PREVIEW: Vargas and Muniz among those returning to action in Phoenix
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Frankie Muniz’ Phoenix car being prepared in the Las Vegas garage.
PHOTO: Joey Gase Motorsports, @J_G Motorsports
Saturday, March 9, 2024 (4:30 P.M. ET, FS1)
XFINITY Race 4 of 33
All811.om Every Dig. Every Time. 200 at Phoenix
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Dawson Cram
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots in Saturday’s XFINITY race, meaning just one team will fail to qualify.
RETURNING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick’s part-time XFINITY program makes its season debut with none other than this year’s Daytona 500 winner, last year’s winningest Cup driver, and the defending winner of Sunday’s race William Byron. Byron will be joined by all three of his Hendrick teammates this season, plus Boris Said at Sonoma.
DRIVER CHANGE: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
The preliminary entry list once again had no driver listed for the third Jordan Anderson entry, driven to a 36th-place finish by Sage Karam last Saturday in Las Vegas after a transmission issue set them back from the start. This week, the ride goes to Ryan Vargas, who just this week announced he will compete full-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series Pro for 3 Friends Racing. Vargas seeks his first XFINITY Series start since October 29, 2022, when he earned a 29th for JD Motorsports at Martinsville. Vargas did not qualify for his three attempts last year with Mike Harmon Racing, one of which due to the rain and snow in Fontana.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports
Another late change to the entry list involved the return of Frankie Muniz, back in action for the first time since his 33rd-place series debut in Daytona last month. Muniz takes the place of Joey Gase – originally listed as the driver until midweek – who finished 30th in Las Vegas. Sponsoring Muniz at his home track, which he visited as a guest of a team last November, is The Hot Chick, a chicken restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona.
TEAM UPDATE: #92-DGM Racing
Nick Leitz will again drive Mario Gosselin’s #92 Chevrolet this weekend at Phoenix, a ride which did not have the driver listed when the list was first posted. Leitz, who finished 27th in Las Vegas, will once again work with crew chief Bryan Berry, who was ejected from the Cup Series garage following the inspection failures for the NY Racing Team.
CUP INVADERS: #17-William Byron
Sunday, March 3, 2024 (3:30 P.M. ET, FOX)
CUP Race 4 of 36
Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix
2023 Last-Place Finisher: B.J. McLeod
ENTRY LIST
There are 36 entries for 40 spots in Sunday’s Cup Series race, marking the third straight short field in 2024 and the first without a single “open” entry on the grid.
MISSING: #44-NY Racing Team
J.J. Yeley isn’t entered following his 34th-place season debut in Las Vegas, but he will race at his home track in Saturday’s XFINITY Series race, piloting SS-Green Light’s #14 Chevrolet.
Saturday, March 16, 2024
TRUCKS Race 4 of 23
Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol
2023 Last-Place Finisher: Inaugural Event
The Truck Series is off this week and returns a week from Saturday to begin the action at Bristol. With the dirt race removed from the 2024 calendar, this will mark the first time in series history that the trucks will compete on Bristol’s concrete track twice in a season, along with the traditional Thursday night date this September.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (March 8, 1987): Bobby Wawak picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond when his #74 Wawak Racing Chevrolet overheated after 62 laps. This was Wawak’s first last-place run since 1983 and the last of his career, which lasted from 1965 to his career-ending wreck in Race 1 of the Twin 125s in 1988.
