PREVIEW: Phoenix weekend golden opportunity for drivers working their way up NASCAR’s ladder
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Around The Track, @arndtrackNASCAR
Saturday, March 7, 2026 (Green Flag 7:52 P.M. ET, CW)
O’REILLY Race 4 of 33
GOVX 200 at Phoenix
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Dean Thompson
ENTRY LIST
There are 40 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning two teams will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #0-SS-Green Light Racing
Garrett Smithley returns to his “Number Nuthin’” machine at the Bobby Dotter team, one week after Alex Labbe’s one-off at the COTA road course yielded a 13th-place finish despite significant nose damage to their Chevrolet. Smithley has made 13 previous O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Phoenix, most recently a 31st-place finish here last fall. His track-best stands at 22nd, which came in this race in 2019.
DRIVER SWAP: #1-JR Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing x JIM
Mason Maggio makes his own return to the #91 for the first time since his season-best 26th in Atlanta, one week after Carson Kvapil finished 19th in COTA. Kvapil returns to his more familiar JR Motorsports #1 entry, replacing Connor Zilisch. Zilisch focuses on the Cup race this week, one week after Zilisch was wrecked by Corey Day while battling for 4th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #5-Hettinger Racing
Last week was a rough one for start-up team Hettinger Racing, whose road course specialist Tyler Gonzalez was unable to qualify for his NASCAR debut after he struggled in practice, turning the slowest laps of the session. With the Truck Series off for the week, current series point leader Chandler Smith takes the wheel with Victory Custom Trailers as sponsor. This would be Smith’s 70th series start, his first since he closed out the 2024 season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s #81, taking 5th in the championship race.
MISSING: #9-JR Motorsports
Not among this week’s entrants is JRM’s part-time #9 entry with which Shane Van Gisbergen scored his first COTA victory last Saturday.
DRIVER SWAP: #30-Barrett-Cope Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
Blake Lothian looks to make his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at the track where he ran both ARCA Menards Series West races last season, one year after his Truck Series debut at Loudon, where he finished 20th for AM Racing. For Saturday, he’ll climb aboard Joey Gase’s #35 in place of Austin J. Hill, whose blown engine in practice and early suspension issues in the race put him last in COTA. Hill will attempt his first oval-track start on Saturday, taking the place of 37th-place finisher Baltazar Leguizamon in the Barrett-Cope entry. Southern Ohio Equipment Company joins longtime Cope sponsor Ashurst American Honey as sponsor.
DRIVER SWAP: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #88-JR Motorsports
The lone Cup Series regular in Saturday’s race is two-time Daytona 500 champion William Byron, who this week pilots the stout #88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet in place of 31st-place COTA finisher Rajah Caruth. In this first of multiple races where Caruth will not be in the JRM machine, he will this week pilot Jordan Anderson’s #32, bumping out Cup regular Ross Chastain, who was 9th in COTA.
DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Young’s Motorsports
“Byrdman” Nathan Byrd seeks his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start since October 12, 2024, when he finished 25th for SS-Green Light Racing. This time, Byrd takes the controls of Young’s Motorsports’ #42, taking the place of both J.J. Yeley, who started the race, and Brad Perez, who finished 28th as relief driver. This would be Byrd’s first series start at Phoenix, though he’s finished 26th and 15th in the last two Truck Series championship races here, both for the same Randy Young team.
MISSING: #50-Pardus Racing
Not among this week’s entrants is Preston Pardus, whose family-owned team came home 27th in COTA.
RETURNING: #52-AM Racing
One week after just one Ford started an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race for the first time since 1999, AM Racing brings back its second part-time entry for the first time since Atlanta. And with the Truck Series off this week, the team again tabs Daniel Dye with Champion Container as sponsor.
DRIVER CHANGE: #55-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen
The second Gase entry goes to Joey Gase himself, who takes the place of 35th-place COTA finisher Sage Karam after a series of mechanical issues on the road course. This would mark the 22nd O’Reilly start for Gase at the Phoenix track, where he’s finished no better than 22nd, but only failed to finish twice.
RETURNING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Dawson Cram again seeks his 40th series start, looking to rebound from a DNQ in Atlanta. With a track-best 19th at Phoenix in the fall of 2023, Cram made both races at this track last season.
CUP INVADERS: #88-William Byron
Sunday, March 8, 2026 (Green Flag 3:41 P.M. ET, FS1)
CUP Race 4 of 36
Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Riley Herbst
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for 40 spots, marking the third straight short field in four races this season.
DRIVER CHANGE: #33-Richard Childress Racing
RCR fields their part-time #33 entry for a second-straight week, this time swapping their full-time O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers from 27th-place COTA finisher Jesse Love to Austin Hill and sponsor United Rentals. This marks Hill’s first Cup start since last fall in Talladega, where he came home 22nd. That same year, he scored his series-best 9th-place showing on the Chicago Street Course. This will be Hill’s first Cup start at Phoenix.
DRIVER CHANGE: #48-Hendrick Motorsports
Concerning news came from the Hendrick camp involving Alex Bowman, who was struggling with illness at COTA, forcing him behind the wall for a last-minute relief driver in FOX pit spotter Myatt Snider. The race was marked by such low attrition that Snider couldn’t climb from 36th place. Now on Wednesday, the announcement that Bowman wouldn’t race at Phoenix due to vertigo, the third in a series of injuries dating back to his concussion at Texas in 2022. Taking Bowman’s place this week is Anthony Alfredo, building on what has already been an eventful year for the driver of Viking Motorsports’ new second team. The last time Alfredo was in a Cup car was this past Daytona 500, where he raced his way into the field before a technical infraction bumped his Beard Motorsports entry back out. He also failed to make that Saturday’s O’Reilly race, then rebounded in a last-minute deal with Alpha Prime Racing to drive Caesar Bacarella’s car to an 11th-place finish. He now makes his first Cup start since last fall at Talladega.
Friday, March 20, 2026
TRUCKS Race 4 of 25
Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington
2025 Last-Place Finisher (August): Clayton Green
The Truck Series returns in two weeks at Darlington.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (March 6, 1999): Lyndon Amick picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Grand National Series career in the Sams Town 300 at Las Vegas, where his #35 SCANA Chevrolet qualified a strong 3rd, but lost the engine after just 13 laps.
