NASCAR team scaling back, dropping a car for Southern 500

For the sixth time during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Richard Childress Racing fielded a third entry in this past Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Austin Hill piloted the No. 33 Chevrolet in this overtime-extended 164-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval, marking his fourth Cup Series start of the year.

Will Brown made his Cup Series debut behind the wheel of the No. 33 Chevrolet at Sonoma Raceway in June, and Ty Dillon made his first Cup Series start with his grandfather's organization since 2015 in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.

But in this coming Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500, Richard Childress Racing are set to go back to fielding only their two full-time charter entries, the No. 3 Chevrolet for Austin Dillon and the No. 8 Chevrolet for Kyle Busch.

Richard Childress Racing drop back to two cars at Darlington

The team do not currently have plans to field the No. 33 Chevrolet in any other races on the 2024 schedule.

Three other teams fielded non-charter entries at Daytona. Beard Motorsports fielded the No. 62 Chevrolet for Parker Retzlaff, Live Fast Motorsports fielded the No. 78 Chevrolet for B.J. McLeod, and NY Racing Team fielded the No. 44 Chevrolet for Joey Gase.

None of them plan to compete in this Sunday's 366-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina oval either.

There is, however, still one non-charter car on the entry list for this race. MBM Motorsports are set to field the No. 66 Ford for the eighth time this season and first time since the race at Richmond Raceway three weekends ago, doing so for Timmy Hill.

Hill has not competed in a Cup Series points race since he competed at Circuit of the Americas in March, though he did compete for the Carl Long-owned team in the non-points All-Star Open exhibition race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in May.

The Cook Out Southern 500 is set to air live on USA Network from Darlington Raceway starting at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 1. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale!