Hillenburg to drive for Marcis at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Stock car veteran and driving school proprietor Andy Hillenburg has been named to drive the No. 71 Chevrolet entered by Marcis Auto Racing in this weekend’s Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway.

Hillenburg, whose last NASCAR Winston Cup Series start came with owner Joe Falk at the 1999 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, runs the Fast Track Driving School that is based at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

The two-time winner of the Daytona ARCA 200 during Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway attempted to make four Winston Cup starts in 2001 for BAM Racing, but failed to qualify for races in Talladega, Daytona, Pocono and Indianapolis. The team also did not qualify at Homestead with Rich Bickle.

Marcis’ car became the event’s 44th entry on Monday when it appeared the field for the fifth Winston Cup race of the season might be short. As of Monday morning there were only 42 entries with one, the No. 26 Ford from Haas Carter Motorsports, a questionable participant.

Owner Thee Dixon entered his No. 85 Mansion Motorsports Dodge for Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Carl Long Monday morning, but withdrew Wednesday afternoon. Marcis filed an entry with a TBA driver Monday afternoon.

Early Tuesday afternoon, Haas Carter announced the 26 car would attend the weekend with driver Joe Nemechek. So at this point, there are 43 cars set to qualify and no one will go home after Friday’s 2:05 p.m. ET Bud Pole Qualifying session.