This is a very difficult story to write up, as it makes little sense how it could have happened, but the No. 46 G2G Racing truck has been renumbered to the No. 49 and is now flying under the CMI Motorsports banner for the rest of the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
So, what happened?
According to Tim Viens, owner of G2G Racing, his team purchased this chassis from Ray Ciccarelli’s CMI Motorsports team, but somehow the chassis was not registered to G2G when the team unloaded for practice on Friday.
“[NASCAR] told us five minutes before practice. Long story short, the chassis number wasn’t registered with my team, it was registered with CMI Motorsports,” Viens explained to TobyChristie.com. “When we bought several chassis from CMI, we transferred them to G2G Racing. Somehow, this particular chassis number didn’t get transferred. And we didn’t find out — this is our only dirt truck — until five minutes before practice. NASCAR called us into the hauler.”
Andrew Gordon, who was set to pilot the truck for the team, found himself in a situation, where it looked like he was not going to be able to run the race. That is, until Viens phoned Ciccarelli and worked out a plan for Ciccarelli to dust off his CMI Motorsports team for the weekend to provide Gordon a chance to make the field.
“Obviously, I have a good driver in Andrew Gordon running this weekend, so, I wanted to try to make it right,” Viens stated. “So, NASCAR said since the chassis is registered under CMI Motorsports, that CMI could submit an owner’s license and submit a late entry and run the 49. So, I ended up paying the entry fee and owner’s license for Ray to make it right.”
Gordon, 31, who hails from Pennsylvania, made his first two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts a season ago, and is looking to make his first NCWTS start of the 2022 season.
“I kind of understand where [NASCAR is] coming from, because they don’t want people just showing up and running people’s stuff. But at the same time, the list from CMI Motorsports and then the list from G2G is exactly the same, but that one chassis number is not on there,” Viens said with dejection. “But it was on CMI’s list that I transferred. No idea how that happened, but unfortunately, it is what it is.”
It’s been a less than ideal start to the season for the upstart G2G Racing team. The team started the year with hopes of running two trucks full-time, but a couple of months in, things have unraveled for the organization. They’ll take another hit this weekend after having to withdraw the No. 46 entry.
“Correct. We withdrew the No. 46,” Viens confirmed. “We were really hoping for a good points day. We’ll see how he does and perhaps we can transfer the points to the No. 47 at the end of the day.”
For those of you wondering about Andrew Gordon's @g2g_racing entry this weekend at @BMSupdates.#NASCAR says the No. 46 has withdrawn from the event, with the No. 49 entering under @CMIMotorsports.
?: @JonMcCoyPhoto | @TobyChristieCom pic.twitter.com/59gryZbTze
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) April 15, 2022
The No. 46 team entered the weekend 35th in the NCWTS owner standings, while their No. 47 entry, which has made just two starts so far, sits 42nd. Viens says the team will head to the next race at Darlington and try again with Brennan Poole behind the wheel.
