Just one non-chartered (open) car competed in the first NASCAR Cup Series points race at North Wilkesboro Speedway since 1996 this past weekend, and that was the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford. Chad Finchum drove the car and was knocked out early with a rear gear issue.
There are three open cars on the entry list for this Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the crown jewel race which is in its third season since being added back to the schedule in 2024.
But the No. 66 Ford is not one of them, with three others having been added after sitting out the North Wilkesboro race.
4 lineup changes for the Brickyard 400
Garage 66 plan to compete in at least five more races this year, but their next start isn't scheduled to come until the mid-August race at Richmond Raceway.
This weekend, two open teams have added one entry each, and a full-time team has expanded to field a fourth car.
Beard Motorsports have added the No. 62 Chevrolet for Casey Mears, who competed at Pocono Raceway in June after failing to qualify for the April race at Talladega Superspeedway since qualifying was canceled and the No. 62 team had no owner points to fall back on due to their removal from the Daytona 500 grid with Anthony Alfredo.
Live Fast Motorsports have added the No. 78 Chevrolet for the eighth time this year and the third time for Daniel Dye, who is responsible for the team's top two finishes of the season at Talladega (24th) and Pocono (29th).
And the other open car is the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, which the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team have fielded for Corey Heim on seven occasions this season.
Heim, who earned his first career Cup win in the inaugural race on Naval Base Coronado in June and backed it up with an oval season-best result of ninth at Chicagoland earlier this month, has a points-per-race average that would place him 20th in the Cup standings, which is impressive for a driver yet to run his rookie season. He is set to replace Riley Herbst in the team's full-time lineup in 2027.
Because those three are the only three open cars on the entry list, all are locked into Sunday's 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana oval.
Tune in to TNT at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 26 for the live broadcast of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This race is not only TNT's final race of the year, but also the fifth and final race of NASCAR's second annual In-Season Challenge tournament, so don't miss any of the action from the Brickyard!
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