The No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang will have a different driver for the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Cody Ware will miss the Food City Dirt Race while focusing on a personal matter.
“Cody Ware will step away from racing this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway to focus on a personal matter,” Rick Ware Racing said in a press release on April 8.
“Matt Crafton will drive the No. 51 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing. Crafton has more than 500 overall starts in his NASCAR career, winning back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championships in 2013 and 2014.”
The Bristol Motor Speedway event will mark the first race that Ware has missed since the 2022 season. He was unable to compete at the Charlotte Roval on October 9, 2022, while continuing to recover from an injury sustained at Texas Motor Speedway.
Crafton Makes His Return To the Cup Series
GettyCody Ware races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Crafton, who drives the No. 88 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, has spent his entire NASCAR career in the Craftsman Truck Series, and he has made 526 starts while winning three championships. He also has dabbled in the other two national series.
Crafton made four Xfinity Series starts for Richard Childress Racing — three in 2013 and one in 2014. He completed all four events while posting one top-10 finish at Chicagoland Speedway and two top-three finishes at Kentucky Speedway.
Crafton has attempted to qualify for multiple Cup Series races, but he only has suited up for two previous events. He joined Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2015 Daytona 500, and he finished 18th overall. He then joined Front Row Motorsports for a 2019 race at Martinsville Speedway, and he finished 25th.
Crafton will now make his third career start while replacing Ware. He will take on a select group of Cup Series competitors during one of the four heat races on April 8 and then he will take on the Food City Dirt Race on April 9 (7 p.m. ET, FOX).
Crafton Will Pull Double Duty at Bristol Motor Speedway
The three-time Truck Series champion has no experience in the Next Gen Ford Mustang, but he will have a limited amount of time to gain knowledge before competing in the Food City Dirt Race.
Crafton will take on one of the 15-lap heat races on Saturday, April 8, provided the weather does not force the cancellation of the on-track activity. This is not a significant amount of time, but it will give Crafton an idea of how the heavy stock car handles the dirt surface.
The ThorSport Racing driver will also pull double duty during the race weekend. He will suit up for the Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 8 (8 p.m. ET, FS1), and he will try to reach Victory Lane in the No. 88 Ford F-150.
As Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe explained during a pre-Bristol press conference, pulling double duty is not beneficial in the traditional sense. The trucks and the cars handle differently. However, he noted that there is a benefit in that the drivers will be able to see how the racing surface changes over the course of an event.
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Cody Ware Misses NASCAR Race Weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway