NASCAR: Full-time Cup driver out for Bristol dirt race
By Asher Fair
It is set to be Mike Marlar, not full-time driver Timmy Hill, behind the wheel of the #66 Toyota for MBM Motorsports in this Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Timmy Hill, one of 34 drivers to attempt every race so far in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, will not compete for MBM Motorsports in this Sunday’s dirt race, the Food City Dirt Race, at Bristol Motor Speedway.
With Hill not competing, only 33 drivers will have attempted to compete in every one of the first seven races on the 36-race 2021 schedule.
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Instead of Hill, it is set to be Mike Marlar behind the wheel of the #66 Toyota for this 250-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee.
Marlar has a dirt track racing background and has made two career NASCAR national series starts, although none of them have come in the Cup Series.
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He competed on dirt at Eldora Speedway in the Truck Series in August 2019 and then at the paved Richmond Raceway track in the Xfinity Series in September 2019. He finished in fourth place at Eldora Speedway but crashed after one lap at Richmond Raceway.
Full-time driver B.J. McLeod of Live Fast Motorsports will also not compete in this Sunday’s race, although he had already been out of the car at one point this season. Scott Heckert drove the #78 Ford at the Daytona International Speedway road course, so this isn’t the first race that McLeod has missed, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team co-owner step aside from other races later this season as well.
As for Hill, he hasn’t completely missed a race since November 2019, when he did not compete in the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix Raceway.
He did not compete in this year’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, but that came as a result of a failed qualifying attempt as opposed to a complete omission from the entry list. His season-best result so far is his 29th place finish at the Daytona International Speedway road course.
That race was the second race on the 2021 Cup Series schedule, and it marked his first start of the year.
Hill is not eligible to score points in the Cup Series, as he is competing full-time for points in the Xfinity Series.
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The Food City Dirt Race is set to be broadcast live on Fox from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon.