The NASCAR Cup Series is set to race at Martinsville Speedway this Sunday afternoon, and for the first time in 2026, there's a chance that the race could conclude with a champion having been crowned, with Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson owning a 73-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin heading into the Xfinity 500.
As far as the playoff drivers and their respective entries are concerned, everything has remained the same from one race to the next throughout the first eight races of the 10-race Chase postseason, and that remains true again this week.
Where the non-chartered (open) entries are concerned, however, things have been shaken up a bit from this past weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway until now.
6 lineup changes confirmed for Talladega
The first two of these six changes weren't actually any changes, when it all boils down to it. After failing to qualify for the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway in late August, thus preventing him from making his first Cup Series start since June 2023, Gray Gaulding added more races to his schedule for 2026 with Garage 66, and that updated scheduled included this weekend's Martinsville race.
Yet when the entry list was released for Sunday's 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer), it was Josh Bilicki listed as the driver of the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford for the fourth time in 2026.
Skip ahead to the release of the qualifying order, and Gaulding's name had returned.
However, it is indeed Bilicki who is set to drive the car after all, marking the third "change" of the week but only the first true shift in the team's plans.
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— Garage 66 & MBM Motorsports (@MBMMotorsports) October 29, 2026
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Maybe it'll be Carl Long himself in his race car come qualifying time on Saturday; who knows? What we do know is that there have been three other actual changes to the entry list this week, and all three simply involve the removal of open cars.
NY Racing Team will not field the No. 44 Chevrolet for Joey Gase, after Gase came within one position of the team's all-time best finish with a 21st place effort at Talladega, and Beard Motorsports will not field the No. 62 Chevrolet after Casey Mears' Talladega DNF in what was the latest episode of a disappointing season for the team.
Daniel Dye will also not be back behind the wheel of the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet. As of now, of these four open cars, only the No. 62 Chevrolet is currently lined up to run the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend, once again with Mears behind the wheel for his 500th career start.
The only other open car currently lined up to compete at Homestead is the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota of Corey Heim, as Heim prepares to make the jump to full-time as Riley Herbst's replacement next year.
Sunday afternoon's Xfinity 500 is set to be shown live on NBC from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from the "Paperclip"!
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