PREVIEW: Double-duty drivers have their work cut out for them at Darlington
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Team Penske, @Team_Penske
Saturday, April 5, 2025 (Green Flag 3:40 P.M. ET, CW)
XFINITY Race 8 of 33
Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at Darlington
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Ryan Ellis
ENTRY LIST
There are 40 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning two will fail to qualify.
RETURNING: #9-JR Motorsports
Ross Chastain is among the three Cup Series regulars entered in Saturday’s race. He eyes his second series start of the season following an 8th-place season debut at COTA for JR Motorsports’ now part-time #9 entry, which must qualify on time this weekend.
DRIVER CHANGE: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
Chase Elliott makes his first XFINITY Series start of the year, his first since a 4th-place finish in the fall race at the same Darlington track last year. He pilots Hendrick’s #17 entry, which had a rough night at Martinsville after Corey Day’s XFINITY debut went sideways off the nose of Sammy Smith’s Chevrolet, leaving Day in 21st.
DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing
The third Cup regular also happens to be the series’ winningest driver in 2025 in Christopher Bell, who like Elliott makes his season debut and first XFINITY race since last fall at Darlington, a race Bell won from the pole. Bell this time drives JGR’s “all-star” #19 in place of 13th-place Martinsville finisher Aric Almirola.
MISSING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing
Not among this week’s entrants is Patrick Staropoli, who was holding fast to a potential top-ten finish before he was booted out of line in the race’s final moments, dropping him to 16th.
RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
Road racer Austin Green continues his efforts to branch out into NASCAR’s most challenging ovals. Back in action for the first time since alternator issues left him 36th in Las Vegas, Green will now make his first NASCAR start at Darlington – a track where uncle Jeff Green won in 2001.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Alpha Prime Racing
Mason Massey returns to the XFINITY circuit for the first time since his 37th-place run at Las Vegas, the result of suspension issues. He takes the place of Brad Perez, who came home 23rd in Martinsville, and runs a “throwback” paint scheme to Jimmy Spencer’s Winston / No Bull Ford that Travis Carter Enterprises fielded from 1998-1999.
DRIVER CHANGE: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
While the preliminary entry list showed “TBA,” it was announced on his “Let’s Go Racing” podcast that David Starr will make his first attempt of the season, taking the place of 25th-place Martinsville finisher Mason Maggio with sponsorship from The Motorcoach Store. Starr’s most recent series start was his strong 8th-place finish last fall in Talladega, when he drove the #14 for SS-Green Light Racing.
MISSING: #66-MBM Motorsports
Carl Long’s team will not be making the trip to Darlington this week, one week after Tyler Tomassi’s DNQ in Martinsville.
DRIVER CHANGE: #70-Cope Family Racing
Leland Honeyman, Jr. returns to the seat of #70 in place of 31st-place Martinsville finisher Thomas Annunziata, who struggled with brake issues for much of last week’s race. Honeyman carries one of the most popular “throwback” schemes of the weekend, honoring 2000 NASCAR XFINITY Series Champion Jeff Green’s NesQuik Chevrolet. Distributor Wire & Cable is the featured sponsor of Honeyman’s first XFINITY start since his 34th-place run in Homestead.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Rita’s Italian Ice returns as sponsor for Josh Bilicki, who’s back in the Mario Gosselin #91 for the first time since his 31st-place run in Las Vegas, seven laps down. He takes the place of Myatt Snider, who took home 33rd after a late-race wreck in Martinsville.
DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
A “throwback” to Scott Riggs’ 2006-2007 Valvoline Dodge is the inspiration for Nick Leitz’ tenth series start and third of the year, his first since a 30th-place run in Phoenix. He takes the place of Carson Ware, who after a mid-race spin came home 30th in Martinsville.
CUP INVADERS: #9-Ross Chastain, #17-Chase Elliott, #19-Christopher Bell
Sunday, April 6, 2025 (Green Flag 3:12 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Race 8 of 36
Goodyear 400 at Darlington
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Ryan Blaney
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 40 spots, marking the seventh straight short field in 2025.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Austin Hill kicks off his part-time Cup campaign for 2025 as he pulls double-duty in Darlington – though none of the Richard Childress Racing entries are running “throwback” schemes. United Rentals continues their partnership for Hill’s first Cup start of the year, his first since a season-best 25th-place run last August in Daytona.
TEAM UPDATE: #43-Legacy Motor Club
As of Monday, LMC elected to not appeal Erik Jones’ disqualification from Martinsville for his car running below minimum weight, a penalty that dropped Jones from 24th to last place. This week, the two-time Southern 500 winner runs a throwback to the late John Andretti’s 1998 STP Pontiac alongside teammate John Hunter Nemechek’s tribute to his father’s #42 BellSouth Chevrolet of the same year.
RETURNING: #44-NY Racing Team
J.J. Yeley returns to the Cup Series for the first time since his 35th-place finish at Homestead, and the team just revealed a “throwback” to Bill Elliott’s iconic Coors Ford Thunderbird – Yeley’s #44 sponsored by Wawa. The team’s social media revealed their team was once operating from Elliott’s Dawsonville, Georgia shop in 2015. Yeley has made 17 Cup starts at Darlington, but none since the 2023 Southern 500, where he came home 30th. His track-best finish remains his 18th-place run for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2007.
MISSING: #50-Team AmeriVet
Burt Myers is not entered after a 36th-place finish in his first Cup Series start in a points-paying race, 12 laps down to race winner Denny Hamlin. According to an interview with Matt Weaver, Myers may attempt the fall race at Martinsville, or perhaps add another race if he falls out of championship contention at Bowman Gray.
MISSING: #66-Garage 66
Carl Long has likewise not entered his Cup car along with his XFINITY entry, one week after Casey Mears came home under power in 35th for his series return. Mears has never finished in the Top Ten in his 15 career Cup starts at Darlington. His best finish of 15th came with Chip Ganassi Racing in the spring of 2004.
Friday, April 11, 2025
TRUCKS Race 6 of 25
Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Justin S. Carroll
The Truck Series returns next week in Bristol.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 4, 1976): Jeff Handy picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Gwyn Staley 400 at North Wilkesboro when his #33 Chevrolet lost the engine after 3 laps. This was the Charlotte-born Handy’s second and final Cup start, following a 20th-place run in his debut at Talladega the previous August.
