On three occasions so far during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Richard Childress Racing have fielded a third car, alongside their full-time No. 3 Chevrolet for Austin Dillon and No. 8 Chevrolet for Kyle Busch.
The team's two O'Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers, Jesse Love and Austin Hill, have both gotten to drive the No. 33 car this year. Love competed at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in the entry's first appearance of the season, while Hill has since competed at Phoenix Raceway and Martinsville Speedway.
Hill's start at Martinsville in late March marked the team's most recent appearance. He finished in 33rd, marking the worst finish of the year for the No. 33 entry. He finished in 21st at Phoenix after Love ran 27th at COTA.
The No. 33 car is back on the entry list for this weekend's race at Talladega, but it won't be Hill behind the wheel, despite his status as a superspeedway specialist in the O'Reilly Series.
Austin Hill replaced for NASCAR Cup race at Talladega
Love is set to make his Cup Series superspeedway debut in this Sunday afternoon's 188-lap Jack Link's 500 around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval, provided he successfully qualifies on Saturday.
For just the second time since November 2018, a Cup Series entry list for a race other than the Daytona 500 features more than 40 cars. With 41 cars on this weekend's entry list, one of the five non-chartered (open) cars will fail to qualify.
Aside from the No. 33 Chevrolet, the open cars competing for the final four spots in the race include the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford, and the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet. Set to drive those cars are Joey Gase, Casey Mears, Chad Finchum, and Daniel Dye, respectively.
Fox is set to provide live coverage of the Jack Link's 500 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 26. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from Talladega Superspeedway!
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