Christopher Bell is one of two full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers who entered the weekend at Richmond Raceway planning to compete in the Cup Series race on Saturday night after running the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night.
However, the Truck Series race was pushed back to Saturday afternoon due to storms on Friday evening, and Bell will be unable to compete due to a prior commitment. He still plans on competing in Saturday's Cup race.
Leland Honeyman Jr. is set to replace Bell behind the wheel of the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota, team owner Stewart Friesen confirmed.
@Lelandhoneymnjr will pilot the Halmar Infrastructure Development No. 62 @ToyotaRacingUSA Tundra TRD PRO on Saturday at @RichmondRaceway pic.twitter.com/bNT2wSPnji
— Stewart Friesen (@StewartFriesen) August 15, 2026
Christopher Bell replacement confirmed at Richmond
Bell has run five Truck Series races this season, his most since winning the championship in 2017. Over the offseason, NASCAR increased the limit on full-time Cup drivers with at least three years of Cup experience from five Truck races to eight in 2026. He won at Bristol Motor Speedway back in April.
Honeyman, who competes part-time for DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, competed in one race for Halmar Friesen Racing earlier this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finished 23rd. Before then, he had not competed in the Truck Series since making his series debut with Young's Motorsports at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2022.
While Friesen's post states that Bell is set to return for next weekend's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, this would require NASCAR to make an exception to the rule that full-time Cup drivers are not eligible to run the Truck Series regular season finale.
They are also ineligible to run any of the seven playoff races, meaning that Richmond theoretically would have been the final opportunity for a Cup driver to run a Truck race in 2026.
Bell initially qualified 17th, but Honeyman is set to drop to the rear to start Saturday afternoon's race due to the driver change. Shane van Gisbergen, the other full-time driver planning on competing in the Richmond Truck race, qualified on pole for Spire Motorsports.
Fox Sports 2 is set to provide live coverage of the Black's Tire 250 from Richmond Raceway beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 15, after Fox Sports 1 was supposed to be responsible for live coverage on Friday night. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!
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