PREVIEW: A new batch of Halloween schemes and LASTCAR championship implications among the entry list storylines for Martinsville
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Preston Pardus, @PrestonPardus
Friday, October 24, 2025 (Green Flag 6:20 P.M. ET, FOX)
TRUCKS Race 24 of 25
Round of 8: Race 3 of 3
Slim Jim 200 at Martinsville
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Norm Benning
LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP CLINCH SCENARIOS
With two races left to go, Norm Benning holds the lead in the LASTCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship, and can clinch his second title and first since 2020 with a last-place finish in tonight’s race. Benning is one of three drivers to have scored three last-place finishes in 2025, so both Stephen Mallozzi and Clayton Green can take the lead from Benning with a last-place finish tonight. However, Mallozzi isn’t entered, so Green remains Benning’s only challenger. And even if Green takes the lead with a last-place finish tonight, Benning can take it back with a last-place finish next week in Phoenix.
ENTRY LIST
There are 35 teams entered for 36 spots, so all will qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
Brent Crews returns to the Truck Series for the first time since his career-best race on the Charlotte “Roval,” where he led 56 of 70 laps before he was passed late by a resurgent teammate in Corey Heim. Crews makes his first series start at Martinsville in place of Bret Holmes, whose crash in Talladega left him 28th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #2-Reaume Brothers Racing
TEAM UPDATE: #6-Norm Benning Racing
Tonight’s race will see LASTCAR Truck Series Championship contenders Norm Benning – back in his short track entry after a frightening engine fire in Talladega – do battle with Clayton Green. Green makes his sixth start of the season and first since his streak of three consecutive last-place finishes in the summer races at Richmond, Darlington, and Bristol. Green takes the place of team owner Josh Reaume, who finished 24th in Talladega.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
After J.J. Yeley led three laps on his way to a 13th-place finish in his breakout run in the Spire #7, the ride goes to Brenden Queen, marking only his second series start of the season and first since a 16th-place finish at IRP. Queen most recently ran Kaulig’s #11 in last Saturday’s XFINITY race at Talladega, where he was swept up in the early wreck and finished 36th.
WITHDREW: #20-Young’s Motorsports
Randy Young withdrew his part-time #20 entry at first publication of the entry list with no driver listed. This team last competed on the Charlotte “Roval,” where Will Rodgers finished 15th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
Driving the second Reaume entry is Alan “A.J.” Waller, who made his series debut at this same Martinsville track this past spring. Both in that race and his most recent start at IRP, Waller, a recovering cancer survivor, had to be relieved by team owner Josh Reaume, who crashed and finished 32nd in July. Sponsored by Waller Bros. Cattle & Land, he takes the place of Jason M. White, who had electrical issues that left him 30th in Talladega.
MISSING: #35-Van Alst Motorsports
Greg Van Alst will not bring his team to Martinsville following a 25th-place finish in Talladega.
RETURNING: #41-Niece Motorsports
Back for only the fifth time in 2025 and first since his 31st-place showing in Loudon is Conner Jones, who again drives Al Niece’s part-time #41 entry. Jones has just one previous Truck Series start at Martinsville, an 18th-place finish for ThorSport in the spring of 2023.
RETURNING: #56-Hill Motorsports
Timmy Hill and his family team rejoin the circuit for the first time since their 16th-place showing on the Charlotte “Roval,” this time with associate backing from “Toys for Tots.” This marks Hill’s 12th series start at Martinsville, a track where he’s never failed to finish and earned a best run of 5th in this race back in 2019. Hill finished 21st in this race last year.
MISSING: #66-ThorSport Racing
Luke Fenhaus is not among the entrants this week as ThorSport has not fielded the #66 entry with which he finished 23rd in Talladega. The team will return for next week’s finale with Luke Baldwin behind the wheel and Flex as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #69-Motorsports Business Management
Fresh off an impressive 18th-place finish in last Sunday’s Cup race at Talladega, Casey Mears will again drive for Carl Long this week. This time, it will be a double-duty effort, starting with today’s Truck Series race in the #69 team with which Tyler Tomassi finished 27th in Talladega. Pit Stop Diecast is the sponsor for what will be the first-ever Truck Series start of Mears’ career. This race will mark Mears’ landmark 600th career NASCAR start.
MISSING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Caleb Costner and the Harmon team will not attempt today’s race following electrical issues midway through last week’s Talladega race which left him 35th.
MISSING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
Parker Kligerman and the Henderson family’s team are likewise not entered after a 26th-place showing in Talladega.
RETURNING: #84-Cook Racing Enterprises
Another driver pulling double-duty this weekend in Martinsville is Patrick Staropoli, marking his fourth start of the season and fifth of his career. His most recent series start came in Richmond, who finished 23rd with this same Cook Racing Enterprises effort. Staropoli also finished a season-best 20th at this same track back in the spring.
RETURNING: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports
We haven’t seen Justin S. Carroll and his team since Charlotte in May, where suspension issues left him 33rd at the checkered flag. But his best run of his young career came in the most recent Martinsville race this past spring, where he finished 18th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #02-Young’s Motorsports
Logan Bearden makes his first Truck Series start since August 11, 2023, when he finished 21st at IRP for AM Racing, now an established XFINITY Series team. This also comes after four XFINITY Series starts of Bearden’s own this season, most recently a 30th-place run for SS-Green Light Racing under the lights at Bristol. Bearden takes the place of Nathan Byrd, who finished 18th with this Randy Young effort last week in Talladega.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, October 25, 2025 (Green Flag 7:50 P.M. ET, CW)
XFINITY Race 32 of 33
Round of 8: Race 3 of 3
IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 at Martinsville
2024 Last-Place Finisher: A.J. Allmendinger
LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP CLINCH SCENARIOS
The 2025 LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship remains the tightest of the three to be settled. Parker Retzlaff is one of only four drivers to score two last-place finishes in 2025, and holds a slim lead on bottom-five finishes over Daniel Dye at 6-5. Dye can take the lead with a last-place finish tonight, as can fellow two-time last-place finishers Christian Eckes and Justin Bonsignore, plus one-time last-placers William Sawalich (not entered) and Anthony Alfredo. Dye can also force a bottom-fifteen tiebreaker if he finishes in the Bottom Five but Retzlaff does not – Retzlaff would still prevail in a tiebreaker of 13-12. Another 26 drivers remain in contention for the title, but only if they sweep both last-place finishes at Martinsville and Phoenix. Only 13 of those 26 are entered in Saturday’s race, and the remaining 13 will be eliminated if none finish last on Saturday.
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots, so one team will fail to qualify.
MISSING: #5-Alpha Prime Racing
Not among this week’s XFINITY entrants is Caesar Bacarella, who finished a career-best 5th that nearly became a 4th-place run after a photo finish last Saturday in Talladega. Bacarella isn’t entered along with Alpha Prime’s part-time #5 team.
RETURNING: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Martinsville marks the tenth career XFINITY Series start for Corey Day, who most recently finished a career-best 4th during a competitive race in Las Vegas. Day’s series debut came at this same track back in the spring, where he finished 21st after a sterling 8th-place qualifying run.
DRIVER CHANGE: #18-Joe Gibbs Racing
On Tuesday came news that William Sawalich, hospitalized after his crash last Saturday in Talladega, will be sidelined for Saturday’s race with concussion-like symptoms. His replacement is Justin Bonsignore, who had been scheduled to run this race in the #19, then was swapped out for Aric Almirola following his win in Las Vegas. Incidentally, this also has LASTCAR implications as Bonsignore is tied for the most last-place finishes and can now take the championship lead with a 38th-place finish on Saturday.
RETURNING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing
Patrick Staropoli completes his double-duty effort with the Truck Series on Saturday, where Sam Hunt Racing will field its part-time second entry for the first time since Las Vegas earlier this month, where Trevor Bayne finished 22nd. Like Corey Day, Staropoli made his series debut in this spring’s Martinsville race, and he finished an impressive 16th – still a career best in three series start. Staropoli finished 22nd in his most recent series start last month in Kansas, again in the SHR #24.
DRIVER CHANGE: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Austin Green returns to the XFINITY Series for the first time since his 31st-place showing in Las Vegas and seeks his first NASCAR start at Martinsville. He takes the place of team owner Jordan Anderson, who was also among those wiped out in the early multi-car pileup at Talladega, taking 32nd at the finish. Overplay returns as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
Takuma Koga returns to NASCAR national competition for the first time since his XFINITY Series debut in Portland, where he finished 29th with this same Joey Gase effort. This time, Koga takes the place of veteran driver David Starr, who took home 18th last week.
RETURNING: #50-Pardus Racing
Transmission issues sidelined Preston Pardus in the early laps of his most recent XFINITY start on the Charlotte “Roval,” putting him in last place. The road course specialist has made his only oval starts in NASCAR on this Martinsville track, making two races with an 18th in this race in 2021, then 24th in the same race last fall. With Halloween coming next Friday, Pardus is one of six drivers running special paint schemes for the holiday, his Chevrolet decorated like a jack-o’-lantern. The other Halloween schemes announced as of this writing – each designed by Michael Miceli Design LLC – will be run by Anthony Alfredo (#42), Josh Williams (#45), Jeremy Clements (#51), Ryan Ellis (#71), and Myatt Snider (#91).
DRIVER SWAP: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Speaking of Myatt Snider, he will run Mario Gosselin’s part-time #91 entry this week with sponsorship from SourBoys candy on his Halloween-themed scheme. The preliminary entry list had no driver listed for this car. This marks only the fourth series start of the year for Snider, his first since a season-best 22nd in Nashville with this same team. Snider’s return bumps 22nd-place Talladega finisher Mason Maggio to Joey Gase’s #53, taking the place of 16th-place finisher Gase himself.
DRIVER CHANGE: #70-Cope Family Racing
Leland Honeyman, Jr. was a factor in the finish for both Cup races at Daytona and Talladega, including last Saturday, where he charged into the Top Five despite losing a left-front fender in a wreck with Connor Zilisch. Honeyman ended up taking home 8th, and will this week again swap out for teammate Thomas Annunziata. Recently announced to run full-time for Nitro Motorsports’ ARCA entry next season, Annunziata makes his 13th start of the season and first since his last-place finish in Las Vegas. This time, he runs a new paint scheme for sponsor Wilhelmina.
MISSING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Along with the team’s Truck Series effort, Mike Harmon has not entered his #74 car this weekend. Last week, Carson Ware narrowly escaped the big wreck while being lapped, then survived the remaining chaos to finish 21st.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
Among the first driver announcements for this week’s race involved Brad Perez, his first start since Sonoma, where he finished 31st in Alpha Prime’s #45, and his first on an oval since Charlotte, when he drove the same team to a 35th-place finish after early mechanical issues. For the first time this year, Perez will drive for Bobby Dotter, taking the place of Nick Leitz, who finished a career-best 11th last Saturday in Talladega. Robinhood Roofing is the listed sponsor for Perez’ first start with Dotter’s team since last fall at his home track in Homestead, where he ran 28th.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, October 26, 2025 (Green Flag 2:17 P.M. ET, NBC)
CUP Race 35 of 36
Round of 8: Race 3 of 3
XFINITY 500 at Martinsville
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Josh Bilicki
LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP CLINCH SCENARIOS
Riley Herbst enters the final two races of the LASTCAR Cup Series Championship as the only driver with four last-place finishes, and can lock-up his first title by finishing last on Sunday. But with only a one-finish lead over both A.J. Allmendinger and Josh Berry, both drivers can take the lead from Herbst if they finish last instead. If either Allmendinger or Berry do finish last, Herbst would need to finish last in Phoenix to take back the title – depending where Herbst finishes at Martinsville, a Bottom Five in Phoenix may not be enough. The only two other championship contenders are Cody Ware and Ryan Blaney, whose only path to the title is to sweep both last-place finishes in Martinsville and Phoenix. Thus, both Ware and Blaney will be eliminated if they fail to finish last on Sunday.
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for 40 spots, marking the 29th short field in 35 races this season.
MISSING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
MISSING: #62-Beard Motorsports
Both Austin Hill and Anthony Alfredo ran double-duty with the XFINITY Series last week in Talladega, where they finished nose-to-tail with Alfredo in 21st ahead of 22nd-place Hill, each on the lead lap. Both drivers will focus on their XFINITY Series efforts this weekend as RCR will not bring their part-time #33 and the Beard Motorsports effort is likewise not entered.
MISSING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
Also not making the trip this week is B.J. McLeod, whose unsponsored car lost multiple laps in the garage area to diagnose a vibration, ultimately placing him 28th at the checkered flag.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (October 24, 1987): Mike Alexander picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Series career in the AC-Delco 200 at Rockingham when his #84 Action Vans Buick lost the engine after 13 laps. This was Alexander’s second last-place run of the season and the last of his Busch Series career, which continued through 1988.
