PREVIEW: Missing teams and returning young guns among the stories at Rockingham
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Niece Motorsports, @NieceMotorsport
Friday, April 3, 2026 (Green Flag 4:50 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 5 of 25
Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Norm Benning
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered to attempt today’s field of 36, meaning two teams will be sent home.
DRIVER SWAP: #1-TRICON Garage
DRIVER CHANGE: #5-TRICON Garage
Adam Andretti returns for his third start of the season, his first since a 23rd-place showing on the street course in St. Petersburg. He returns to the #5 team with which Corey Heim scored his dramatic last-lap victory in Darlington. Heim will also run this Saturday as he moves to TRICON’s #1 entry, taking he place of 10th-place Darlington finisher William Sawalich, who focuses on tomorrow’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #2-Team Reaume
DRIVER SWAP: #22-Team Reaume
Last week, Luke Baldwin’s O’Reilly debut ended early when he lost the brakes entering Turn 3, putting him into the outside wall and leaving him in last place. He returns today for his first Truck Series start of the season, his first since he completed a five-race stint with ThorSport last fall, taking 16th in the championship race in Phoenix. This time, Baldwin drives for the Reaume effort, which also campaigns Fords. He takes the place of 29th-place Darlington finisher Clayton Green, who moves to the #22 in place of Josh Reaume, who finished in 35th.
RETURNING: #4-Niece Motorsports
Connor Hall will run “double duty” with the ARCA Menards Series East, where he’ll run for Sigma Performance Services in the #24. His ride for today is Al Niece’s returning #4, which last ran with Ben Maier at St. Petersburg, taking an 11th-place finish. Hall has one prior Truck Series start which came at Richmond on August 10, 2024, when he finished 10th for the McAnally team.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
Sammy Smith gets his own “double duty” weekend with the O’Reilly Series, where he inherited last year’s win following Jesse Love’s disqualification. Smith seeks his first career Truck Series victory in his 10th career start, his first of the season and first since last summer at Richmond, when he took 4th with this same Spire team. This week, he takes the place of Connor Mosack, who finished 5th last time out in Darlington.
DRIVER SWAP: #10-Kaulig RAM Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #25-Kaulig RAM Racing
The preliminary entry list showed both Kaulig’s #10 and #25 entries with “TBA” in the driver’s column. On Tuesday came news that Daniel Dye had been reinstated by NASCAR following his suspension for comments made during a livestream – combined with Dye’s resignation from the Kaulig team. After A.J. Allmendinger’s 11th-place finish in Dye’s #10 at Darlington, Corey LaJoie will now take his place after a 21st-place finish in the #25 at Darlington. Taking the open spot in the #25 is Ty Dillon, who returns to the series for the first time since he drove this same entry to an 11th-place showing in Atlanta this past February.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Niece Motorsports
Last December, late model driver Parker Eatmon was announced as this week’s driver of Al Niece’s #42. Looking to build on his victory in the Thanksgiving Classic 250 at Southern National Motorsports Park, plus a rookie title at South Boston Speedway, Eatmon pilots a glimmering new gold-and-black paint scheme for sponsor Vetted Ventures. He takes the place of Conner Jones, who finished 16th in Darlington.
DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Niece Motorsports
Landen Lewis, the protégé of Kevin Harvick, makes his fifth career Truck Series start and first since St. Petersburg, when he piloted this same #45 entry to a 6th-place finish. He takes the place of Ross Chastain, who finished runner-up to Heim in Darlington.
DRIVER CHANGE: #62-Halmar Friesen Racing
Another returning newcomer is Michael Christopher, Jr., nephew of the late modified legend Ted Christopher, who made his series debut last fall at Loudon and finished a sterling 13th. Christopher returns for his first start since that day with the same Halmar team, taking the place of Cup regular Christopher Bell who finished 6th in Darlington.
RETURNING: #69-Motorsports Business Management
Driving an unsponsored white truck with blue racing stripes is late model driver Jonahan Shafer, who returns to the Truck Series for the first time in three seasons. We last saw Shafer make three starts in 2023 driving for the now-defunct On Point Motorsports in the #30, yielding a best finish of 24th before his most recent start at Homestead, where he took 26th.
CUP INVADERS: #25-Ty Dillon, #77-Carson Hocevar
Saturday, April 4, 2026 (Green Flag 2:40 P.M. ET, CW)
O’REILLY Race 8 of 33
North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Justin Bonsignore
ENTRY LIST
With one team missing and another withdrawing, there remain 38 drivers entered for 38 spots, so all teams will qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #5-Hettinger Racing
WITHDREW: #25-AM Racing
Following Luke Baldwin’s last-place finish in Martinsville, J.J. Yeley rejoins the Hettinger team for the first time since his 25th-place showing in Darlington, and this time represents the lone Ford entry in the field. The last time this happened was at COTA, where the Hettinger team failed to qualify and Nick Sanchez flew the flag with AM Racing. This time, on Tuesday, news broke that Sanchez and team had withdrawn from this week’s race. After starting the year with two teams following the cancelled sale to Sigma Performance Services, AM Racing looks to return in future races.
MISSING: #9-JR Motorsports
Also not among this week’s entrants is the part-time #9 entry at JRM, which nearly went to victory lane last week in Martinsville after a strong outing by late model star Lee Pulliam, who still finished 5th in his series debut.
MISSING: #30-Barrett-Cope Racing
At first publication of the entry list, the Barrett-Cope team was not entered for the first time in 2026, one week after Myatt Snider climbed from 37th to 19th in Martinsville. The team’s status for next week at Bristol is still to be announced.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
After a disappointing Truck Series debut in Daytona where he crashed in the opening laps, Cleetus McFarland (aka Garrett Mitchell) has turned his efforts to Rockingham, where he has already tested both the Truck Series and the current O’Reilly Auto Parts Series car, and will also compete in this weekend’s ARCA East race. The pressure is on for McFarland, who secured this part-time effort with RCR, but needs a solid outing in his series debut on Saturday if he’s going to attempt more superspeedway races. Tommy’s Express Car Wash is his sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
DRIVER CHANGE: #55-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
Thanks to the reduced field size, Joey Gase Motorsports’ #35 team ends a streak of four consecutive DNQs. While the driver was listed as “TBA” for most of this week, Gase himself will drive the car, moving over from the #55 to replace Martinsville entrant Justin S. Carroll. Taking Gase’s place in the #55 is Blake Lothian, who will make his O’Reilly debut after failing to get the #35 into the show at Phoenix last month.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Young’s Motorsports
There was also a “TBA” in the driver’s column for Randy Young’s #42 in which Brad Perez escaped the chaos at Martinsville with a 21st-place finish. Taking Perez’ place this week is Nathan Byrd, who will make his fourth start of the year in this car, his first since a 34th-place finish in Darlington. Byrd has yet to finish better than 31st this season, but has finished all three of those races under power.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Alex Labbe rejoins the Gosselin team for the first time since a wreck left him in last place at Darlington, and again pilots the #91. This time, he takes the place of Ross Chastain, who climbed from last place on the Martinsville grid to an 8th-place finish. This will be Labbe’s first series start at Rockingham.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, April 12, 2026
CUP Race 8 of 36
Food City 500 at Bristol
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Josh Bilicki
The Cup Series takes the week off for Easter and returns next Sunday in Bristol.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 3, 1983): John Linville scored the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series career when his #62 Pontiac fell out after one lap of the Holly Farms 399 at the North Wilkesboro Speedway.
