Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) ended an 0-for-7 streak that had dated back to 2020 by surprisingly qualifying for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway back in February, with Casey Mears behind the wheel of the No. 66 Ford.
The initial plan was for the team to field the No. 66 car for Mears again in the following weekend's superspeedway race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway), a race in which the car would have been locked in since there were only two other non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list. However, the Carl Long-owned organization made the late decision to withdraw.
The No. 66 Ford finally returned to the Cup Series at Darlington Raceway this past weekend, but it was Timmy Hill behind the wheel, and he was knocked out of the race early with handling problems. None of the other 36 drivers in the Goodyear 400 failed to finish.
Garage 66 not competing at Martinsville
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollowing that DNF, Garage 66 will not compete this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, which is where they made their first start of the 2025 season in what was Mears' first start since 2019.
They plan to return for the race at Bristol Motor Speedway. That race is scheduled to take place two weekends after the Martinsville race, following the off weekend for Easter. Chad Finchum is set to make his first start of the year in that event.
Beyond that, Finchum and Josh Bilicki are each set to make at least one additional start, and the No. 66 Ford is currently lined up to compete in five other races, but drivers have not yet been named for those other five events.
As for this weekend's race, the only open car on the entry list is the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which is also set to be driven by a driver named Hill. But that driver is Austin Hill, not Timmy.
Austin, a full-time O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver for the team, made his first Cup Series start of the year at Phoenix Raceway three weekends ago. He has never competed in a Cup race at the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) "Paperclip".
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 this Sunday, March 29at 3:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Cook Out 400 from Martinsville Speedway. Take advantage of FuboTV's free trial offer and catch all of the action from the Ridgeway, Virginia oval!