For just the second time since November 2018, there were more than 40 cars on a NASCAR Cup Series entry list for a race other than the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
As a result, one car and driver failed to qualify. With the qualifying session being rained out, Casey Mears and the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet ended up missing out, without ever having the chance to qualify simply because the No. 62 car entered the weekend with no owner points due to its surprise Daytona 500 DNQ more than two months prior.
This weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, there are 38 cars on the entry list, including two non-chartered (open) cars, so all of them are locked into Sunday's 267-lap Wurth 400 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Fort Worth, Texas oval.
All in all, there have been five lineup changes confirmed since this past weekend's Jack Link's 500.
5 lineup changes confirmed for NASCAR Cup race at Texas
Just one of the open cars that competed at Talladega is set to be back at Texas, that being the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford. Chad Finchum is once again set to be behind the wheel, marking the team's fourth appearance of the year. He is set to become the first driver to make two starts in the No. 66 car in 2026.
However, the No. 62 Chevrolet will not return, and neither will the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, or the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet. At Talladega, the No. 33, No. 44, and No. 78 cars were driven by Jesse Love, Joey Gase, and Daniel Dye, respectively.
The other open car on the entry list at Texas is the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, which is set to be driven by Corey Heim for the third time this year. He also ran the Daytona 500, plus the race at Kansas Speedway two weekends ago.
Fox Sports 1's live coverage of the Wurth 400 is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 3. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from Texas Motor Speedway!