PREVIEW: Talladega sees the return of Anderson, Ware, and McLeod, plus a busy weekend for Van Gisbergen and Alfredo
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Rick Ware Racing, @RickWareRacing
Saturday, April 20, 2024 (4:00 P.M. ET, FOX)
XFINITY Race 9 of 33
Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Parker Chase
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots in Saturday’s field, meaning just one will fail to qualify.
MISSING: #10-Kaulig Racing
Not among the entrants this week is Kaulig Racing’s part-time #10 effort with which Daniel Dye earned a 24th-place finish in Texas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #66-Motorsports Business Management
Mason Massey defeated J.J. Yeley in voting for the second-ever “fan controlled” entry, and thus earns his first XFINITY Series start since last fall at Homestead, when he finished 27th with the same SS-Green Light Racing team. Massey takes the place of David Starr, who came home 28th in Texas. Starr will also attempt this week’s race in Motorsports Business Management’s #66, taking the place of Texas last-place finisher Chad Finchum. Starr carries sponsorship from Green Light Performance Products on a Chevrolet with a Hendrick engine under the hood – essential as Starr must qualify on speed.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing
Jeffrey Earnhardt, the 2022 runner-up of this race driving for Richard Childress Racing, reunites with Sam Hunt Racing and his sponsor ForeverLawn in the #26. Earnhardt takes the place of Truck Series frontrunner Corey Heim, who finished 17th last week in Texas. This would be Earnhardt’s second series start of the year, his first since an 8th-place finish at Atlanta in February.
RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Jordan Anderson looks to run as strong as he did in Daytona in February, where he finished 4th in the season opener, at a track where he finished 5th in his only series start here in 2021. He returns to the #32 for the first time since Atlanta, where the team finished last with steering issues, kicking off a hot-and-cold series of starts for the team ever since. Bommarito Automotive Group continues as sponsor. This will be Anderson’s first NASCAR national series start as a driver at Talladega since he suffered serious burns early in the Truck Series race in 2022.
WITHDREW: #36-DGM Racing
Natalie Decker was originally listed to return to the series for the first time since the Daytona opener, where she led 7 laps and finished a solid 18th. However, her #36 entry was withdrawn earlier in the week, scaling the list back from 40 cars to just 39.
RETURNING: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Also among the superspeedway regulars returning to action this week is Caesar Bacarella, who failed to qualify this #45 Prime Bites Chevrolet in Daytona in February. Bacarella looks to bounce back in what would be his eighth series start at Talladega, site of his career-best 6th-place finish just last year.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, April 21, 2024 (3:00 P.M. ET, FOX)
CUP Race 10 of 36
GEICO 500 at Talladega
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Austin Dillon
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 40 spots, meaning all will qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #15-Rick Ware Racing
Last year, Cody Ware was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR following his arrest for an alleged altercation with his then-girlfriend. Those charges were then dismissed last December, and Ware was then reinstated. He now arrives at Talladega to make his 98th series start and first since last spring at Richmond, where he finished 34th. Talladega saw one of Ware’s best finishes of his Cup career in the fall of 2020, when he came home 19th. Ware takes the place of Kaz Grala, 27th last week in Texas, who will not race in Cup for the first time this season.
DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing
Shane van Gisbergen will run double-duty this weekend, and carries backing from Wendy’s for both races. On the Cup side, he takes the place of Ty Dillon, who earned a solid 16th-place finish last Sunday in Texas. This will be van Gisbergen’s first Cup start on a superspeedway.
MISSING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Austin Hill’s power steering issues left him a disappointing last place in Texas, and he will only run the XFINITY Series race this weekend as RCR hasn’t entered his #33 for Sunday. It has already been announced, however, that Hill will return to the Cup garage at Kansas in two weeks, running a new paint scheme on his United Rentals Chevrolet.
RETURNING: #62-Beard Motorsports
Running double-duty along with van Gisbergen is a returning Anthony Alfredo, fresh off a 10th-place finish in last Saturday’s XFINITY Series race with Our Motorsports. Alfredo again drives for Beard Motorsports, and this time carries his primary XFINITY backer Dude Wipes on the #62. In what will be Alfredo’s 40th series start, he will look to improve on his 27th-place showing in his most recent Cup start this past February in the Daytona 500.
RETURNING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
B.J. McLeod is back for his 139th series start, his first since he bounced back from a narrow DNQ in the Daytona 500 to finish 24th in the thriller in Atlanta. As of this writing, McLeod has no sponsor listed for his #78, but is assured a starting spot due to the short entry list. His best of seven previous Cup starts at Talladega came in this race just last year, when he came home 18th.
MISSING: #84-Legacy Motor Club
Following a frustrating afternoon last Sunday in Texas where he spun out twice and finished 29th, Jimmie Johnson will not race this weekend, but will return for the following two rounds at Dover and Kansas.
Saturday, May 4, 2024
TRUCKS Race 8 of 23
Heart of America 200 at Kansas
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Tim Veins
The Truck Series takes the next two weekends off and returns for Kansas, where I will be kicking off my trackside coverage for 2024.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 19, 1997): Johnny Rumley picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Series career in the BellSouth Mobility Opryland 320 at the Nashville Fairgrounds when his #27 RGM Erectors Chevrolet crashed after 7 laps. For Rumley, a two-time series winner who took the checkers at Hickory in 1993 and Dover in 1995, this was his only career NASCAR last-place finish.
