Young’s Motorsports | NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway | Food City 300
Fast Facts
No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Team:
Driver: Logan Bearden
Primary Partner(s): T3 Vodka
Manufacturer: Chevrolet Camaro
Crew Chief: Andrew Abbott
2026 Driver Points Position: 50th (Five Races) | 2026 Owner Points Position: 34th
Engine: Earnhardt-Childress Racing
Year Three, Driven Forward: Young’s Motorsports continues its campaign in the newly rebranded NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, looking to build momentum with its expanding two-car effort as the season rolls on at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.
Super Late Model veteran Logan Bearden returns to the organization, but this time for his fourth stint in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and will pilot the No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in the 27th of 33 races on the 2026 schedule.
About Logan: Logan Bearden, 30, began racing go-karts at the age of nine before quickly progressing through Bandoleros and Legends Cars on short tracks across his home state of Texas.
A native of Leander, Texas, Bearden has built a strong reputation in Late Model competition nationwide, earning wins and top finishes along the way.
Over the past decade, Bearden has competed against some of the top names in short-track racing, developing a résumé that includes Super Late Model and Pro Late Model starts across the Southeast and Midwest, as well as select appearances in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
In 2022, Bearden made his Truck Series debut at Circuit of The Americas, delivering a respectable top-25 finish on his home turf. Since then, he has continued to balance his Late Model commitments while pursuing opportunities in NASCAR’s national ranks.
In 2026, Bearden has also expanded his racing résumé internationally, competing in the NASCAR Euro Series for Rette Jones Racing by Hendriks Motorsport. The opportunity has allowed the Texas native to gain valuable experience on some of Europe’s most challenging circuits while continuing his development within NASCAR-sanctioned competition.
This weekend, Bearden looks to make the most of his return to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with Young’s Motorsports, bringing his diverse experience and patient, disciplined driving style to the team’s No. 42 Chevrolet for the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
When not behind the wheel of a race car, Bearden works as a general mechanic for Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
All-Aboard! For the 27th of 33 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races this season, Young’s Motorsports welcomes back T3 Vodka as the primary partner on the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for the 300-lap race on Friday night.
Founded in 2022 in Knoxville, Tennessee, T3 Vodka is a premium spirits brand rooted in local pride and community connection.
The company is expanding distribution through its agreement with Empire Distributors, beginning in Knoxville and Chattanooga before continuing into Nashville and Memphis throughout 2026.
As the Official Vodka of Bristol Motor Speedway, T3 Vodka maintains a year-round presence at one of NASCAR’s most iconic venues, while continuing to grow its retail footprint across Tennessee.
Logan Bearden O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Bristol Motor Speedway Stats: Friday night’s thrill ride under the lights marks Logan Bearden’s fourth career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, also known as “The Last Great Colosseum.”
In his previous three outings in Thunder Valley, Bearden earned a track-best 27th-place finish after starting 35th in the fall 2024 edition of the Food City 300 while driving for AM Racing.
Overall, Bearden carries an average NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series finish of 30.0 at the famed “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” into Friday night’s race.
Bearden also returns with recent Bristol experience, having earned a career-best NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying effort of 24th at the 0.533-mile concrete short track earlier this season.
Overall, Bearden carries an average NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series finish of 30.0 at the famed “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” into Friday night’s race.
With three previous starts under his belt, Bearden hopes to utilize that experience to deliver his strongest Thunder Valley performance yet on Friday night.
Fresh off its annual fall visit to World Wide (Ill.) Technology Raceway near St. Louis, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to the mountains of East Tennessee this weekend for one of the most anticipated stops on the schedule — Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
The action-packed weekend at the legendary short track begins Thursday night with a doubleheader featuring the ARCA Menards Series Bush’s Beans 200 and the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series UNOH 250.
On Friday night, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will take center stage for its final Friday-night race of the 2026 season before the weekend is bookended by one of NASCAR’s marquee events, the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, Sept. 19.
Known as “Thunder Valley,” Bristol Motor Speedway presents one of the most intense and physically demanding challenges on the NASCAR schedule.
The high-banked, 0.533-mile concrete oval produces blistering lap times and leaves drivers with little opportunity to relax.
With laps clicking off in roughly 15 seconds, traffic develops quickly, placing a premium on maintaining rhythm and making decisive moves while navigating the constant congestion synonymous with short-track racing at Bristol.
The track’s steep banking allows drivers to search for different lanes as the race develops, but finding clean air and maintaining track position can prove critical.
Losing even a small amount of time can quickly put a competitor in danger of falling a lap down, making every restart, pit stop and strategy decision increasingly important.
Patience is equally essential. With more than three dozen cars competing within the tight confines of the half-mile oval, contact can be difficult to avoid, and circumstances can change in an instant.
Drivers must balance aggression with protecting their equipment while positioning themselves to capitalize as opportunities develop throughout the race.
Communication between driver and crew chief will also be paramount as changing track conditions and evolving racing grooves require teams to continually adjust their approach throughout the night.
For Logan Bearden and Young’s Motorsports, Friday night’s return to Bristol provides another opportunity to turn the speed and potential shown by the No. 42 team throughout the season into a complete performance.
Back Together After a “Too Tough to Tame” Heartbreaker: With Young’s Motorsports utilizing a rotating lineup of drivers aboard its No. 42 Chevrolet throughout the 2026 season, Bearden’s return for the second time in three weeks provides the team with valuable continuity entering Bristol.
Earlier this month at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Bearden and the No. 42 team contended for a top-20 finish and appeared poised to deliver the best NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series result of his career before a flat tire in the closing laps spoiled the promising performance.
With that experience still fresh, Bearden, crew chief Andrew Abbott and the No. 42 team hope to capitalize on their familiarity at Bristol and finish what they started by turning another competitive performance into a career-best result.
Trading Italy for Thunder Valley: Bearden will temporarily step away from his 2026 NASCAR Euro Series campaign this weekend, missing the opening round of the Playoffs at Autodromo di Vallelunga in Italy to compete in Friday night’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The 30-year-old Texan has spent much of the season competing internationally in the V8GP division for Rette Jones Racing by Hendriks Motorsport, driving the No. 30 Ford Mustang and gaining valuable experience at some of Europe’s most challenging circuits.
Bearden most recently enjoyed his strongest NASCAR Euro Series weekend of the season at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic, earning a pair of top-10 finishes, including a career-best sixth-place result.
With Bearden competing stateside this weekend, Hendriks Motorsport veteran Gil Linster will take over the No. 30 Ford Mustang at Vallelunga, allowing Rette Jones Racing by Hendriks Motorsport to continue its pursuit of the Endurance Teams Championship.
Bearden’s European campaign is not finished, however. Following his Bristol commitment, he is scheduled to return to Rette Jones Racing by Hendriks Motorsport for the NASCAR GP Belgium season finale at Circuit Zolder on Oct. 17-18, where he will look to close out his rookie NASCAR Euro Series season on a high note.
Calling the Shots: Guiding as crew chief of the No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro is longtime crew chief Andrew Abbott.
On Friday night, he will be the crew chief in his 189th NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race. In his previous 188 races, he has four top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
The season’s 27th race will mark Abbott’s 10th tango at Bristol Motor Speedway as crew chief in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
In his previous leadership effort at Bristol, Abbott has earned a track-best fourth-place finish, with driver Jeremy Clements in the 2019 August edition of the Food City 300.
Abbott also brings considerable experience at Bristol Motor Speedway from six previous NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts as a crew chief.
Those appearances include a track-best 14th-place finish with dirt-track standout Tanner Thorson in the 2018 UNOH 200.
Young’s Motorsports’ NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Overview at Bristol Motor Speedway: This weekend will mark Young’s Motorsports’ sixth and seventh starts in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Bristol Motor Speedway.
In the organization’s previous races, the team earned a track-best 15th-place finish during last spring’s edition of the SciAps 300, with series veteran Anthony Alfredo behind the wheel.
In Bristol, the organization’s previous starts in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series have produced an average starting position of 28.8 and an average finish of 26.2.
Beyond its O’Reilly Auto Parts Series efforts, the team has also made 27 starts at Bristol Motor Speedway in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series since 2012, with an average finish of 25.4
That stretch is highlighted by the organization’s best track Truck Series finish of 14th, earned by Tanner Thorson in the series’ 16th race of the 2018 Truck Series season.
Young’s Motorsports’ NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series History: Since entering the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2024, the family-owned organization has logged 118 starts and earned one top-five and four top-10 finishes while maintaining an average starting position of 27.7 and an average finish of 25.1.
Follow on Social Media: For more on Logan Bearden, please visit LoganBearden.com, like his Facebook page (Logan Bearden Racing), or follow him on Instagram (logan_bearden), TikTok (@loganbearden_) and Twitter | X (@LoganBearden66).
For more on Young’s Motorsports, please visit YoungsMotorsports.com, like them on Facebook (Young’s Motorsports), and follow them on Instagram (@youngsmotorsports) and X |Twitter (@youngsmtrsports).
Logan Bearden Quote Board:
On Bristol Motor Speedway: “I’m excited to get back to Bristol. It’s obviously one of the most iconic tracks in NASCAR, and every time I’ve raced there, I’ve learned something that I think can help me the next time I come back.
“We qualified 24th there earlier this year, which was my best qualifying effort in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, so there were definitely some positives from that weekend.
“This will be my fourth start there, and hopefully that experience, along with everything I’ve learned this season, can help us put together my strongest Bristol race yet.”
On Keys to Success at Bristol Motor Speedway: “Everything happens so fast at Bristol. You have to find a rhythm early because the leaders can get to you quickly, and once you lose track position, it can be really difficult to recover.
“You have to be aggressive because it’s Bristol, but you also have to be smart and take care of the car. Staying out of trouble, communicating with Andrew Abbott about what I need and continuing to adjust as the track changes are all going to be important.
“If we can stay on top of those things and execute on pit road, hopefully we can keep ourselves in position throughout the night and be there when it matters most.”
On Goals for Bristol Motor Speedway: “I really want to finish what we started at Darlington.
“We were putting together a really solid race there and were in contention for a top-20 finish before the flat tire late in the race took that opportunity away from us. It was disappointing because I felt like we were on our way to one of my best NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series finishes.
“Bristol gives us another chance. If we can qualify well, stay on the lead lap, keep the No. 42 Chevrolet clean and execute for the entire race, I believe we can contend for that top-20 finish again and hopefully come away with a career-best result.”
On T3 Vodka Partnership: “I’m incredibly thankful to have T3 Vodka continuing to support me and our No. 42 Young’s Motorsports team at Bristol.
“They’ve believed in me and supported my racing efforts on both sides of the Atlantic this season, and having that kind of commitment means a lot to me. Relationships like this are a huge part of creating opportunities to compete at this level, and I don’t take their support for granted.
“Bristol is one of the biggest and most recognizable weekends on the NASCAR schedule, so hopefully we can give T3 Vodka plenty of exposure, keep their No. 42 Chevrolet competitive throughout the night and reward their support with a finish everyone can be proud of.”
On Missing NASCAR Euro Series Race Weekend In Lieu of Bristol Motor Speedway: “It’s definitely bittersweet because I’ve really enjoyed competing in the NASCAR Euro Series this year with Rette Jones Racing by Hendriks Motorsport, and obviously you want to be there with your team when the Playoffs begin.
“At the same time, opportunities to compete in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series are extremely important to me and my career, and I’m very thankful to have the chance to be back with Young’s Motorsports at Bristol.
“I know the No. 30 team is in great hands with Gil Linster at Vallelunga, and I’ll certainly be following along and pulling for everyone from Bristol. I’m also looking forward to getting back over there for the season finale at Circuit Zolder in October and hopefully ending our rookie season together on a strong note.”
On Another NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Opportunity with Young’s Motorsports: “I’m really thankful to Tyler Young, Andrew Abbott and everyone at Young’s Motorsports for another opportunity to drive the No. 42 Chevrolet.
“One of the things I’m most excited about is being back in the car so soon after Darlington. With different drivers sharing the No. 42 throughout the season, having the chance to work with Andrew and the team again just two races later lets us pick up where we left off instead of starting over.
“I felt like we made some really good progress together at Darlington, and even though the finish didn’t show it because of the flat tire, there was a lot to be encouraged about.
“Hopefully, we can take what we learned from that weekend, continue strengthening that communication and turn another competitive run into the result this team deserves at Bristol.”
Race Information:
The Food City 300 (300 laps | 159.9 miles) is the 27th of thirty-three (33) NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races on the 2026 schedule. Practice will occur on Fri., Sept. 18, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. Qualifying will begin immediately after, at 3:05 p.m. The field will take the green flag later in the day, shortly after 7:30 p.m., with live coverage on The CW Network, the Performance Racing Network (Radio), and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90. All times are local (ET).
-30-