Garage 66, the team formerly known as MBM Motorsports, announced that they plan to enter the No. 66 Ford for Chad Finchum in this coming weekend's preseason Cook Out Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium.
Aside from the 36 full-time chartered entries, the No. 66 Ford is the second car to be confirmed as a part of this event at the four-turn, 0.25-mile (0.402-kilometer) Winston-Salem, North Carolina venue.
The other is the No. 50 Chevrolet, which is set to be entered by Team AmeriVet for Bowman Gray Stadium icon Burt Myers. Team AmeriVet also fielded the No. 50 car for Myers a year ago. Garage 66 fielded the No. 66 car in 2025, but for Garrett Smithley.
The only other part-time car on 2025's Clash entry list was Rick Ware Racing's No. 15 Ford for Tim Brown, but that car has not been announced for this year's running.
Assuming no further changes, the Clash entry list features a total of 38 cars and drivers, meaning that 15 will ultimately fail to qualify for the main event.
Before we get into the specifics of the format, here is a full list of those 38.
Projected NASCAR Clash entry list at Bowman Gray Stadium
Team | Car | Driver |
|---|---|---|
Trackhouse Racing | No. 1 Chevrolet | Ross Chastain |
Team Penske | No. 2 Ford | Austin Cindric |
Richard Childress Racing | No. 3 Chevrolet | Austin Dillon |
Front Row Motorsports | No. 4 Ford | Noah Gragson |
Hendrick Motorsports | No. 5 Chevrolet | Kyle Larson |
RFK Racing | No. 6 Ford | Corey LaJoie |
Spire Motorsports | No. 7 Chevrolet | Daniel Suarez |
Richard Childress Racing | No. 8 Chevrolet | Kyle Busch |
Hendrick Motorsports | No. 9 Chevrolet | Chase Elliott |
Kaulig Racing | No. 10 Chevrolet | Ty Dillon |
Joe Gibbs Racing | No. 11 Toyota | Denny Hamlin |
Team Penske | No. 12 Ford | Ryan Blaney |
Kaulig Racing | No. 16 Chevrolet | A.J. Allmendinger |
RFK Racing | No. 17 Ford | Chris Buescher |
Joe Gibbs Racing | No. 19 Toyota | Chase Briscoe |
Joe Gibbs Racing | No. 20 Toyota | Christopher Bell |
Wood Brothers Racing | No. 21 Ford | Josh Berry |
Team Penske | No. 22 Ford | Joey Logano |
23XI Racing | No. 23 Toyota | Bubba Wallace |
Hendrick Motorsports | No. 24 Chevrolet | William Byron |
Front Row Motorsports | No. 34 Ford | Todd Gilliland |
23XI Racing | No. 35 Toyota | Riley Herbst |
Front Row Motorsports | No. 38 Ford | Zane Smith |
Haas Factory Team | No. 41 Ford | Cole Custer |
Legacy Motor Club | No. 42 Toyota | John Hunter Nemechek |
Legacy Motor Club | No. 43 Toyota | Erik Jones |
23XI Racing | No. 45 Toyota | Tyler Reddick |
Hyak Motorsports | No. 47 Chevrolet | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
Hendrick Motorsports | No. 48 Chevrolet | Alex Bowman |
Team AmeriVet | No. 50 Chevrolet | Burt Myers |
Rick Ware Racing | No. 51 Chevrolet | Cody Ware |
Joe Gibbs Racing | No. 54 Toyota | Ty Gibbs |
RFK Racing | No. 60 Ford | Ryan Preece |
Garage 66 | No. 66 Ford | Chad Finchum |
Spire Motorsports | No. 71 Chevrolet | Michael McDowell |
Spire Motorsports | No. 77 Chevrolet | Carson Hocevar |
Legacy Motor Club | No. 84 Toyota | Jimmie Johnson |
Trackhouse Racing | No. 88 Chevrolet | Connor Zilisch |
Trackhouse Racing | No. 97 Chevrolet | Shane van Gisbergen |
Note that Corey LaJoie, not Brad Keselowski, is set to drive the No. 6 Ford for RFK Racing, as Keselowski continues to recover from a broken leg he suffered in mid-December.
These drivers are set to be split up into three groups for practice, and each group is set to get three practice sessions. The third session is effectively set to be treated like the qualifying session, with those speeds ultimately used to line up the drivers into four heat races (two with 10 drivers, two with nine).
The top five drivers in each of the four 25-lap heat races lock into the 200-lap main event, while the 18 drivers who fail to do so are relegated to the 75-lap Last Chance Qualifier. The top two finishers of that race are also set to advance to the main event.
A 23rd driver is set to be added to the main event based on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series point standings. Of the 16 drivers who don't qualify either via a heat race or the Last Chance Qualifier, the driver highest in the 2025 standings is still locked in.
This effectively means that, no matter what happens, Kyle Larson is already locked into the Clash, since he won the 2025 championship.
In 2025, the three part-time cars all failed to qualify for the main event, along with 13 full-time drivers. Which 15 drivers won't get in this time around?
Practice and qualifying are set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Bowman Gray Stadium beginning at 6:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 31, followed by the heat races, also on Fox Sports 1, at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Last Chance Qualifier is set to be shown live on Fox beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 1, followed by the Cook Out Clash, also on Fox, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!