Posted 3 months ago by Jonathan Fjeld Cup

Phoenix NASCAR weekend preview: Entry lists, tune-in details

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series each race at Phoenix Raceway with faces in different places in each series.

Josh Berry races Chase Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet in the March 5 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE

In Cup, Josh Berry race Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet again as Elliott recovers from a fractured left tibia. Berry will fill in for him at Phoenix and the following five races, except for COTA where sportscar ace Jordan Taylor will fill in.

Todd Gilliland will race Rick Ware Racing’s No. 15 Ford. J.J. Yeley raced the No. 15 at Auto Club and Las Vegas after Riley Herbst finished 10th at Daytona.

Phoenix is one of six Cup races where Gilliland’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford will instead be driven by 2022 Truck champ Zane Smith. Smith drove FRM’s No. 36 Ford to a 13th-place finish at Daytona.

NASCAR Cup Series footnote: Excluding the Daytona 500, the November 2018 AAA Texas 500 is the last time more than 40 entries attempted to qualify for a Cup race.

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Kyle Busch is the only Cup driver in the field. On Saturday, Busch will make his second of five starts in Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 Chevrolet.

Leland Honeyman Jr. will attempt to make his Xfinity debut in Alpha Prime Racing’s No. 45 Chevrolet.

Connor Mosack will drive Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 24 Toyota. Tyler Reddick drove the car at Auto Club and Las Vegas.

Ryan Truex will drive Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota after Myatt Snider ran Daytona and Joe Graf Jr. ran Auto Club and Las Vegas.

Graf is in RSS Racing’s No. 38 Ford while Kyle Sieg will drive the organization’s No. 28 Ford after Alex Labbe piloted it for two races.

Also within the Ford camp, Brian Weber will try to make his first Xfinity start since Nazareth in May 2003. Weber will drive MBM Motorsports’ No. 66 Ford, sporting his new brand, Last Option Bed.

Garrett Smithley will drive DGM Racing’s No. 91 after BJ McLeod withdrew the No. 99.

Dawson Cram will drive CHK Racing’s No. 74, instead of Ryan Vargas.

Vargas missed the first three Xfinity races in the No. 74 but is expected to run some Truck races for OnPoint Motorsports’ No. 30 Toyota.

Patrick Emerling will drive his No. 53 Chevrolet as C.J. McLaughlin remains out. McLaughlin wrecked in the Daytona race and was replaced by Emerling for Las Vegas after a wreck in practice.

NASCAR Xfinity Series footnote: When Brian Weber last raced in the series, the average age of the current top 5 in points was 7. On May 18, 2003, Justin Allgaier was the oldest, at 16, while Chandler Smith wasn’t even a year old yet.