With the points battle tightening, a high-speed weekend on the Monster Mile may make or break a team’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship hopes.
NASCAR released the preliminary entry list for the Oct. 3 Hisense 200 at Dover International Speedway. The list includes 41 entrants, meaning one team will fail to make Saturday’s race.
Testing an interesting new concept, Obaika Racing announced that Ryan Ellis will compete in the team’s No. 97 Chevrolet with support from Vroom Brands after Ellis won a fan vote for the ride. Ellis, who was originally scheduled to drive the No. 17 Ford for Rick Ware Racing, is expected to compete for the full 200-mile distance.
With the NXS running companion races with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the remainder of the 2015 schedules, fans can expect a healthy amount of Cup stars each week. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, JJ Yeley and Kyle Larson will all compete in Saturday’s race as they try to tune up for the final race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup’s opening round.
The lone exceptions to power teams fielding Cup stars this weekend will be Team Penske and JR Motorsports. Penske will field prospect Ryan Blaney, who won last week’s event at Kentucky Speedway. JRM will field 2014 K&N Pro Series East champion Ben Rhodes along with series regulars Chase Elliott and Regan Smith.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return to action in Dover, Delaware on Friday, Oct. 2 for a lone practice session at 1:30 p.m. The field will then return on Saturday for Coors Light Pole Qualifying at 12:15 p.m. ET. Coverage of the Hisense 200 will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and MRN.
2015 HISENSE 200 ENTRY LIST
| Car# | Driver | Sponsor | Manu | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Harrison Rhodes | teamjdmotorsports.com | 15 Chevy | Andrea Nemechek |
| 01 | Landon Cassill | Iron Source / Meddings Seafood | 15 Chevy | Johnny Davis |
| 1 | Elliott Sadler | OneMain Financial | 15 Ford | Jack Roush |
| 2 | Brian Scott | ACME / Reser's Main St. Bistro | 15 Chevy | Richard Childress |
| 3 | Ty Dillon | Yuengling Light Lager | 15 Chevy | Richard Childress |
| 4 | Ross Chastain | Heroes Haven / Natchez Shooters Supply | 15 Chevy | Gary Keller |
| 6 | Darrell Wallace Jr | Bleacher Report | 15 Ford | Jack Roush |
| 7 | Regan Smith | Fire Alarm Services | 15 Chevy | Kelley Earnhardt-Miller |
| 8 | Blake Koch | LeafFilter Gutter Protection | 15 Toyota | Mark Smith |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts | 15 Chevy | Dale Earnhardt Jr |
| 13 | Josh Reaume | Braille Battery / Grafoid | 15 Chevy | Derek White |
| 14 | Cale Conley | IAVA | 15 Toyota | Mark Smith |
| 15 | Stanton Barrett | 15 Chevy | Rick Ware | |
| 16 | Ryan Reed | Lilly/American Diabetes Association | 15 Ford | Jack Roush |
| 17 | TBA | 15 Ford | Rick Ware | |
| 18 | Daniel Suarez | ARRIS | 15 Toyota | Joe Gibbs |
| 19 | Jeff Green | Premier Barter Exchange | 15 Toyota | Mark Smith |
| 20 | Denny Hamlin(i) | Hisense | 15 Toyota | Joe Gibbs |
| 22 | Ryan Blaney | Hertz | 15 Ford | Roger Penske |
| 24 | Eric McClure | Reynolds Wrap | 15 Toyota | Mark Smith |
| 25 | John Wes Townley(i) | Zaxby's | 15 Chevy | Tony Townley |
| 26 | T J Bell(i) | JGL Racing | 15 Toyota | James Whitener |
| 28 | J J Yeley | JGL Racing | 15 Toyota | Gregg Mixon |
| 33 | Austin Dillon(i) | Rheem | 15 Chevy | Richard Childress |
| 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | 14 Chevy | Rod Sieg |
| 40 | Carl Long | Braille Battery / Grafoid | 15 Dodge | Derek White |
| 42 | Kyle Larson(i) | ENEOS | 15 Chevy | Harry Scott Jr |
| 43 | Dakoda Armstrong | WinField | 15 Ford | Richard Petty |
| 44 | David Starr | ZACHRY | 15 Toyota | Mark Smith |
| 51 | Jeremy Clements | Delaware Office of Highway Safety | 15 Chevy | Tony Clements |
| 52 | Joey Gase | 15 Chevy | Jimmy Means | |
| 54 | Kyle Busch(i) | Monster Energy | 15 Toyota | J D Gibbs |
| 60 | Chris Buescher | Lilly/American Diabetes Association | 15 Ford | Jack Roush |
| 62 | Brendan Gaughan | South Point | 15 Chevy | Richard Childress |
| 70 | Derrike Cope | Delta-Therm.The Champagne Lodge | 14 Chevy | Mary Louise Miller |
| 74 | Mike Harmon | 14 Dodge | Mike Harmon | |
| 88 | Ben Rhodes | Alpha Energy Solutions | 15 Chevy | Rick Hendrick |
| 89 | Morgan Shepherd | 15 Chevy | Morgan Shepherd | |
| 90 | Mario Gosselin | CrashClaimsR.us | 15 Chevy | Michelle Gosselin |
| 92 | Dexter Bean | CrashClaimsR.us | 15 Chevy | Bobby Dotter |
| 97 | Ryan Ellis(i) | Vroom Brands | 15 Chevy | Victor Obaika |
About the author
A graduate of Ball State, Aaron rejoins Frontstretch for his second season in 2016 following a successful year that included covering seven races and starting the popular "Two-Headed Monster" column in 2015. Now in his third year of covering motorsports, Aaron serves as an Assistant Editor for Frontstretch while also contributing to other popular sites including Speed51 and The Apex. He encourages you to come say hi when you see him at the track.
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As usual with companion events, Gibbs has Kyle Busch entered, and this week, he’s got Dennis-the-menace Hamlin entered. I’m surprized he doesn’t have Kenseth or Edwards entered to give them extra practice.
A must-miss event!
My daughter lives about ten miles from the Dover track. She told me last year that there was some supermarket promotion and they weren’t even able to give the Xfinity tickets away. It’s a mess isn’t it?
Kyle could have a tough time keeping Morgan Shepherd behind him.