PREVIEW: O’Reilly Series veterans and Cup open teams converge at Talladega
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Joe Gibbs Racing, @JoeGibbsRacing
Saturday, April 25, 2026 (Green Flag 4:05 P.M. ET, CW)
O’REILLY Race 11 of 33
Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Parker Retzlaff
ENTRY LIST
One week after the first short field of the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, there are 38 drivers entered for as many spots in Saturday’s race, so all will qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #0-SS-Green Light Racing
Garrett Smithley rejoins the Bobby Dotter team following a 7th-place performance by Cole Custer last Saturday in Kansas. He’ll also have a sponsor this week as The Southeastern Line Constructors Chapter (SCC NECA), his primary backer, rejoins the effort. Smithley has scored two top-ten finishes in his prior eight series starts at Talladega with a best of 8th in the fall of 2020.
DRIVER CHANGE: #5-Hettinger Racing
Coming into this weekend, J.J. Yeley has made exactly as many starts in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as he has in Cup – 397 apiece in a NASCAR career extending back to 2004. His O’Reilly total will again take the lead on Saturday when he reunites with the Hettinger team for the first time since his 26th-place showing in Bristol, and carries returning sponsorship from Jobber. Of his 11 previous O’Reilly starts in Talladega, his best remains a 4th in 2015. Tomorrow will be his first series start there since 2022, when he drove for Carl Long to an 18th-place finish. Yeley takes the place of Luke Baldwin, whose early issues in Kansas left him 35th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #88-JR Motorsports
Making his series debut is Truck Series veteran Tyler Ankrum, who after 167 starts in that series will this week pilot Jordan Anderson Racing’s fleet #32 Chevrolet with sponsorship from LiUNA! and TDA Investment Group. Ankrum takes the place of Rajah Caruth, who returns to the JRM #88, taking the place of Cup regular William Byron, who’s not entered this week. Caruth finished 21st last Saturday while Byron took 6th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
Natalie Decker found herself the subject of controversy in her most recent series start at Daytona, where she collided with a stopped Sam Mayer coming off Turn 2. Decker again drives for the Gase team, this time taking the place of 31st-place Kansas finisher Blake Lothian. This will mark Decker’s 15th series start, but only her second at Talladega. She last raced here in the spring of 2021, when she steered Our Motorsports’ #23 Chevrolet to a 24th-place finish on the lead lap.
RETURNING: #38-RSS Racing
For the first time since Daytona, the RSS Racing team has brought back their part-time third entry, meaning Patrick Emerling will again join brothers Ryan and Kyle Sieg on the superspeedway. In February, Emerling finished 13th, and on Saturday will make only his third series start at Talladega. His last time out was in this race last year, where he led a lap and finished 12th for SS-Green Light Racing.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Young’s Motorsports
Also returning to action tomorrow will be series veteran David Starr, who we last saw fail to qualify for the Daytona opener while driving for Joey Gase in the team’s #53 that hasn’t been run since. This time, Starr drives for Randy Young, taking the place of 24th-place Kansas finisher Nathan Byrd. This will mark Starr’s 15th series start at Talladega dating back to the year 2000. His best finish remains his 8th-place showing for Bobby Dotter in the fall of 2024.
TEAM UPDATE: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Dawson Cram remains in the #74, which for the second-straight Talladega race welcomes a new primary sponsor. Jack’s Family Restaurants, based in Birmingham, has signed with the team on the white, red, and yellow scheme from last fall’s race with Carson Ware. Cram has one previous O’Reilly start at Talladega, which came in this race two years ago. Driving for Johnny Davis, he finished 28th.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, April 26, 2026 (Green Flag 3:20 P.M. ET, FOX)
CUP Race 10 of 36
Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Joey Logano
ENTRY LIST
For only the second time this season, qualifying will be of consequence in a Cup Series race as 41 drivers are entered for 40 spots, and the Open Exemption Provisional has not been requested. One team will be sent home.
RETURNING: #33-Richard Childress Racing
Jesse Love seeks to pull “double-duty” with Saturday’s O’Reilly race as he returns to RCR’s #33 entry for the second time this season, his first since a 27th-place showing in COTA. His sponsor will be 1-800-PACK-RAT. Love won his first of three O’Reilly Series races at this track two years ago.
RETURNING: #44-NY Racing Team
Joey Gase swaps into John Cohen’s #44 for the third time in as many years. He last drove this Chevrolet in the previous two summer races at Daytona, yielding finishes of 20th in 2024 and 28th last August. As with the previous two, he carries primary sponsorship from the NFPA, but as of this writing is still seeking associate sponsors for Sunday.
RETURNING: #62-Beard Motorsports
Casey Mears reappears for the first time since his surprising escape from a last-lap wreck in the Duels that got him into this year’s Daytona 500, where early damage left him 32nd. But this time, Mears and his sponsorship from The Gracie Foundation moves to Beard Motorsports, the team that ran so well in this race last season where Anthony Alfredo led 19 laps. Alfredo’s disqualification from those same Duel races could loom large if weather cancels qualifying as Mears will be the one team sent home.
RETURNING: #66-Garage 66
Mears drove for Carl Long at Daytona this past February, but this Sunday, the ride belongs to Chad Finchum, who we last saw struggle with a failure in the right-front of his car at Bristol that eventually took him out of the race. Finchum seeks his 14th series start and first in a Cup superspeedway race. Up to this point, Finchum has not competed in a Cup race at a track larger than 1.5 miles in length, though he did try and fail to race his way into the 2020 Daytona 500 field in another Carl Long prepared car. Carter’s Royal Dispos-all rejoins as sponsor along with GPC Poultry Supply.
MISSING: #67-23XI Racing
Not among this week’s entrants is Corey Heim, who finished 15th last Sunday in Kansas driving the part-time third entry at 23XI Racing.
RETURNING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports
Just days after B.J. McLeod made an appearance on the “Dale Jr. Download,” surprising news came that McLeod would not run Sunday’s race. Instead, he signed a four-race deal with Daniel Dye, who had just completed sensitivity training following his comments about David Malukas, then resigned from Kaulig RAM Racing. Dye and his sponsorship from Champion Container Corporation will attempt Sunday’s race, then Pocono in June, Daytona in August, and the return to Talladega in October. This would secure Dye his Cup debut, and a “double-duty” weekend with ARCA.
Friday, May 1, 2026
TRUCKS Race 7 of 25
SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Kaden Honeycutt
The Truck Series returns next week at Texas.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (April 24, 1999): Jason Jarrett picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Grand National Series career in the Touchstone Energy 300 at Talladega when his #33 Bayer / Alka-Seltzer Chevrolet lost the engine after 7 laps. Jarrett was credited with the spot despite Jimmy Kitchens also losing the engine on his #22 Air Jamaica Vacations Chevrolet on the same lap.
