
Dawson Cram is set to make his 25th career XFINITY Series race on Saturday as he returns to the #4, moving teammate Garrett Smithley, 29th in Loudon, back to the #6. Smithley takes the place of Armani Williams, who finished 33rd after multiple incidents, and will again drive a Chevrolet from the Johnny Davis stables. Carl Long’s Motorsports Business Management team, which fielded Williams’ Loudon car, will not enter Saturday’s XFINITY Series race. Chad Finchum, who was withdrawn from Loudon as part of the Williams deal, will run MBM’s Cup car on Sunday to complete a double-duty weekend (see below). For Saturday, Finchum takes the place of 30th-place Mason Massey in SS-Green Light Racing’s #14 with sponsorship from Ted Russell Ford of Knoxville.
MISSING: #10-Kaulig Racing
Daniel Dye is not entered after the Kaulig Racing team withdrew his #10 entry last week in Loudon. Dye will instead focus on his full-time Truck Series effort this Friday as he continues his effort in the #43 for McAnally Hilgemann Racing.
MISSING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Alex Bowman is not entered after his 9th-place showing in Loudon last week, and the Hendrick team has not fielded the #17 entry for another of its drivers.
DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
Ty Gibbs is the first of no fewer than five Cup Series invaders pulling double-duty this weekend starting with Saturday’s XFINITY Series race. Taking the place of NASCAR Modified star Justin Bonsignore, who finished 22nd after leading 3 laps last week in Loudon, Gibbs makes his first XFINITY start since his 35th-place finish in Sonoma.
DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Joe Gibbs Racing
Next to pull double-duty is John Hunter Nemechek, fresh off a hard-fought 8th-place finish in last Sunday’s Cup race. Nemechek returns to the #20 in place of Christopher Bell, who swept both wins last week.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Tyler Reddick will likewise throw his hat into the ring as he takes the place of 10th-place Loudon finisher Corey Heim in the #26. Heim will still run double-duty himself, however, as he looks set to continue his dominant Truck Series schedule while running as Reddick and Bubba Wallace’s teammate in Sunday’s Cup race (see below).
RETURNING: #30-Rette Jones Racing
Noah Gragson’s own double-duty effort continues his reunion with team owner Mark Rette. It was Gragson who gave Rette his first XFINITY Series start at Charlotte last month with a 10th-place finish. Priestly Demolition is the listed sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
While the preliminary entry list showed “TBA” for the driver of Joey Gase’s entry, previously run to a 28th-place finish at Loudon by Glen Reen, it will be Logan Bearden behind the wheel for a fourth time in 2024 and first since Portland, where he came home 29th. This would be Bearden’s first XFINITY start for Gase, having driven his previous three for SS-Green Light Racing.
DRIVER CHANGE: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Rain prevented Jade Buford from attempting his season debut in Mike Harmon’s #74, but he and the team are entered this week, despite a driver listing showing “TBA” on the preliminary list.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
The last of the Cup invaders is one Ross Chastain, no less than the defending winner of Nashville’s Cup race. Chastain again teams with Mario Gosselin in the #92, taking the place of 36th-place Loudon finisher Nathan Byrd.
CUP INVADERS: #19-Ty Gibbs, #20-John Hunter Nemechek, #26-Tyler Reddick, #30-Noah Gragson, #92-Ross Chastain
Sunday, June 30, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, NBC)
CUP Race 19 of 36
Ally 400 at Nashville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Ryan Blaney
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 entrants for 40 spots, meaning all will qualify – but it’s another short field, the fifth in a row and the 17th in 19 races.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Taking the place of Kaz Grala, who earned a solid 22nd-place finish in Loudon, Riley Herbst returns to the driver’s seat with Monster Energy’s Zero Sugar variety as sponsor. This will be Herbst’s third Cup start of the season, his first since a 35th-place finish in Kansas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
A.J. Allmendinger looks to shake off the disappointment of back-to-back rough races in Iowa as he returns to the Cup garage in place of 20th-place Loudon finisher Ty Dillon. Allmendinger, the defending winner of Nashville’s XFINITY Series race, has also shown pace in the first two Cup races here, finishing 19th and 10th.
RETURNING: #50-23XI Racing
Before Erik Jones’ injury at Talladega moved up his planned Cup debut to Dover (finishing 25th) and Kansas (22nd), it was announced that Corey Heim would drive for 23XI Racing in their third entry, the #50, this weekend in Nashville. This marks only the second start of the year for the third 23XI car, the first since COTA, here Kamui Kobayashi finished 29th.
RETURNING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
Completing his double-duty effort, Chad Finchum carries sponsorship from Cooper & Hunter as MBM makes its first Cup start since Charlotte, where B.J. McLeod drove in a joint effort with Live Fast Motorsports. The Tennessee native has six previous Cup starts, but this will be his first in the NextGen car. His last was a 40th-place finish at Kansas on October 24, 2021.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (June 28, 1998): Blaise Alexander picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Grand National Series career in the Lysol 200 at Watkins Glen International when his #20 Rescue Engine Formula Chevrolet lost the engine after 8 laps.
