PREVIEW: Virginia natives set to join the action at Richmond
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
IMAGE: Kaulig RAM Racing, @Kaulig_Trucks
Friday, August 14, 2026 (Green Flag 7:48 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 17 of 25
Black’s Tire 250 at Richmond
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Clayton Green
ENTRY LIST
There are 39 drivers entered for 36 starting spots, so three teams will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #1-TRICON Garage
Nick Leitz will run the Precision Measurements, Inc. colors on TRICON’s “all-star” #1 entry for his remaining starts in 2026, beginning tonight with his home track in Richmond. Taking the place of surprise 8th-place debutant Gavan Boschele at IRP, Leitz makes his 11th series start and first since his 17th-place showing with this team at North Wilkesboro.
DRIVER CHANGE: #2-Team Reaume
MISSING: #69-Motorsports Business Management
Also returning to action is another Richmond native in Dystany Spurlock, marking her first Truck Series start since an early crash at Dover left her in last place. That day, she drove for Carl Long’s Motorsports Business Management team, which isn’t among this week’s entrants after Jonathan Shafer was unable to qualify their new RAM at IRP. This time around, Spurlock and her Foxxtecca sponsorship jump to Team Reaume, replacing IRP last-place finisher Jackson Macenko in the #2 Ford.
RETURNING: #4-Niece Motorsports
The Al Niece effort has brought back their part-time #4 entry for the first time since heat exhaustion led to Donovan Strauss’ shortened series debut back at North Wilkesboro. As Strauss prepares for his next start, Connor Hall will make just the third start of his career and first since he piloted this same entry to a 20th-place showing at Rockingham this past spring. He carries sponsorship from TowneBank and Breeden Concrete.
DRIVER CHANGE: #5-TRICON Garage
Fresh off his second Cup win of the season at Indianapolis, Corey Heim makes his seventh series start of the 2026 Truck Series campaign and first since North Wilkesboro, where he finished 9th with this same #5 team at TRICON. This time, Heim takes the place of 16th-place IRP finisher Harrison Burton, and carries sponsorship from Alpha Craft. Heim is the defending winner of this race.
DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports
One of two Cup Series regulars in tonight’s field is a returning Shane Van Gisbergen, back with the Spire team since the kickoff to his impressive North Wilkesboro weekend, where he finished 3rd in Spire’s #71. This time, Van Gisbergen takes the place of IRP runner-up Connor Mosack in the flagship #7 and carries the HendrickCars.com colors.
RETURNING: #20-McAnally-Hilgemann Racing
Fresh off his hard-fought ARCA Menards Series West victory on the Portland road course, Mason Massey gets a start in the McAnally team’s developing part-time #20 effort, a truck that last ran at San Diego when Brendan Gaughan earned an equally hard-fought 16th. Mongoose Power Solutions continues their sponsorship of Massey, who hasn’t started a Truck Series race since September 20, 2025 at Loudon, where he finished 19th for Young’s Motorsports – also in the #20.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Team Reaume
Following a 26th-place debut for team owner Mario Gosselin in last Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race in Iowa, Derek Lemke returns to the Truck Series with the Team Reaume effort, taking the place of last-minute IRP replacement and 30th-place finisher Monty Tipton in the #22 Ford. Triple Crown Capital Stables is the listed sponsor of his entry, marking his fourth career start and first since a 21st in Nashville with this same team.
DRIVER CHANGE: #25-Kaulig RAM Racing
Still another native Virginian making the race this week is one of its most famous in recent years. Elliott Sadler has made just 20 starts in the Truck Series and none since a 7th-place finish at Homestead back on November 18, 2011. He hasn’t made a start in any of NASCAR’s top three series since September 14, 2019, his retirement race in an O’Reilly car at Las Vegas. He’s now the latest to pilot Kaulig’s “all-star” truck in place of 26th-place IRP finisher Conor Daly.
DRIVER CHANGE: #27-Rackley-W.A.R.
The Rackley team will again bring their part-time second entry, the #27, and welcome back Kasey Kleyn, who finished a distant 35th after late-race electrical issues in his series debut back at North Wilkesboro. Kleyn and his Thaemert Farms sponsorship take the place of Toni Breidinger, who finished 25th at IRP.
DRIVER CHANGE: #62-Halmar Friesen Racing
The other Cup regular is Christopher Bell, whose continuing efforts to end his recent streak of runner-up finishes sees him back in the Truck Series for the first time since his 15th-place showing at North Wilkesboro. The Bristol winner takes the place of Michael Christopher, Jr., who finished 10th in IRP and will likely return next week for Loudon, site of his series debut last year.
DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Spire Motorsports
Already a three-time race winner in ARCA and heir apparent to take over for Michael McDowell in Spire’s #71 entry in the Cup Series, Tristan McKee makes his Truck Series debut tonight. He pilots the #77 with which Nick Sanchez earned a strong 5th-place finish at IRP and carries sponsorship from Workforce.
DRIVER CHANGE: #93-Costner Motorsports
Back at IRP, Cassten Everidge made it through a challenging series debut, at one point making contact with the leaders as he tried to stay out of the way and finish seven laps down in 32nd. Team owner Caleb Costner returns to the driver’s seat this week with sponsorship from Rodney Cole Insurance Agency and longtime Martin Truex, Jr. sponsor Auto-Owners Insurance.
CUP INVADERS: #7-Shane Van Gisbergen, #62-Christopher Bell
Saturday, August 15, 2026 (Green Flag 7:10 P.M. ET, USA)
CUP Race 24 of 36
Cook Out 400 at Richmond
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Chase Elliott
ENTRY LIST
There are 37 drivers entered for 40 starting spots, marking the 22nd short field in 24 races this season.
RETURNING: #66-Garage 66
The lone “open” team entered this week is that of Carl Long, who hasn’t fielded his Truck Series entry tonight. He’ll instead focus on Saturday’s effort with Josh Bilicki, who will make just his second start of the season and first since Watkins Glen, where he finished 34th out of 38 starters, just one lap down to the leaders. Bilicki’s most recent attempt was to come at Chicagoland in July, but the team withdrew due to lack of sponsorship.
Friday, August 28, 2026
O’REILLY Race 24 of 33
Regular Season Finale
Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona
2025 Last-Place Finisher: Parker Retzlaff
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series takes the next two weeks off and returns for the last race before “The Chase” in Daytona.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (August 14, 1993): In the Detroit Gasket 200 at the Michigan International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt finished 2nd to race winner Mark Martin, but his #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet was disqualified for an illegal engine. Earnhardt thus took his fourth career NASCAR Busch Grand National Series last-place finish, taking it from Johnny Benson, Jr., whose #41 Delco Remy Chevrolet wrecked after 1 lap.
