PREVIEW: A big news week for NASCAR shuffles the entry lists for Iowa
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Joey Gase’s XFINITY car for Saturday. (IMAGE: Garage 66 & MBM Motorsports, @MBMMotorsports)
Saturday, August 2, 2025 (Green Flag X:XX P.M. ET, CW)
XFINITY Race 22 of 33
Hy-Vee Perks 250 at Iowa
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Glen Reen
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for as many spots, so all will qualify.
RETURNING: #9-JR Motorsports
Ross Chastain, the last-place finisher of the Brickyard 400, returns from a week off in XFINITY, where he also finished last in Dover. Chastain was to be the only full-time Cup Series driver entered in Saturday’s race, but that changed following a couple significant announcements this week (see below).
DRIVER CHANGE: #11-Kaulig Racing
After a year-and-a-half, the ambitious signing of fan favorite Josh Williams to the Kaulig #11 team has come to an end. For whatever reason, the duo has struggled to find much success, yielding just six top-ten finishes in 54 starts without a single Top Five. The team is back to swapping drivers on a race-to-race basis, starting with Cup regular Carson Hocevar. When we last saw Hocevar in a XFINITY car was at COTA this past spring, where he looked to help Garrett Smithley and SS-Green Light Racing with a strong finish, only to end his race in last place following a minor wreck and reported radio issues.
DRIVER CHANGE: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Fresh off his career-best runner-up finish to Layne Riggs in last week’s Truck Series race at IRP, Corey Day returns to the XFINITY Series in place of Indianapolis 4th-place finisher Kyle Larson. This will be Day’s first XFINITY start since Sonoma, where his 24th-place finish was his worst of his first four starts in the series.
DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
Justin Bonsignore returns to the XFINITY Series for the first time since Pocono, where he earned his second consecutive last-place finish in as many starts, continuing a part-time campaign where he’s come home no better than 16th. This week, he joins a JGR team still fuming after their Indianapolis starter Aric Almirola was wrecked out of a strong finish by Austin Hill, dropping the #19 team to 35th. Speaking of which---
DRIVER CHANGE: #21-Richard Childress Racing
The other big news of the week involved Austin Hill, who has been suspended for this week’s race following his tangle with Almirola at Indianapolis, a race which saw him finish in 34th. During Hill’s absence, RCR has enlisted the aid of Austin Dillon, who finished 13th in his lone XFINITY start this year driving the #3 at Charlotte. Hill is expected to return next week in Watkins Glen, but now faces the added challenge of a Playoff run without his accumulated Playoff points.
MISSING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Not among this week’s entrants is Jordan Anderson’s part-time #32 entry run last Saturday by Katherine Legge, who on the XFINITY side finished next-to-last following late-race electrical issues that left her stranded on pit road.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
After failing to qualify for both his previous XFINITY Series attempts at Martinsville and Bristol for Motorsports Business Management, Tyler Tomassi will be locked-into Saturday’s race in Joey Gase’s #35 entry, sponsored by NOS Custom Diecast and K1 Speed. Tomassi takes the place of David Starr, who finished 29th last week at Indianapolis.
DRIVER CHANGE: #70-Cope Family Racing
Thomas Annunziata will run the Cope team’s car for the ninth time in his part-time campaign in 2025, his first start since his season-best 17th-place showing on the Chicago Street Course. He takes the place of Leland Honeyman, Jr., who qualified a strong 17th at Indy, but whose tangle with Carson Kvapil left him a distant 26th at the checkered flag.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Logen Bearden endured a miserable afternoon at Indianapolis, where his #07 struggled with electrical gremlins from the very start of the race, ultimately sending them behind the wall with just 37 laps complete. Taking Bearden’s place this week is a returning Patrick Emerliing, his first series start since Pocono, where he took 30th. The Motoplex of Nebraska is the listed sponsor.
CUP INVADERS: #9-Ross Chastain, #11-Carson Hocevar, #21-Austin Dillon
Sunday, August 3, 2025 (Green Flag X:XX P.M. ET, USA)
CUP Race 23 of 36
Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa
2024 Last-Place Finisher: A.J. Allmendinger
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for 40 spots, so all will qualify.
MISSING: #62-Beard Motorsports
Jesse Love is not among this week’s entrants on the Cup side following a 24th-place finish that saw him narrowly escape the last wreck of the day by driving through the grass at Turn 3. Love will instead focus on tomorrow’s XFINITY race for RCR.
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Garage 66
Joey Gase has had a knack for landing interesting sponsorship deals with eye-catching paint schemes, and this week is no exception. To celebrate Hulu’s release of the newest season of “King of the Hill,” Gase will run near-identical paint schemes on both Carl Long’s #66 car on Sunday and his own #53 entry on Saturday, both locked into those races. Gase’s uniform by Matrix Apparel also features the fictional Alamo Beer logo prominently across its middle.
MISSING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
As with the XFINITY side, Katherine Legge will not be racing this week in Cup following her tremendous rally on the final restarts that lifted her from 22nd and last on the lead lap to a career-best 17th at the checkered flag. Live Fast Motorsports has not fielded a car for this weekend.
Friday, August 8, 2025
TRUCKS Race 17 of 25
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race at Watkins Glen
2021 Last-Place Finisher: Chandler Smith
The Truck Series returns next week in Watkins Glen.
TEAM UPDATE: #52-Halmar Friesen Racing
Tuesday’s news that NASCAR upheld Stewart Friesen’s disqualification for a technical infraction found after his 3rd-place finish at IRP became a distant thought following Friesen’s terrible crash in a dirt modified race at the Autodrome Drummond in Quebec on Monday night. As his wife Jessica has updated by social media, Stewart remained conscious but suffered a broken leg and pelvis in the accident, and has since been transferred back to the United States for both surgery and recovery. As of this writing, there is no news for who will drive HFR’s #52, for which Friesen had secured a spot in the Playoffs following a win in Michigan.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (August 1, 1954): Don Woodard picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in a 300-lap race at Oakland (California) Stadium when his #61 1950 Chrysler did not start the race. This race was ultimately cut short at 297 laps due to a scoring error and featured the disqualification of Robert Caswell, who finished 3rd but was dropped to 32nd due to an illegal camshaft.
