PREVIEW: Road course specialists of all ages set to do battle at Sears Point
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: RFK Racing, @RFKracing
Saturday, June 8, 2024 (8:00 P.M. ET, FS1)
XFINITY Race 14 of 33
Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 at Sears Point
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Parker Retzlaff
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots in Saturday’s XFINITY Series race, meaning one team will fail to qualify. In addition, entrants Sam Mayer (#23) and Brandon Jones (#42) will compete in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series West race, joined by Truck Series drivers Jack Wood (#16), Marco Andretti (#17), Dale Quarterley (#32), and Travis McCullough (#21), who was unable to make his Truck Series debut at Sears Point in 2022.
DRIVER CHANGE: #6-JD Motorsports
The preliminary entry list had no driver yet announced for this entry in place of Patrick Gallagher, who climbed from last place in the early laps to finish 24th. Reports indicate the ride will see the NASCAR national touring series debut of Thomas Annunziata. The New Jersey native turned heads with a runner-up finish in this year’s ARCA Menards Series opener at Daytona, where he ran a “throwback” to Kyle Petty’s iconic Mello Yello paint scheme.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
Brad Perez seeks his third consecutive NASCAR national touring series start at Sears Point and second-straight in the XFINITY Series, and has partnered with a third different team. As announced last month, he will drive the #14 entry for Bobby Dotter’s team, carrying primary sponsorship from Refology with associate backing from his longtime backers Weiss Sand & Clay and Apex Coffee Roasters. Perez will make his ninth series start and first since COTA, where he ran 18th with Alpha Prime Racing. He takes the place of Andre Castro, whose joint effort with Dotter and Jesse Iwuji yielded a 23rd-place finish despite damage suffered in a pileup at Turn 12.
RETURNING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Last fall, mechanical issues in practice kept Boris Said from even shaking down, much less qualifying, Hendrick Motorsports’ potent #17 entry. As the team rejoins the circuit for another part-time effort in 2024, Said will return to his best track for his 30th XFINITY Series start and first since a 31st-place run for Motorsports Business Management at COTA in 2021. In the Cup Series alone, Said has 17 starts at Sears Point from 2000 through 2017 with a best finish of 6th in 2003, when he won the pole driving for MB2 Motorsports in place of an injured Jerry Nadeau. The last time the #17 team hit the track was in Darlington, where Chase Elliott went to victory lane. Said’s only XFINITY win came 14 years ago at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
DRIVER SWAP: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Ty Gibbs returns to pull double-duty this weekend in the XFINITY Series race, although he’s running the Starkey / Soundgear sponsorship that up-and-comer William Sawalich has carried in both ARCA and the Truck Series. Sawalich has yet to start a XFINITY Series race, though he will compete in Friday’s race for the ARCA Menards Series West. Gibbs takes the place of Josh Bilicki, whose JGR debut last Saturday in Portland saw him run 3rd for most of the day before contact left him 12th. Bilicki is also entered this week as he reunites with DGM Racing, taking the place of first-timer Nathan Byrd, who took 21st last week. SBC Contractors, a longtime sponsor of underdog teams at Sonoma, sponsors Bilicki’s Chevrolet.
DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Joe Gibbs Racing
John Hunter Nemechek will likewise pull double-duty as Gibbs’ teammate in the #20, replacing 27th-place Portland finisher Ryan Truex, who spun with Leland Honeyman, Jr. during a last-lap battle for 12th position. Nemechek carries sponsorship from Safeway on Saturday, and will carry Sunday’s title sponsor Save Mart in the Cup Series race.
MISSING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
Fresh off his career-best 5th-place run in Portland, Ed Jones moves from the #24 to Sam Hunt Racing’s full-time car, the #26. Sage Karam, whose loose radiator hose dropped him to 34th in the closing stages, will also race this weekend as he takes the place of Frankie Muniz in Joey Gase Racing’s #35. Muniz wound up the lone DNQ last week after an engine failure prevented him from attempting a timed lap.
MISSING: #36-DGM Racing
RETURNING: #50-Pardus Racing, Inc.
Also looking to rebound from adversity is Preston Pardus, whose track bar issue in Portland left him with his first career last-place finish. That run came driving the part-time entry for DGM Racing, a car that’s not among this week’s entrants. Instead, Pardus will drive for his family’s team in the #60 with Chinchor Electric, Inc. as returning sponsor. While already a veteran of nine road courses in his XFINITY career, this will be his first-ever series start at Sears Point in his 25th career start.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Last season saw Alex Labbe debut a new fourth team for the RSS Racing group, the #29, the same day his teammate Aric Almirola scored RSS’ first win in the #28. This year, Labbe takes the place of 29th-place Portland finisher Logan Bearden in the other SS-Green Light car, teaming up with Brad Perez in the #14.
CUP INVADERS: #19-Ty Gibbs, #20-John Hunter Nemechek
Sunday, June 9, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, FOX)
CUP Race 16 of 36
Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Sears Point
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Denny Hamlin
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 40 spots, meaning all will qualify. In addition, entrant Noah Gragson (#30) will run double-duty with Friday’s ARCA Menards Series West event, once again driving for Rette-Jones Racing.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Kaz Grala returns in place of Cody Ware, who after two early spins at Gateway climbed to 33rd of 36 starters at the checkered flag. Grala retains his sponsorship from N29 Capital Partners on the team’s #15 Ford in what will be his 20th series start and first at Sears Point. Recall that Grala’s series debut came on a road course when he finished 7th on the Daytona Infield Road Course in 2020, driving in place of Austin Dillon.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
A.J. Allmendinger is still another driver running double-duty with Saturday’s XFINITY Series race as he steps in for 30th-place Gateway finisher Derek Kraus in the #16. This time, it will be a challenge for Kaulig Racing’s spotters as both Allmendinger and teammate Daniel Hemric in the #31 will carry matching paint schemes from sponsor Cirkul. This will be Allmendinger’s 435th series start and his 13th at Sears Point, where he finished a track-best 6th just last year. He’s also one to watch in qualifying, having just once qualified worse than 5th in his last seven Sears Point starts dating back to 2014, including a pole in 2015.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
For the first time since 2013, when Marcos Ambrose raced Owen Kelly, two Australian drivers will compete head-to-head in the same Cup Series race. It first appeared this car would go to Brodie Kostecki, who finished 22nd last summer on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But after a conflict with Erebus Motorsport, those plans then changed to bring in Will Brown, who happens to be both the point leader in Australian SuperCars and Red Bull Racing’s replacement for Shane van Gisbergen. Brown will run sponsorship from Mobile X and Shaw and Partners on his Chevrolet, and will make his own NASCAR national series debut.
RETURNING: #60-RFK Racing (“Stage 60”)
Elated with his Truck Series debut at Martinsville, even after contact with his ThorSport teammate ruptured his radiator, and after a 19th-place showing in Kansas that saw him bang doors and trade words with Layne Riggs, Cam Waters will now make his Cup Series debut. He will drive for RFK Racing in the first attempt for the “Stage 60” program since the Daytona 500, where David Ragan was among the leaders before damage dropped him to 20th. Waters carries sponsorship from AUKUS and BuildSubmarines.com.
Friday, June 28, 2024
TRUCKS Race 13 of 23
Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Lawless Alan
The Truck Series takes the next two weeks off and returns to lead off the action on the concrete oval in Nashville.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (June 7, 1970): Bill Champion picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in the Motor State 400 when his #10 1969 Ford lost the engine after 1 lap. It was Champion’s second of three last-place finishes on the season, though he would lose the LASTCAR championship to four-time last-place runner Cecil Gordon.
