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Xfinity driver Shane Lee, H2 Motorsports part ways

By Jerry BonkowskiAug 29, 2019, 12:35 PM EDT
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After less than three months together, Shane Lee’s tenure as driver of the No. 28 H2 Motorsports Toyota in the Xfinity Series is over.

When asked by a fan on Twitter about if Lee had been released from the No. 28 ride, Lee replied, “That’s is correct.”

A team spokesman confirmed to NBC Sports on Thursday that Lee is no longer its driver.

The spokesman said the team will not participate as planned in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway. The team spokesman also told NBC Sports that a new driver has not been named and the team has not decided what its next race will be.

Owned by entrepreneur and venture capitalist Matt Hurley, H2 Motorsports formed this past May, with its first race at Iowa in June. Lee and the team competed in seven races, with a best finish of seventh in its return trip to Iowa in July. NASCAR veteran Pete Rondeau is the team’s crew chief.

A native of Newton, North Carolina, the 26-year-old Lee competed in 13 Xfinity races last season for Richard Childress Racing, including one top-five and three top-10 finishes. He also has raced on the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and the ARCA Series.

When H2 Motorsports announced its formation and Lee as its driver in May at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Lee was upbeat about his future.

“It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve been patiently waiting for the right opportunity to present itself and that time is now,” Lee said at the time. “This is the biggest step yet in my career and I appreciate the confidence Matt Hurley and H2 Motorsports has shown in me.”

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Preliminary entry lists for NASCAR at Watkins Glen, Eldora

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By Jerry BonkowskiJul 29, 2019, 6:09 PM EDT
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It will be an expanded weekend of sorts for NASCAR, with the Gander Outdoors Truck Series racing Thursday night under the lights and on the dirt at Eldora Speedway, while the Xfinity Series will race Saturday and the Cup Series on Sunday on the road course at Watkins Glen International.

Here are the preliminary entry lists for the weekend:

Cup – GoBowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBCSN) at Watkins Glen

There are 37 cars entered.

NASCAR On NBC’s Parker Kligerman will make his ninth Cup appearance of the season for Gaunt Brothers Racing in the No. 96 Toyota.

Two cars do not have drivers listed yet on the preliminary entry list: the No. 51 Petty Ware Racing Ford and the No. 52 Rick Ware Racing Ford.

Chase Elliott is defending winner of this race.

Click here for the entry list.

Xfinity – Zippo 200 at The Glen (3:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC) at Watkins Glen

The preliminary entry list has 37 cars entered in this race.

Ryan Preece will be in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

NASCAR on NBC analyst A.J. Allmendinger will be in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

Ryan Blaney will be in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Kyle Busch will be in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Stanton Barrett will be in the No. 42 Motorsports Business Management Toyota.

There is no driver listed on the preliminary entry list for the No. 74 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet.

H2 Motorsports, which owns the No. 28 driven by Shane Lee, announced this week it will not compete this month’s three road-course races.

Joey Logano is the defending winner of this race.

Click here for the entry list.

Trucks – Eldora Dirt Derby (9 p.m. ET Thursday on FS1) at Eldora Speedway.

There are 32 trucks entered.

Chase Briscoe is the defending winner of this race and will be making his first Truck Series start of the season.

Spencer Boyd will be replaced in Young’s Motorsports’ No. 20 Chevy by Landon Huffman due to an injury in a non-racing related incident. Huffman has three career Truck Series starts. His most recent was the 2018 playoff race at ISM Raceway with Niece Motorsports.

Boys said he could potentially miss multiple races.

Click here for the entry list.

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Entry lists for Cup, Xfinity at Daytona

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By Jerry BonkowskiJul 1, 2019, 5:08 PM EDT
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Get ready for lots of fireworks this 4th of July weekend – both on and off the race track at Daytona International Speedway.

This race marks the first time the 2.5-mile track hosts a Cup race without restrictor plates since 1988, utilizing instead the tapered spacer – which we’ve already seen used once this year at Talladega Superspeedway.

Both the Cup and Xfinity Series will be in action at Daytona. The Truck Series is off until July 11 at Kentucky Speedway.

Here are the updated entry lists for this weekend’s races:

Cup – Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC)

There is a full 40-car field of cars and drivers entered for this race.

For the second time this season, Garrett Smithley is entered in Premium Motorsports’ No. 15 Chevrolet.

Quin Houff will drive the No. 15 for Premium Motorsports.

Ross Chastain will be in the No. 27 for Premium Motorsports.

B.J. McLeod makes his ninth start of the season for Petty Ware Racing in the No. 51 Ford

J.J. Yeley makes his third start of the season for Rick Ware Racing in the No. 52 Ford.

Joey Gase makes his first start of the season for Rick Ware Racing in the No. 53 Chevrolet.

Brendan Gaughan makes his third start of the season for Beard Racing in the No. 62 Chevrolet.

Justin Haley is back in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.

And Parker Kligerman makes his eighth start of the season in the No. 96 Toyota for Gaunt Brothers Racing.

Last year, Erik Jones earned his first career Cup win in this race. Martin Truex Jr. was second and A.J. Allmendinger finished third.

Click here for the entry list.

Xfinity – Circle K Firecracker 250 (7:30 p.m. ET Friday on NBCSN)

There are 42 cars entered. Four cars will not make the race.

Sheldon Creed makes his third Xfinity start of the season and the first for JR Motorsports in the No. 8 Chevrolet.

A.J. Allmendinger makes his first Xfinity start of the season in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

Joe Nemecheck makes his second Xfinity start of the season in the No. 13 Motorsports Business Management Toyota.

Riley Herbst makes his fifth start of 2019 in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Joe Graf Jr. makes his second start of 2019 in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Chris Cockrum makes his third start for ACG Motorsports in the No. 25 Chevrolet.

Shane Lee makes his third start for H2 Motorsports in the No. 28 Toyota.

Austin Hill makes his Xfinity Series debut in the No. 61 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota.

Jeffrey Earnhardt is on the entry list with the No. 81 XCI Racing Toyota but stated on Twitter that the team would not be competing this weekend. 

A spokesperson for True Speed Communications, which had done PR for XCI Racing, said they had no additional info and that its agreement with the team was only through Chicagoland.

Caesar Bacarella makes his third start of 2019 in the No. 90 DGM Racing Chevrolet.

Cody Ware makes his second Xfinity start of the season in the No. 99 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Toyota.

Kyle Larson won this race last year, followed by Elliott Sadler and Christopher Bell.

Click here for the entry list.

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Shane Lee to drive for new Xfinity team with Circuit City sponsorship

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By Daniel McFadinMay 23, 2019, 2:27 PM EDT
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CONCORD, N.C. — Former Richard Childress Racing driver Shane Lee will compete for a new Xfinity Series team, H2 Motorsports, the team announced Thursday at Charlotte Motor speedway

Owned by 23-year-old entrepreneur and venture capitalist Matt Hurley, the team will be sponsored by Circuit City and will field Lee in the No. 28 Toyota with support from Toyota Racing Development. They’ll debut June 16 at Iowa Speedway with plans to compete for the rest of the season.

Circuit City, which is primarily an online store now, was notably a sponsor of Hut Stricklin from 1996-98 in the Cup Series.

“I grew up an avid race fan, my parents are from the Midwest and I’ve followed the sport very, very closely since I was a young kid,” Hurley said. “More recently felt like there was an opportunity to go into the sport and bring some of our invested brands back into the sport. I’ve really taken an interest in kind of trying to find a way in.

“We felt like now is the right time to enter the sport, to come in in a competitive way. … Felt like TRD was the right partner to help us do that in a competitive way.”

Lee, 25, competed in the Xfinity Series last year, making 13 starts in RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet. His best result and only top five was a fourth-place finish at Kansas Speedway in October.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Lee said. “I met Matt at a couple races last year. We actually became pretty good friends and we weren’t really even working on a racing deal. Probably January or February we started talking about the race deal and wanting to get into racing. We sort of went from there and he got himself figured out and he really went down the line and hired some really good people.”

Lee will be paired with crew chief Pete Rondeau. Rondeau has 103 Cup races to his name, including as crew chief for Regan Smith’s 2011 Southern 500 win.

Rondeau also has one Xfinity Series win with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Bristol in 2004.

“I’ve had a history of accepting challenges,” Rondeau said. “As we did with Furniture Row team, we worked hard and … it ended up flourishing into a championship-caliber team. To me this is no different right here. We have a good core group and I’m happy to work with them. It’s going to be fun and a whole lot of work at the same time.”