PREVIEW: Multiple drivers set to make their series returns during somber Charlotte weekend
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: BYRD Racing, @ByrdRacing
Friday, May 22, 2026 (Green Flag 7:52 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 10 of 25
North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Chandler Smith
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 36 spots, so two teams will fail to qualify.
RETURNING: #4-Niece Motorsports
RETURNING: #71-Spire Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Spire Motorsports
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. returns to make his fourth series start of the season and first since Bristol, where he finished 26th. He again drives Al Niece’s part-time #4 entry, the team which Shane Van Gisbergen raced in Watkins Glen. Van Gisbergen will also run tonight’s race as he fields Spire Motorsports’ #71 last run by Connor Zilisch at The Glen. Zilisch will also add to the Cup driver count in tonight’s race after Carson Hocevar’s name was pulled off the entry list after first publication, putting Zilisch in the #77 for the start of an unexpected triple-header weekend.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
When news first broke on Thursday morning that a severe illness would keep last week’s Dover winner Kyle Busch from competing in any of this weekend’s events at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Corey Day was brought on to drive the #7. With the yet more shocking news that Busch has died at age 41, Day will race in Busch’s honor, driving one of the patriotic paint schemes Jarrett Leu Designs produced for Spire and Hendrick Motorsports. This will be Day’s 14th series start and first of the season, his first since an 11th-place showing for this same team last summer in Bristol.
TEAM UPDATE: #10-Kaulig RAM Racing
As of Monday, Corey LaJoie was denied his waiver to be eligible for this year’s Truck Series Playoffs, even if he earned back his 96-point gap to the Top 10 despite not running all the races this season.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Team Reaume
It was a rough afternoon for the #22 team in Dover, where Natalie Decker incurred both a lane change penalty and a speeding penalty in the opening laps. After her frustrations boiled over into potentially leaving the series, her day ended with a second-straight DNF for dipping below minimum speed. Team owner Josh Reaume, who attempted to take Decker’s place at Watkins Glen, will drive the truck this week.
DRIVER CHANGE: #25-Kaulig RAM Racing
The “all-star” entry at the Kaulig team finished 29th last week in the series return for driver-turned-broadcaster Clint Bowyer, who criticized the series’ lack of horsepower after his truck suffered a late-race hub failure. Taking his place this week is Travis Pastrana, back in the series for the first time since his 15th-place showing for Niece Motorsports in this February’s Daytona opener. This marks Pastrana’s first series start at Charlotte.
MISSING: #27-Rackley-W.A.R.
Not among this week’s entrants is Toni Breidinger, who finished 26th last Friday in the Rackley-W.A.R. team’s part-time second entry.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Niece Motorsports
One week after Parker Eatmon finished 21st in an unsponsored white truck at Dover, Conner Jones brings his backing from Comprehensive Logistics to the #42 entry, seeking his third series start of the season, his first since a crash left him 33rd in Texas, and the 30th of his Truck Series career.
RETURNING: #56-Hill Motorsports
Timmy Hill kicks off a double-duty weekend with Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 with tonight’s race, which marks the 125th of Hill’s Truck Series career. Piloting his family’s #56 with Coble Enterprises continuing as sponsor, Hill last ran at Watkins Glen, where he finished 27th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #62-Halmar Friesen Racing
Leland Honeyman, Jr. celebrated his return to NASCAR with a line of merchandise, signaling the start of a part-time effort in the second Halmar entry, taking the place of Cup regular Christopher Bell, who finished 5th in Dover. This will mark just the second series start for Honeyman, his first since a 29th at Bristol for Young’s Motorsports in the fall of 2022. “From The Ashes” is the sponsor, and he will also carry the brand for DGM Racing x JIM in Saturday’s O’Reilly race.
MISSING: #69-Motorsports Business Management
While Carl Long will field his Cup car for Timmy Hill on Sunday, he has not brought his Truck Series entry for tonight, one week after Dystany Spurlock’s series debut ended with an early spin and crash while racing for position.
RETURNING: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports
Justin S. Carroll returns for just his third attempt of the season and first since Darlington, where he ran 26th earlier this year. His last time on track came the following round in Rockingham, where he failed to qualify. Carroll has two previous series starts at Charlotte, most recently a 33rd-place showing just last year.
CUP INVADERS: #4-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #7-Kyle Busch, #45-Ross Chastain, #71-Shane Van Gisbergen, #77-Connor Zilisch
Saturday, May 23, 2026 (Green Flag 5:05 P.M. ET, CW)
O’REILLY Race 15 of 33
Charbroil 300 at Charlotte
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Sammy Smith
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for as many starting spots, so all will qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #0-SS-Green Light Racing
Garrett Smithley’s 300th series start did not go to plan last week in Dover, where he brought out the final two cautions of the day and left the race with most of the bodywork ripped away from the right-rear of his Chevrolet. Taking Smithley’s place this week is returning Cup regular Cole Custer, who carries returning sponsorship from Sysco.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-JR Motorsports
DRIVER SWAP: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Round two of Connor Zilisch’s triple-header will again include a Saturday in JRM’s #1, his first time in the car since his thrilling third-straight victory at Watkins Glen. Zilisch bumps 7th-place Carson Kvapil back to DGM Racing x JIM’s #91 in place of 24th-place Dover finisher Myatt Snider, who’s not entered. Clarience Technologies remains Kvapil’s sponsor.
TEAM UPDATE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
WITHDREW: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Reports indicate this may be the last week for the Harmon / Gase collaborative effort as Dawson Cram remains in the #35. For a fourth-straight race, Harmon has withdrawn his #74 but is again fielding his car with his team as the renumbered #35.
DRIVER CHANGE: #38-RSS Racing
The preliminary entry list showed that RSS Racing would field a third Chevrolet and had no driver yet listed to take the place of Logan Bearden, who exited the Dover race with brake issues after only 30 laps. But the team has since hired J.J. Yeley to rejoin the circuit for the first time since his 11th-place showing for the disappearing Hettinger Racing. Like both Bearden last week and the Hettinger team, Yeley will run a Ford with no sponsor yet announced.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Young’s Motorsports
As of Wednesday, there was no word who would drive Randy Young’s #42 entry which last Saturday earned a 30th-place finish in the hands of a returning C.J. McLaughlin. That changed by afternoon, when it was revealed Nathan Byrd would return to the driver’s seat with 24 Hour Garage Door Service as sponsor. This marks Byrd’s ninth series start and sixth of the year, his first since a 24th-place showing with this team in Kansas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #55-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
There was also no word who would run the #55 entry previously piloted by Blake Lothian, whose car ended up getting some screen time at Dover when leaders Corey Day and Justin Allgaier settled their battle for the win by racing past him on either side of a three-wide battle. Taking the place of 26th-place Lothian will be team co-owner Joey Gase, his first start since a 28th in Texas.
DRIVER CHANGE: #92-DGM Racing x JIM
Leland Honeyman, Jr.’s aforementioned double-duty effort sees him become the third different driver of the #92 Chevrolet in this third race since Josh Williams’ sponsor troubles. This marks Honeyman’s 60th series start and his first of the season. He last raced in the 2025 finale at Phoenix, taking 24th in the last race for Cope Family Racing before that #70 team’s merger with Stanton Barrett. The resulting Barrett Cope Racing team has still not fielded their #30 since Myatt Snider’s run in Martinsville.
CUP INVADERS: #0-Cole Custer, #1-Connor Zilisch, #9-Ross Chastain
Sunday, May 24, 2026 (Green Flag 6:29 P.M. ET, PRIME)
CUP Race 13 of 36
Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Jimmie Johnson
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 40 spots, marking the 11th short field in 13 races in 2026.
DRIVER CHANGE: #8-Richard Childress Racing
As with Corey Day on the Truck Series side, O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular Austin Hill was brought on to drive in place of an ailing Kyle Busch in the #8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet. Now, following the news of Busch’s death, Hill embarks on his 18th series start and third of the season, his first since a 33rd in Martinsville, with his first series start at Charlotte. Further plans for the #8 team in 2026 are still yet to be announced as RCR mourns the loss of another of the series’ great talents.
MISSING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Noticeably missing from the preliminary entry list was RCR’s #33 Titan Chevrolet for Jesse Love, who was slated to run a paint scheme themed around Arlington National Cemetery. Love, who focuses on tomorrow’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, made his seventh and most recent Cup start last month in Talladega, taking 27th.
RETURNING: #66-Garage 66
On the heels of this week’s diecast release of his Skeletron-sponsored car he raced in last fall’s Southern 500 at Darlington, Timmy Hill completed his double-duty effort in Carl Long’s #66 Ford. This marks Hill’s second series start since this past spring – also at Darlington – where terrible handling issues forced him behind the wall and out of the race in the early stages. Pinnacle Mortgage Group joins as sponsor.
RETURNING: #67-23XI Racing
Corey Heim’s one start this week will be on the Cup side with new sponsor Fleetio on the #67 Toyota. This marks his 11th series start and his first since a career race in Texas, where he led 69 laps well into the closing stages before a crash dropped him to 31st.
RETURNING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
As reported last week, Katherine Legge will attempt to become the first woman to complete the Indy 500 / Coca-Cola 600 double with e.l.f. Cosmetics backing both cars. Her ride for the 600 is the same from Watkins Glen – the white-and-pink #78 that she ran to a 35th-place finish. Legge confirmed that if delays affect her double bid, she will prioritize the Indy 500. As of this writing, her standby substitute driver for the 600 has not yet been announced as McLeod will be in Indianapolis.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (May 22, 1959): Cliff Timberman picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Grand National Series career when his #80 1957 Chevrolet lost the engine after 2 laps of the 200-lap race on the Southern States Fairgrounds dirt track. This was Timberman’s first and only series start.
