PREVIEW: Several intriguing standouts among entries at New Hampshire
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Chase Briscoe’s paint scheme for Sunday’s race. (IMAGE: Stewart-Haas Racing, @StewartHaasRcng)
Saturday, June 22, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, USA)
XFINITY Race 16 of 33
Sci Aps 200 at New Hampshire
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Greg Van Alst
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning one will fail to qualify.
DRIVER SWAP: #4-JD Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #6-JD Motorsports
WITHDREW: #66-Motorsports Business Management
Armani Williams takes the place of Dawson Cram, who did not have backing for this weekend’s race in Loudon and is not entered. Rather than run Cram’s #4, Garrett Smithley will drive this week, putting Williams in his #6. Williams’ car will be a Ford due to a joint effort with Motorsports Business Management, which withdrew their originally scheduled run of the #66 with Chad Finchum driving. Williams carries sponsorship from the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism in what will be his XFINITY Series debut and first NASCAR start of 2024 following seven starts in the Truck Series. This marks only the second time that Davis has entered a non-General Motors car. Predominately a Chevrolet team with some Pontiac starts back in the 1980s, the only other occasion was October 9, 2021 on the Charlotte “Roval,” when Kris Wright ran the #15 Toyota in a similar joint effort with Toyota team Sam Hunt Racing.
WITHDREW: #10-Kaulig Racing
Daniel Dye earned a career-best 10th-place finish last week in Iowa, but neither he nor the part-time #10 entry are among the entrants following an early withdrawal.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
Mason Massey and his Brunt Workwear sponsorship have steadily made a name for themselves in Loudon, where ever since his last-place run in his track debut in 2021, he’s since finished 9th and 10th. He reunites with Bobby Dotter, who fielded his 10th-place entry from last year, and takes the place of 17th-place Iowa finisher David Starr. The original entry list showed Logan Bearden as the driver, but with Massey’s sponsor.
RETURNING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Alex Bowman will make his 56th career XFINITY Series start and first of the 2024 season as the latest to run the Hendrick #17. Bowman’s most recent start in the series came last summer at Watkins Glen, where he drove the same entry to a 9th-place finish.
DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
The first of two NASCAR Modified Series stars making a run this week is three-time Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore, who will make his NASCAR national series debut. Bonsignore takes the place of 18th-place Iowa finisher Brett Moffitt in JGR’s “all-star” #19 entry, and carries M3 Technologies as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Joe Gibbs Racing
An early favorite – and second Cup “invader” on the list – is one Christopher Bell, who has found his groove at this track these last few years. He takes the place of 27th-place John Hunter Nemechek in the #20 entry with Mobil 1 as sponsor. It will be Bell’s 78th series start and first since September 3, 2022, when he claimed 7th at Darlington. Bell has won all three XFINITY races at Loudon he has entered, in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
DRIVER SWAP: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
MISSING: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports
NASCAR Modified driver Glen Reen exited early in his last-minute Iowa debut, but this time will run his originally scheduled race in the primary #35 with his own company New Wave Bath as sponsor. He takes the place of team owner Joey Gase, who is not entered as a driver this week following a 16th-place finish at his home track in Iowa. The team’s second car, the #53, is not entered.
RETURNING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Rejoining the circuit this week is Mike Harmon’s single-car effort, which looks to put Jade Buford in the field for the first time in 2024. Both driver and team have yet to start a race this year – Buford’s DNQ in Charlotte was the team’s third of the season. This week, they find themselves as the lone “go-or-go-homer,” needing to put up a fast lap in qualifying. Buford’s 47th and most recent series start was last year at Talladega, where he finished 36th in a second Big Machine Racing entry.
RETURNING: #88-JR Motorsports
Another one to watch this Saturday will be Carson Kvapil, nearly a winner in Dover, who has finished no worse than 19th in his only three series starts. Carrying sponsorship from Clarience Technologies, Kvapil seeks his first series start since last month in Darlington.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Rejoining the circuit for the first time since his debut in Portland is Nathan Byrd, who takes the place of 9th-place Iowa finisher Ross Chastain in Mario Gosselin’s #92 entry, and brings back sponsorship from CleanCore Solutions.
CUP INVADERS: #17-Alex Bowman, #20-Christopher Bell
Sunday, June 23, 2024 (2:30 P.M. ET, USA)
CUP Race 18 of 36
USA TODAY 301 at New Hampshire
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Kyle Busch
ENTRY LIST
There are 36 entries for 40 spots this week, marking the 16th short field in 18 races in 2024 and fourth in a row.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
After a rough weekend for A.J. Allmendinger that saw a pair of flat tires put him in the wall, leaving him 37th on Saturday and 36th on Sunday, Ty Dillon takes the wheel on Sunday with new sponsor Car Bravo on board. It will be Dillon’s fourth series start of the year and first since his 36th-place run in the Coca-Cola 600 driving the new AmeriVet #50 entry.
MISSING: #66-Motorsports Business Management
While Carl Long helps out JD Motorsports’ #6 entry on Saturday, the team’s Cup effort is not entered following their withdrawal last week from Iowa. The team is expected to return to Cup next week in Nashville, and has this week announced Josh Bilicki will run the week after at the Chicago Street Course.
Friday, June 28, 2024
TRUCKS Race 13 of 23
Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Lawless Alan
The Truck Series returns next week for the action on the Nashville Superspeedway.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (June 21, 2008): Justin Ashburn picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in the Camping World RV Rental 250 at the Milwaukee Mile when his #05 31-W Insulation / CertainTeed Chevrolet had ignition issues after just 1 lap. Ashburn made just two series starts after this, beginning with his 9th last-place run in his next start at Loudon. He then finished 41st of 43 starters at Fontana in 2009, his 30th series start.
