After he was initially supposed to make his second start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, and first on an oval, at Chicagoland Speedway in early July, Josh Bilicki was forced to wait, as Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) withdrew the No. 66 Ford from the entry list for the second time this year.
Bilicki ended up making his first Cup Series oval start since the 2025 Brickyard 400 in this past weekend's race at Richmond Raceway, and the No. 66 car was the only non-chartered (open) car to compete.
Bilicki's 35th place finish was nothing to write home about, but it was his best actual finish on an oval since the September 2024 race at Bristol Motor Speedway, which he finished 34th. Between then and the Richmond race, his only other four oval starts had resulted in DNFs.
Josh Bilicki, Garage 66 not competing at New Hampshire
For this weekend's Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, there are no open cars on the entry list, marking just the fourth time in 25 races this year (third time in 21 oval races) that only the 36 chartered cars are set to compete.
Bilicki has not competed in back-to-back Cup races since running three in a row for Live Fast Motorsports in August 2023.
Carl Long does plan to run his No. 66 car at least four more times this season, but their next scheduled start isn't until the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway on Labor Day Weekend. Timmy Hill competed for the team in that race in both 2024 and 2025, and he also drove the No. 66 car at the track back in March, but they've yet to confirm a driver for this year's Southern 500.
The team also plans to compete in the September playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway and the October playoff races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Bilicki is set to return at Bristol while the team have yet to confirm drivers for the other two races. Chad Finchum leads all drivers with six starts in the No. 66 car this year.
Tune in to USA Network this Sunday, August 23 at 3:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Dollar Tree 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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