PREVIEW: Special paint schemes and a few surprises among Dover entrants
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Legacy Motor Club, @LEGACYMotorClub
Saturday, April 27, 2024 (1:30 P.M. ET, FS1)
XFINITY Race 10 of 33
BetRivers 200 at Dover
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Parker Kligerman
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning one will qualify.
RETURNING: #10-Kaulig Racing
Daniel Dye returns for his 5th career XFINITY Series start and first since a season-best 24th in Texas. His car carries logos representing his continued support of the “Race to Stop Suicide.” Dye’s only previous start at Dover came in 2021, when he finished 6th in a ARCA East Series race.
DRIVER SWAP: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Motorsports Business Management
After running the #66 to a 24th-place finish last week, David Starr moves to the #14 with Alarm Tech as sponsor in place of 11th-place Talladega finisher Mason Massey. The #66 had no listed driver at first publication of the entry list, but it was since announced that Chad Finchum would return for the first time since his season debut at Texas, where fender damage left him in last place. Garrison Homes returns as Finchum’s sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Corey Heim’s unexpected double-duty weekend in Dover begins with his originally scheduled return to Sam Hunt’s #26, replacing 37th-place Talladega finisher Jeffrey Earnhardt. Heim’s 10th series start and first since a 17th in Texas sees his Toyota sponsored by Synergy Modular. This will precede his Cup Series debut for Legacy Motor Club (see below).
MISSING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Not among this week’s entrants is team owner Jordan Anderson and the #32 team with which he contended early at Talladega, only to be sidelined by nose damage that left him 31st.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
The Gase team had no driver listed for its flagship #35, which stormed to 2nd in the final sprint to the checkered flag at Talladega before last-minute contact slipped him to 18th with a car to repair. Taking Gase’s place in the car is J.J. Yeley, who seeks his fourth start of the year and first since Phoenix, where he finished a season-best 19th.
MISSING: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Caesar Bacarella and the third Alpha Prime entry are not among this week’s entrants following a strong 7th-place finish for the part-owner of the team in Talladega – his second-straight top-ten finish in that race.
TEAM UPDATE: #48-Big Machine Racing
The familiar white-and-red colors of the Big Machine Light Spiked Coolers will not be seen this week as driver Parker Kligerman is this week sponsored by Motley Crue’s new single “Dogs of War.”
RETURNING: #88-JR Motorsports
Back in action following a sterling 4th-place finish in his series debut at Martinsville comes Carson Kvapil, who this time runs a blue version of the red “Chevy Truck Season” car he ran that day.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing
Journeyman driver Kaden Honeycutt makes his first start for DGM Racing this week, taking the place of 16th-place Talladega finisher Josh Bilicki, who ran as high as 9th on the final restart. Honeycutt carries sponsorship from “Drive Sober Arrive Alive Delaware” in what will be just his second series start, his first since engine trouble in Mike Harmon’s car left him in last place at Martinsville last spring.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, April 28, 2024 (2:00 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Race 11 of 36
Wurth 400 at Dover
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Ty Dillon
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for 40 spots, marking the tenth-straight short field since 40 took the green in the Daytona 500.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Making his first start in a year, Cody Ware came home a respectable 24th at Talladega, finishing on the lead lap. This week, he steps out again in place of Kaz Grala, who had steered the #15 in all previous starts this season. N29 Capital Partners returns as sponsor for what will be Grala’s first Cup start at Dover.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
Sunday will mark A.J. Allmendinger’s 25th career Cup start at Dover, a track where his best career finish stands as a pair of 7th-place finishes for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2009 and 2011. Taking the place of Shane van Gisbergen, who slipped to 28th after leading three laps in his superspeedway debut at Talladega, Allmendinger carries returning sponsorship from Action Industries.
TEAM UPDATE: #43-Legacy Motor Club
While the preliminary entry list still showed Erik Jones as driver of the #43, his brutal wreck in the closing stages at Talladega left him with a compression fracture in his lower vertebra, requiring an additional trip to the hospital. Taking his place on a week-to-week basis is team relief driver Corey Heim, who will pilot a stunning “throwback” scheme to the STP Pontiac that Richard Petty steered to his 199th series victory at Dover in 1984.
MISSING: #62-Beard Motorsports
Anthony Alfredo enjoyed a career weekend in Talladega, taking home 3rd in the XFINITY race and 6th for Beard Motorsports in Cup. He will only run XFINITY this weekend with Our Motorsports as the #62 team continues their part-time schedule.
MISSING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
Also missing this week is B.J. McLeod, who thrilled fans with two charges to the lead before an apparent fuel pump issue sent him tumbling down the order and off the lead lap, leaving him 32nd.
RETURNING: #84-Legacy Motor Club
One part-time team that rejoins the field this weekend is the third Legacy Motor Club entry of Jimmie Johnson, who makes his first start since Texas at the site of his 83rd and most recent Cup Series win in 2017. This is arguably Johnson’s best track, site of 11 wins in his 38 career series starts. He last raced here in the 2020 double-header, where he finished 7th and 3rd in a pair of 311-lap events.
Saturday, May 4, 2024
TRUCKS Race 8 of 23
Heart of America 200 at Kansas
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Tim Veins
The Truck Series returns next Saturday in Kansas, where I will be kicking off my trackside coverage for 2024.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 26, 2003): Joe Nemechek picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career when his #88 Hills Brothers Coffee Chevrolet fell out with ignition problems after 8 laps of the 1-800-Pit-Shop.com 300 at the California Speedway. Nemechek had qualified 17th in the 43-car field following two early-season wins at Las Vegas and Texas.
