Beard Motorsports opened up the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season by successfully qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway with Anthony Alfredo behind the wheel of the No. 62 Chevrolet, something they failed to do a year ago.
But after Alredo's Duel race, the No. 62 car was found to have a transaxle cooling hose loose and a driver cooling hose that was not properly attached, which resulted in him being dropped down the finishing order and thus completely removed from the Daytona 500 field.
The team did not return until this past weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway. They entered the No. 62 Chevrolet for Casey Mears, but that car was one of five non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list, and only four can qualify in a 40-car race.
The qualifying session ended up being canceled due to rain, and because the No. 62 Chevrolet was the only open car on the entry list without any owner points this season, it was left on the outside looking in, without ever having had the proper chance to qualify or compete.
Beard Motorsports out at Texas
This weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, there are just two open cars on the entry list, and the No. 62 Chevrolet is not one of them.
Chad Finchum is set to drive the No. 66 Ford for Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports), while Corey Heim is set to drive the No. 67 Toyota for 23XI Racing. With just 38 cars on the entry list, both open cars are locked into Sunday's 267-lap Wurth 400 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Fort Worth, Texas oval.
Despite Beard Motorsports' misfortune so far this year, they do plan to enter the No. 62 car in four more races this season, all with Mears behind the wheel.
Those races include the July race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the August race at Daytona, the October race at Talladega, and the November race at Phoenix Raceway.
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 3 for the live broadcast of the Wurth 400 from Texas Motor Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!