Garage 66 Owner Carl Long Unveils Massive 2026 NASCAR Season Plans

If you thought Garage 66 was just going to fade into the background after a chaotic 2025 season, think again.

Team owner Carl Long has come out swinging with a laundry list of plans for 2026 that honestly sounds less like a standard press release and more like a “hold my beer” moment.

In a recent chat on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Long spilled the beans on everything from their Daytona 500 hopes to a surprising Truck Series expansion.

And yeah, they’re still sticking with the “Garage 66” rebrand, just in case you missed the memo that MBM Motorsports is officially rocking a new identity.

1. Garage 66’s Rollercoaster Ride and What’s Next

The team’s 2025 Cup Series run was memorable, to put it politely. It started with the Mike Wallace saga, where the 65-year-old was essentially told “thanks but no thanks” regarding his Daytona 500 entry due to a lack of recent reps. That left the team scrambling like a player who forgot to save their game before a boss battle. They threw Chandler Smith in the seat, but a crash in the Duels meant they were packing up early. Despite the rough start, they managed to piece together a season with a revolving door of drivers, including Chad Finchum, David Starr, and Josh Bilicki. Casey Mears even popped in to hit his 500th Cup Series start, snagging a respectable 18th place at Talladega. Not precisely a championship run, but hey, survival is half the battle in this sport. So, what’s the play for 2026? According to NASCAR reporter Joseph Srigley, who was listening in on Long’s radio hit, the team plans to compete in approximately 26 Cup Series events next year. That is ambitious for an independent outfit. They’re also planning to show up at Bowman-Gray for The Clash with either Bilicki or Finchum behind the wheel. Because nothing says “we mean business” like throwing a car onto a quarter-mile bullring.

2. Expanding Horizons: The Truck Series Gamble

Long isn’t just focusing on the Cup side; MBM is apparently diving headfirst into the Truck Series. And they aren’t starting from scratch with duct tape and hope. They have long confirmed that they’ve acquired some trucks from Front Row Motorsports (FRM), including the actual truck Chandler Smith used to win at North Wilkesboro. That’s some serious hardware. Tyler Tomassi is already locked in for Daytona, which we knew. Still, the fact that they are buying proven, winning equipment suggests they are trying to be competitive rather than just field fillers. And for the nostalgia lovers? Garage 66 is planning to put Casey Mears back in the car for the 2026 Daytona 500. Hopefully, this time around, the entry process goes smoother than the Mike Wallace debacle.

3. The Method Behind the Rebrand Madness

If you’re still confused about the whole MBM vs. Garage 66 thing, you aren’t alone. MBM Motorsports (Motorsports Business Management) has essentially morphed its Cup entry into Garage 66. They used to run under “Power Source LLC” for a bit, but that was apparently too confusing, or maybe just not catchy enough. Long explained the shift to Forbes recently, stating that the rebrand reflects a streamlining of the team. The goal? Fewer people, higher standards. Long claims that having just one car at the track most weekends reduces stress and increases accountability. Whether that translates to actual speed on the track remains to be seen, but you have to respect the hustle. They’ve also brought in new investors and run some pretty unique campaigns last year, including Josh Bilicki’s testicular cancer awareness run at Bristol (sponsored by Manscaped, naturally). It shows that, despite being a minor team, they know how to make headlines. With 26 Cup races on the docket and a new Truck Series program loading up, Carl Long is clearly playing the long game. Whether Garage 66 becomes a legitimate underdog story or just another footnote in NASCAR history is up for debate, but one thing is for sure: they aren’t going to be boring.

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