Myatt Snider has had an eventful past couple of weeks, to say the very least.
He started out the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) two weeks ago pit spotting for Fox Sports pit reporter Jamie Little. Then Alex Bowman fell ill during the third and final stage, and Hendrick Motorsports called upon Snider to fill in for him behind the wheel of the No. 48 Chevrolet.
After an expedited approval process for the 31-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native, he got to make his first career Cup Series appearance. He entered the race five laps off the lead lap in 36th place, and he brought the No. 48 car home in the same position.
On Saturday, Snider returned to the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (formerly Xfinity Series), where he had competed part-time for three consecutive seasons after running full-time from 2020 to 2022, in an attempt to make his first start of the year.
Snider was behind the wheel of the No. 30 Chevrolet for Barrett-Cope Racing, a new team that debuted in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But he ended up being one of the three drivers on the 41-car entry list who failed to qualify.
Myatt Snider misses Las Vegas race
It marked the first time in 113 career O'Reilly Series appearances and 149 career NASCAR national series appearances that Snider had failed to qualify for a race.
The other two drivers who failed to qualify for the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas, Nevada oval were Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen's Chad Finchum and Mike Harmon Racing's Dawson Cram.
The race was won by JR Motorsports' Kyle Larson, who was briefly Snider's Hendrick Motorsports teammate during the COTA Cup race. It was Larson's first O'Reilly Series start of the year after replacing teammate William Byron, who made his first O'Reilly Series appearance of the year at Phoenix Raceway, behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet.
As for Snider, he does not currently have any other appearances lined up for the 2026 season, which would be his seventh consecutive O'Reilly Series season and 11th consecutive NASCAR national series season with at least one start, should he manage to qualify.
The No. 30 Chevrolet has had five different drivers through five race weekends in 2026, and Snider was the first who failed to qualify for his race.
Carson Ware finished in 19th place at Daytona, before Cody Ware was credited with a 31st place DNF at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) and Baltazar Leguizamon was credited with a 37th place DNF at COTA. Austin J. Hill (not the other Austin Hill) then finished 34th at Phoenix.
The No. 30 car does not yet have a confirmed driver for this coming weekend's race at Darlington Raceway. Leguizamon is set to return for the race at Martinsville Speedway later this month and the race at Watkins Glen International in May, but aside from that, the team have not yet confirmed any other drivers.
Will Snider get the chance to return and make his first start of the 2026 season? All O'Reilly Series action is set to be shown live on CW Network throughout the remainder of the year. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!