From Carl Long Motorsports Facebook page:

Ok .. will break the news here ... MBM motorsports will bring our chevy #66 to Kansas to compete in the Monster Energy Cup Series. I am hoping to sign a couple sponsors to get us there. The special deal of the week. $25,000 gets the whole car for NASCAR's top series. It has been a few years since i was able to race in cup and I am very excited to be back.

The sad part is we are running short on $ to get there. I have asked several of my fellow xfinity drivers if they can squeeze some $ from their sponsors and i will let them drive. So we will have car 66 there with George Church as crew chief and Joey Arrington providing Chevy power.

UPDATE Race team owner/driver Carl Long, who has been banned from competing in the NASCAR Cup garage since having an illegal engine during the all-star race weekend in May 2009 and unable to pay the team's $200,000 fine, plans to be back in the Cup garage next week. "[NASCAR] made me an agreement so I can get over there. ... I'm just pleased to be able to make a living on the Cup side again," Long said. Long, who had bought that engine from a supplier and has said he had no idea it was illegal, has been working as a car owner and part-time driver in the Xfinity Series and will continue those efforts as well. He bought a Cup car from HScott Motorsports after last season and plans to field it, pending sponsorship, next week at Kansas Speedway since the Xfinity teams have an off week. A NASCAR spokesman confirmed that Long has met conditions to return to the Cup garage.(ESPN)(5-6-2017)

UPDATE2: The team and car are on the Kansas entry list but no driver is listed. Supposedly Carl Long will drive. MBM Motorsports posted and image of the paint scheme for the car, see it on the #66 Team Schemes page (5-9-2017)

UPDATE3: Long purchased the car in December from HScott Motorsports and intended to convert it to the Xfinity Series, but he remained hopeful that NASCAR would permit a return to Cup. It wasn't until shortly before the Daytona 500 that he found out NASCAR would do so. It was too late to get the car ready for the 500. With the Xfinity Series off until May 27, this break gave Long and his team time to work on the car for this weekend. He also plans to race it in the Monster Energy Open at Charlotte next weekend provided the car isn't damaged at Kansas. Should he return for the Open, it will complete the circle from when his Car career stalled in 2009.

-- NBC Sports --