MBM Motorsports has made two efforts to compete this year after rebranding their NASCAR Cup Series unit as Garage 66 before to the 2025 season. The race itself has not benefited from either. Garrett Smithley drove the team’s No. 66 Ford in the Cook Out Clash exhibition race held at Bowman Gray Stadium prior to the season. However, Smithley did not transfer from the Last Chance Qualifier and did not qualify for the main event in his heat race. The team did not make it to the Daytona 500, but they did return for the official season start at Daytona International Speedway. At first, Mike Wallace was going to try to qualify the car, but NASCAR denied him permission to run.
It was driven by Chandler Smith, who was unable to enter the race either the Daytona Duel or the single-car qualifying session. Now that Garage 66 is scheduled to return, they are probably locked in. Casey Mears will make an unexpected comeback to the Cup Series after more than six years away from the sport, and the No. 66 Ford will be on the entry list for the upcoming Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. The No. 50 Team AmeriVet Chevrolet is one of two confirmed non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list for the 400-lap race over the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Ridgeway, Virginia oval.
After failing to qualify for the Clash as well, Team AmeriVet has not made any appearances. They will once more race in Burt Myers’ car. Even the open cars should be locked in because it is extremely unlikely that there will be more than 40 cars on the entry list. Since competing for Germain Racing in the season-opening Daytona 500 in 2019, Mears, who participated in the Cup Series from 2003 to 2016, has not made a start. Between 2010 and 2016, he was a member of German Racing. The 47-year-old Bakersfield, California native has previously won Cup Series races, including the Coca-Cola 600 for Hendrick Motorsports at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2007.
The Garage 66 rebrand only applies to the Cup Series, therefore MBM Motorsports is still using the MBM moniker at the Xfinity level. They haven’t made any appearances in the Xfinity Series yet this year. With Tyler Tomassi driving the No. 66 Ford in the Marine Corps 250, they will also make their Xfinity Series season debut at Martinsville. On Sunday, March 30, Fox Sports 1 will broadcast live coverage of the Cook Out 400 from Martinsville Speedway starting at 3:00 p.m. ET.
