NASCAR’s Michigan race carries special meaning for Beard Motorsports

By Kelly Crandall August 1, 2023 2:01 PM

By Kelly Crandall | August 1, 2023 2:01 PM ET

Beard Motorsports will make its third start of the NASCAR Cup Series season in special fashion this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Michigan is home for the single-car operation owned by the Beard family. In its seven-year existence, the team has never run a home race, but found the time is right with Austin Hill back behind the wheel of the No. 62 Chevrolet.

“It was really a decision between (crew chief) Darren [Shaw] and our family and Austin,” Linda Beard told RACER. “Austin wanted to do that and we agreed. It gives us the opportunity to showcase our car at Michigan and be close to home.”

Further setting up a special weekend that putting the car on track will fulfill a dream of Linda’s late husband and team founder Mark Beard Sr. On more than one occasion in the 1990s, Beard, who was also a driver, attempted to qualify for a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan but didn’t earn a spot on the starting grid. Mark Beard Sr. died in 2021.

“That was something he really wanted to do, but it didn’t work out,” Linda said of competing at Michigan. “But that is a place we’ve always gone to the races. When they used to have two races every year, we’d take our kids and go in the motorhome and camp. Especially Father’s Day weekend – that’s what he wanted to do, so that’s where we went. It will be special. It’ll be different for us.”

Linda Beard has been at the helm of Beard Motorsports since Mark’s death. Her children, daughter Amie and son Mark Beard Jr., are also involved, as they are with the family business, Beard Oil Distributing, which is based in Michigan.

Beard Motorsports debuted in 2017. Keeping the team going since the loss of its founder has been a way for the Beard family to keep him close.

“I’m not going to tell you that it’s easy, because it’s not,” Linda said. “But it’s something that we’ve been determined to do to try to see if we could make this work just to keep his vision alive. It has its challenges, there’s no question. But we all work together between Darren and Brendan’s [Gaughan] always there with good advice, and between the kids and myself, we just keep plowing through with this.

“We’re enjoying it. We like it. But I can’t tell you that it’s always easy. Racing is not easy at this level. We just try to do the best we can every time and we’re determined. We don’t go there to lose, we go there to compete and win. So that’s what we keep in mind all the time. It’s not that we’re going to settle for something, we just want to make this work so we can win.”

Late team founder Mark Beard Sr never realized his ambition to race at Michigan in the Xfinity Series, but the modern iteration of the family-owned Cup Series team will be competing there in his memory this weekend. Photo courtesy of the Beard family

Gaughan drove for the team in its first four seasons. Only running on a very limited basis, the Beard Motorsports car appeared at the four superspeedway events at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. A fifth race was added in 2020 on the Daytona road course.

Noah Gragson became the Beard Motorsports driver in 2022, taking over for Gaughan who retired. The team did not compete in 2021.

“I do think that we’ve been competitive and that is our goal,” Linda said of the team’s five top-10 finishes in 23 starts. “You never want to go and look bad, so we strive as hard as we can to go and put our best foot forward. I think we have accomplished a lot of that. I think we’re proud of what we’ve done. We just try to keep doing what we’re doing and plowing through it, and making the best decisions we can.”

Hill joined the Beard Motorsports team this year. He failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, making the team’s first race at Talladega Superspeedway. They also ran at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which is now a superspeedway-style racetrack.

“The drivers that I’ve had, we bring them into the family, and we enjoy them and enjoy their personalities,” Linda said. “I’ve had two crazy Vegas guys (Gaughan and Gragson), and they have been so much fun to be with, and they are a part of our family. So, bringing Austin in and his family, they are so sweet. We have really enjoyed them.

“Austin is pretty much all business, so it’s harder for me to spend time with him because he’s running Xfinity and then he comes to us in Cup. But everything I know about him, I think he’s a very dedicated guy, he’s a very nice person, and I’m just really pleased to have him on board with us. And to have our sponsors, they’re wonderful too.”

Bennett Transportation and Logistics will adorn the No. 62 this weekend at Michigan.

A home race means more interest in the Beard Motorsports team, and there will be more guests on hand at Michigan than in any previous race. There will also be employees and customers from Beard Oil alongside sponsor partners, all of whom the Beard family loves getting to share the racing experience with to have them fall in love with the sport.

“I always say I’m more emotional at Daytona because Mark really loved it there so much, but this will be different for us and emotional along the way,” Linda said. “But we’re just going to go out there and do what we normally do every week that we run. I think it’s going to work out great.

“We will have fun.”

Beard Motorsports, NASCAR