Everything You Need To Know About The Five Open Cup Entries At Talladega This Weekend
- Dominic Konareski
- 21 hours ago
- 2 min read
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega this weekend for the first time of the 2026 season. There are 41 cars on the entry list vying for 40 spots. This entry list marks the largest this season since the Daytona 500 back in February. Among the entry list are five open teams / drivers, in which one will DNQ based off of qualifying at the 2.66 mile superspeedway.
Five drivers go into Talladega with their racing weekend plans uncertain, their spots not guaranteed. Only four will make the race.
This is the first Go or Go home qualifying at a non Daytona 500 plate race since 2016. Just over a decade gap will see the first non-500 DNQ in the Cup Series.
The Open entries include RCR’s No.33 of Jesse Love, NY Racing’s No.44 of Joey Gase, Beard Motorsports No.62 of Casey Mears, Garage 66’s No.66 of Chad Finchum and Live Fast’s No.78 piloted by Daniel Dye.
Jesse Love and RCR highlight the “Open” entries, as the defending O’Reilly Series champion will attempt to make his second start of 2026. Love’s average starting position throughout his six career Cup Series starts is 30th.
Joey Gase makes his 2026 debut as NY Racing looks to get into their first race of the season after an unsuccessful 500 bid duel bid. If he makes the race this also would be Gase’s 2026 debut. Gase competed in two races in 2025 between Garage 66 and NY Racing, completing 497-out-of-510 total laps. Overall, Gase has been an O’Reilly Series regular this season, with an average finish of 28th in eight races thus far.
Casey Mears looks to inch closer to a career milestone 500th start. Mears raced his way into the Daytona 500 earlier this season and overall has shown speed at superspeedways throughout his 17 season Cup career that goes back to 2003. In 28 races at Talladega – the second-highest raced track of his Cup career – Mears has an average start of 21st and carries five top 10 finishes.
Chad Finchum’s Bristol outing didn’t go as planned last week for him or Garage 66, going behind the pit wall early and would end up retiring. Finchum carries the most Cup time this 2026 season compared to all Open drivers, racing the Clash, Bristol, and now attempting Talladega. Finchum brought himself home to a p17 finish at EchoPark earlier this season in the O’Reilly Series, marking one of his best finishes on a superspeedway. If he makes the race, this would be Finchum's debut at a major superspeedway in the Cup series.
Daniel Dye’s bid at Talladega comes as an absolute shock to many in what is the first race of a four-race total deal with Live Fast Motorsports. If he makes the race, it would mark Dye’s debut at the highest level of NASCAR. Dye is still fresh off reinstatement of a suspension that was due in part to making offensive comments during a livestream.
If qualifying gets rained out, then the No.62 Beard Motorsports car driven by Casey Mears would be the DNQ. The Open cars would be set by owner points and with Beard Motorsports being disqualified in the dual earlier this season, they currently do not have any owner points.
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