PREVIEW: Kyle Busch tribute schemes, critical driver changes, and returning “open” teams on hand for Charlotte
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Stewart Friesen, @StewartFriesen
Friday, October 9, 2026 (Green Flag 5:22 P.M. ET, FOX)
TRUCKS Race 21 of 25
Chase Race 3 of 7
Ecosave 200 at Charlotte
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Inaugural Race
ENTRY LIST
For the first time, the Truck Series will compete on the Charlotte oval twice in the same season – all 23 of its previous runnings occurred during Memorial Day weekend from 2003 through 2025. This race sees exactly 36 drivers entered for as many starting spots, so all will qualify.
DRIVER SWAP: #1-TRICON Garage
DRIVER CHANGE: #5-TRICON Garage
Bayley Currey and his Monster Truck Wars sponsorship (this time a T-Rex paint scheme) return to the #5 entry at TRICON for the first time since his career-best runner-up finish at Bristol, bumping 3rd-place Kansas finisher Brent Crews to the #1. Crews takes the place of Nick Leitz, who finished 7th in that same race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #2-Team Reaume
Luke Baldwin returns for his eighth series start of 2026 and first since his season-best 19th-place showing at Bristol, taking the place of 27th-place Kansas finisher Stephen Mallozzi in the Reaume team’s #2 effort.
DRIVER CHANGE: #4-Niece Motorsports
Welcome back to Matt Mills, who today makes his first Truck Series start of the season and his first in the division since the 2025 championship race at Phoenix, where he closed out a full-season effort with Niece’s #42. This time, he pilots the #4 in place of Connor Hall, whose accident after a pair of spins in Kansas left him in 32nd.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Spire Motorsports
Following tonight’s race will be the Celebration of Life for the late Kyle Busch, so both Spire Motorsports entries – once Kyle Busch Motorsports – will run throwback schemes in Busch’s honor. Carrying sponsorship from PurePex, the #7 carries the black-and-red scheme run by Busch in KBM’s 100th and final Truck Series victory at Pocono in 2023. This truck will be driven by Connor Mosack, back in the series for the first time since his 25th-place showing in Bristol, as he takes the place of 17th-place Kansas finisher Brennan Poole. The #77 goes to Rajah Caruth, marking only his second series start of 2026 and first since his runner-up finish to Layne Riggs at Nashville. Caruth, who takes the place of Kansas polesitter and 28th-place finisher Nick Sanchez, runs a throwback to KBM’s first series win at Nashville in 2010.
PAINT SCHEME: #19-McAnally-Hilgemann Racing
Daniel Hemric will run another Kyle Busch tribute scheme as his #19 will be decorated like Busch’s 2007 race winner of the O’Reilly race at Daytona.
TEAM UPDATE: #22-Team Reaume
While the preliminary entry list showed “TBA” in the driver’s column, Clayton Green has since been named to remain in the Reaume #22 with which he finished 23rd in Kansas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #25-Kaulig RAM Racing
Regan Smith returns for his second start of the season, looking for a better run in Kaulig RAM Racing’s “all-star” #25 after he knocked the rust off in Bristol with a 23rd-place finish. Smith takes the place of Conor Daly, whose own second start of the 2026 season saw him finish 16th in Kansas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Rackley-W.A.R.
Dawson Sutton returns from a week off to compete in late models and takes the place of Toni Breidinger, who finished 26th in Kansas. Sutton finished 15th in his last time out at Bristol.
TEAM UPDATE: #33-Team Reaume
Frankie Muniz will not race for a second-straight Truck Series event, and it is again due to his obligations in the Pirelli GT4 series. This weekend happens to be the season finale at Indianapolis, where Muniz leads the championship standings by a single point. Josh Reaume will continue to drive the #33 this week following a 33rd-place showing in Kansas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Niece Motorsports
Conner Jones returns with his sponsorship from Comprehensive Logistics on the Niece #42, making his fourth series start and first since the most recent trip to Charlotte this past May, where he finished a season-best 14th. Jones takes the place of Parker Eatmon, who came home 22nd last time out in Kansas.
PAINT SCHEME: #52-Halmar Friesen Racing
PAINT SCHEME: #62-Halmar Friesen Racing
HFR is another team running Kyle Busch themed throwbacks scheme tonight. Stewart Friesen’s #52 carries the black, red, and yellow colors of the iconic #51 Miccosukee Toyota he drove at KBM in 2008 and 2009. Leland Honeyman, Jr., who remains in the #62 after a 30th-place run in Kansas, runs a throwback of his own resembling Busch’s #18 Traxxas Toyota from 2010.
RETURNING: #56-Hill Motorsports
Timmy Hill revealed on social media that tonight will mark the first of four races he will run for the remainder of 2026, and the first of two – including Martinsville – with Units rejoining as sponsor. Tonight marks Hill’s 130th series start and 11th of the season, his first since a 22nd-place showing in Bristol.
MISSING: #93-Costner Motorsports
Kansas proved a significant setback for Caleb Costner, whose truck suffered major front-end damage after the splitter dug into the wet infield grass. Neither Costner nor his #93 team are entered this week following that 35th-place finish.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, October 10, 2026 (Green Flag 4:05 P.M. ET, CW)
O’REILLY Race 29 of 33
Chase Race 5 of 9
Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte
2017 Last-Place Finisher: Jeff Green’s 100th O’Reilly last-place finish
ENTRY LIST
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series sees exactly 38 drivers entered for 38 starting spots, so all will qualify.
RETURNING: #9-JR Motorsports
Jake Finch returns for his fourth series start of 2026, his first since a career-best 11th last time out at Bristol. Bringing back JRM’s part-time #9 entry, Finch carries sponsorship from Wilde Protein Crackers, which backed teammate Carson Kvapil during his win at Indianapolis.
DRIVER CHANGE: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport
TestEquity is the listed sponsor for Carson Brown, fresh off the fourth win of his first ARCA Menards Series season, where he ranked ninth in points despite a partial schedule. Brown joins this week with Jordan Anderson’s team, taking the place of 22nd-place Las Vegas finisher Andrew Patterson in the part-time #32 entry. Brown made his only previous series start with this team back at Iowa, where he came home 15th.
RETURNING: #38-RSS Racing
After celebrating his birthday this week, J.J. Yeley returns to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in RSS Racing’s part-tie #38 Ford – this after news that RSS will expand to a third full-time entry in 2027 with Jordan Anderson’s driver Jeb Burton coming over to run the #22.
DRIVER CHANGE: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
At first publication, the name in the driver’s column for the #53 remains “TBA,” one week after Blake Lothian finished 32nd in Las Vegas, eight laps down at the checkered flag. By Thursday came news that Derek Lemke will drive in Lothian’s place. This will mark Lemke’s second series start, his first since his 26th-place debut at Iowa driving for DGM Racing x JIM.
DRIVER CHANGE: #87-Peterson Racing Group
Last week, Lee Pulliam turned heads with several narrow escapes in a loose-handling Chevrolet for the Peterson team. Pulliam’s first start on a 1.5-mile oval yielded an 18th-place finish, the first car one lap down. This week, Austin Green returns to the driver’s seat for his 40th series start and first since he drove this car to a 12th-place finish in Sears Point. Curiously, this switch comes as the Peterson team announces an expansion to a second team with a yet-unnamed driver.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
DRIVER SWAP: #92-DGM Racing x JIM
Myatt Snider posted this week how excited he is to compete at his home track in Charlotte, which will see just his sixth O’Reilly start this season and first since Gateway, where he ran 25th for SS-Green Light Racing. This week, Snider reunites with DGM in the #91, bumping 33rd-place Las Vegas finisher Mason Maggio to the #92 in place of 28th-place Josh Williams, who isn’t entered this week.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, October 11, 2026 (Green Flag 3:19 P.M. ET, USA)
CUP Race 32 of 36
Chase Race 6 of 10
Bank of America 400 at Charlotte
2017 Last-Place Finisher (500 Miles): Ryan Newman
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 40 starting spots, marking the 29th short field in 32 races this season, but the largest Cup entry list since Daytona in August.
RETURNING: #44-NY Racing Team
The first of three “open” teams rejoining the action this week is the John Cohen effort. In the team’s six previous appearances, the ride has been shared by J.J. Yeley and Joey Gase, who are both entered in Saturday’s race. However, the entry list showed “TBA” in the driver’s column. Then another version of the list showed B.J. McLeod would make a rare start in a car other than the #78 he owns. This would be McLeod’s fourth start of the season and first since Atlanta in July, where mechanical issues left him in last place.
RETURNING: #66-Garage 66
Carl Long’s Garage 66 entry is also back in action with Gray Gaulding, who failed to qualify for his series return at Daytona this past August. The field size this week will secure Gaulding his 61st career Cup start and first since June 4, 2023, when he ran 29th for Rick Ware Racing. This would also be the Garage 66 team’s first start since Bristol last month, where late-race suspension issues left Josh Bilicki in last place. An eclectic series of sponsors have jumped aboard the red, white, and black Ford including Flywheel, Randy Blain Construction, Mane ‘n Tail, Rebel Pouches, Kingscrowd, and Boss Hoss Cycles.
RETURNING: #67-23XI Racing
Rounding out the group of “open” entries is Corey Heim, who carries a new and darker paint scheme for returning sponsor Field and Stream, which backed him for his Brickyard 400 victory. This will be just the 18th career Cup start for Heim and his first since the Southern 500, where he quietly finished a solid 19th. He also ran 19th at the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 here in May.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (October 9, 1993): Casey Elliott picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Grand National Series career in the All Pro 300 at Charlotte, where his #94 Racing Collectibles / Bosch Ford qualified 4th, then crashed in Turn 2 after 16 laps. Tragically, this was also Elliott’s second and final start before he died of cancer in 1996.
