When Joe Gibbs Racing signed Brent Crews to compete full-time behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota throughout the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, they knew that "full-time" would only mean 29 of the 33 races on the schedule, simply because of the fact that his 18th birthday is not until Monday, March 30.
As a result, the Hickory, North Carolina native is only eligible to compete in the season's third, fourth, and seventh races at Circuit of the Americas, Phoenix Raceway, and Martinsville Speedway, respectively, as a 17-year-old.
A driver has now been confirmed for two of the four races that Crews is set to miss, those being the season's first two races at Daytona International Speedway and EchoPark Speedwak (Atlanta Motor Speedway).
Joe Gibbs Racing confirms new driver for two races
Gio Ruggiero is set to pilot the No. 19 Toyota at these two tracks. The 19-year-old Seekonk, Massachusetts native made his NASCAR national series debut in 2025 with TRICON Garage's Truck Series team and won a race late in the season at Talladega Superspeedway, to go along with six other top four results. He finished second in his series debut at Daytona.
Ruggiero has never competed in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
The No. 19 car was the team's "star car" during the 2025 season, and Aric Almirola was its primary driver. Almirola is not currently a part of the team's roster for the 2026 season, after winning the owner championship for the No. 19 team a year ago thanks to a three-win season.
Joe Gibbs Racing have not made any changes to the rest of their full-time lineup for 2026. William Sawalich is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota, Brandon Jones is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota, and Taylor Gray is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 54 Toyota.
The team have yet to confirm a driver of the No. 19 Toyota for the March races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
The United Rentals 300 is set to kick off the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season on Saturday, February 14 at Daytona International Speedway. Live coverage is set to be provided by the CW Network beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action!