NY Racing Team opened up the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season the same way they opened up 2024 and 2025: failing to qualify for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway with J.J. Yeley behind the wheel of the No. 44 Chevrolet.
And just like in 2025, Yeley returned for the season's second race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) and was unable to finish.
The team did not return to the Cup Series until this past weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway, but after Yeley competed in that race and recorded what was then a season-high 32nd place finish a year ago, they swapped drivers this time around.
Joey Gase, whose two starts for the team over the past two years came in the summer race at Daytona and resulted in team-best finishes each season (20th in 2024, 28th in 2025), returned for the Talladega race, and he brought the car home in a season-best 30th.
NY Racing Team out at Texas
But the No. 44 car is not on the entry list for this weekend's race at Texas. The only two non-chartered (open) cars set to run Sunday's 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Fort Worth, Texas oval are the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford for Chad Finchum and the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota for Corey Heim. Both are locked into the race.
Yeley and Gase have both been keeping busy in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, but neither one has any more Cup Series starts confirmed for the 2026 season.
NY Racing Team also do not currently have any imminent plans to return to the series, but after operating on a week-to-week basis over the past couple of years, it would not be surprising to see them do the same as the season progresses and enter additional races.
Live coverage of the Wurth 400 is set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 3. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from Texas Motor Speedway!