PREVIEW: Injuries and personnel changes shuffle the lineup in Richmond
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Niece Motorsports, @NieceMotorsport
Friday, August 15, 2025 (7:48 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 18 of 25
Regular Season Finale
eero 250 at Richmond
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Jerry Bohlman
ENTRY LIST
Following the withdrawal of both Norm Benning’s #6 and the McAnally #91, there are 35 drivers entered for 36 spots in tonight’s race, turning what would have been the third full field of the season into the 15th short field of 2025.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
MISSING: #70-Brent Crews Racing
After Brent Crews finished 17th at Watkins Glen in his first foray into team ownership, he won’t be driving his #70 this week and will instead return to TRICON Garage in the “all-star” #1, taking the place of 11th-place Watkins Glen finisher William Sawalich. JBL returns as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE / SWAP: #2-Reaume Brothers Racing
DRIVER CHANGE / SWAP: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing
Last week on the road course, William Lambros twice broke down on track in Josh Reaume’s #2, ultimately done for the day after a fractured truck arm on his #2 Ford. The same race saw teammate Gian Buffomante finish best of the team’s trio, taking 25th in his series debut – two spots ahead of Frankie Muniz in the #33. This week, the Reaume team brings back its short course drivers. Clayton Green has made four series starts, most recently a 30th-place finish this summer in Pocono. Stephen Mallozzi has 11 starts, most recently a 33rd-place finish due to suspension issues in Rockingham. The preliminary entry list first showed Green in the #2 and Mallozzi in the #22, but the two have since swapped rides.
WITHDREW: #6-Norm Benning
Norm Benning had been listed to make his ninth start of the year and first since his 31st-place showing in IRP. Ironically, he would have been locked into the field had he not withdrawn before McAnally-Hilgemann Racing also pulled their #91 entry (see below). It’s Benning’s second withdrawal of the season, his first since Lime Rock.
NEW TEAM: #16-McAnally-Hilgemann Racing
Amidst a frustrating first full season in the XFINITY Series for Kaulig Racing, Christian Eckes announced this summer he would rejoin the McAnally team in the Truck Series for two starts during XFINITY off-weekends. The first comes tonight, when he pilots a new fourth entry for the team, the #16, with sponsorship from AAA Premium Battery. The McAnally team has had years of success running the #16 in ARCA Menards Series West, and now runs it in honor of the late Shigeaki Hattori, who previously fielded the #16. The McAnally team operated out of Hattori’s shop during their first two Truck Series seasons. Eckes’ truck will carry Hattori’s name, but will use the Owner Points previously held by the #77 at Spire Motorsports (see below).
RETURNING: #41-Niece Motorsports
Matthew Gould has finished better in each of previous three Truck Series starts, most recently his lone race of the 2025 campaign, a 23rd-place showing in Al Niece’s #44. This time, he drives the team’s returning part-time #41 entry in his first series start at Richmond.
DRIVER SWAP: #44-Niece Motorsports
TEAM UPDATE / DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Spire Motorsports
TEAM CLOSED: #07-Spire Motorsports
On Monday came news that Andres Perez de Lara had been released by Spire Motorsports, effective immediately. He’s since picked up a ride with Niece Motorsports in the #44 driven last week by Ross Chastain to a 30th-place finish after fuel pump issues. The #77 will now complete the year with Corey LaJoie driving, but will do so as technically a new team, listed as the “177.” This is because the #77 will use the Owner Points from the #07, which will not run for the rest of this season following Kyle Busch’s last-place run in Watkins Glen. As mentioned above, the original Owner Points for the #77 will go to Christian Eckes’ #16.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Niece Motorsports
Following the shuffling of rides after the release of Kayden Honeycutt, Bayley Currey will reunite with the Niece team for the first time since Nashville, where he scored his third top-ten finish in only eight starts in 2025 with a 9th-place finish. Currey takes the place of Connor Zilisch, still healing after surgery on his broken collarbone. One day before his frightening fall from his XFINITY car in victory lane, Zilisch rallied from a pit road penalty to finish 8th in the Truck Series race.
DRIVER SWAP: #52-Halmar Friesen Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #02-Young’s Motorsports
As confirmed late last week, Kaden Honeycutt will replace 4th-place Watkins Glen finisher Christopher Bell and will complete the season in the injured Stewart Friesen’s #52, beginning with tonight’s regular season finale. After a one-off start in Randy Young’s #02, which was cut short by a drivetrain issue short of the halfway point, Honeycutt remains in contention for a Playoff spot. This is thanks in part to Friesen, who just yesterday confirmed he wouldn’t pursue a Playoff waiver. As at Watkins Glen, there was no driver listed for the Young’s #02, but that ride has now gone to Nick Leitz, marking his first start in the series since the 2023 championship race at Phoenix, where he took 19th.
MISSING: #56-Hill Motorsports
Timmy Hill will not make the trip to Richmond following his 20th-place showing at Watkins Glen.
MISSING: #62-Halmar Friesen Racing
Also not making the trip is the second HFR entry with which Wesley Slimp finished a strong 12th in just his second series start. The team will return at Bristol with Super Late Model driver Cole Butcher attempting to make his series debut.
DRIVER CHANGE: #66-ThorSport Racing
With Cup drivers excluded from this regular season finale, 22nd-place Watkins Glen finisher Chris Buescher will not be in the #66 this week, which goes back to Luke Fenhaus. This marks Fenhaus’ 11th series start of 2025, his first since a 12th-place showing at IRP.
RETURNING: #67-Freedom Racing Enterprises
Spencer Boyd’s FRE team brings back its second entry, the #67, for the first time since North Wilkesboro. ARCA part-time competitor Ryan Roulette will make his third attempt in the team’s four races this year, his first since a 32nd-place showing on All-Star weekend.
MISSING: #69-Motorsports Business Management
Derek White escaped the chaos at Watkins Glen to score a strong 19th-place finish on the lead lap, just one spot short of matching the best finish of his NASCAR career (18th in the 2012 XFINTY Series race at Montreal). White and team aren’t entered this week, but will return at Bristol with Tyler Tomassi as driver and Elly Productions as sponsor, looking to bounce back from their DNQ at this spring’s XFINITY race at the same track.
RETURNING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Harmon’s Toyota has a new wrap this week for sponsor Auto Owners Insurance and driver Caleb Costner, a driver with 13 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series. This will be Costner’s second attempt at his NASCAR national series debut, following a DNQ at Mid-Ohio in 2023, when he drove for Josh Reaume. This time, the shortened entry list will put driver and team in the field.
MISSING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
Not among this week’s entries is that of Parker Kligerman, whose broken track bar mount in the middle stages left him 31st in Watkins Glen. That race marked the team’s first since the passing of team owner Charlie Henderson in June.
RETURNING: #84-Cook Racing Technologies
Patrick Staropoli makes only his third start of the season and first since Bristol, where transmission issues left his Cook Racing Technologies entry in 29th spot.
WITHDREW: #91-McAnally-Hilgemann Racing
On Lap 36 of last Friday’s race, Jack Wood cut down a tire and slammed the outside barrier entering The Esses, leaving him in the 33rd spot. It was then announced this week that Wood was injured in the wreck, and wouldn’t run this weekend’s race. Instead of finding a relief driver on the same week that Christian Eckes runs a new MHR entry of his own, the #91 team has withdrawn.
RETURNING: #97-CR7 Motorsports
The CR7 team brings its second entry back to the track for the first time since the 2024 season opener at Daytona. This time, the team brings on a full-time XFINITY Series driver in JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil, on an off-week from seeking his first series victory. This marks only the second series start for Kvapil, who finished 12th in the night race at Bristol in 2023, driving for Spire Motorsports.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, August 16, 2025 (7:35 P.M. ET, USA)
CUP Race 25 of 36
Cook Out 400 at Richmond
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Martin Truex, Jr.
ENTRY LIST
Following the withdrawal of the NY Racing Team’s #44, there are 38 drivers entered for 40 spots, so all will qualify for the 21st short field in 25 races this season., the sixth in a row.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Jesse Love makes his fourth career Cup start as he continues to split time between RCR’s part-time third entry and the Beard Motorsports #62, the latter seeing him run a season-best 24th at Indianapolis.
WITHDREW: #44-NY Racing Team
After heat exhaustion cut short his previous start at Dover, J.J. Yeley managed to endure a fast race at Watkins Glen by coming home under power in 38th, one lap down. The NY Racing Team had entered a car this week with the driver’s name still listed as “TBA,” but withdrew at midweek.
MISSING: #66-Garage 66
Josh Bilicki is not among this week’s Cup entrants after a 37th-place showing at The Glen. Carl Long has kept his Cup team back at the shop along with their Truck effort, which both ran on the road course.
RETURNING: #67-23XI Racing
Running double-duty with the Truck Series is Corey Heim, his first Cup attempt since glancing off the wall on the Chicago Street Course led to a surprising DNQ. Heim will make the race this week, following his 37th-place showing in his latest start at Nashville, where he was eliminated in a mid-race crash.
MISSING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
B.J. McLeod’s Live Fast team will also not be running this week following a 36th-place showing at Watkins Glen.
MISSING: #87-Trackhouse Racing
Connor Zilisch is not entered after his last planned Cup start of the year was cancelled due to his injury. Plans for next week’s XFINITY Series race at Daytona are still to be determined.
Friday, August 22, 2025
XFINITY Race 24 of 33
Wawa 250 at Daytona
2024 Last-Place Finisher: Akinori Ogata
The XFINITY Series returns next week in Daytona.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (August 15, 1993): Rich Bickle picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan when his #45 Terminal Trucking Ford lost the engine after 10 laps. This finish occurred in Bickle’s 12th series start dating back to 1989.
