Former Black Diamond house car driver Earl Pearson Jr. is returning to the Ronnie Stuckey-owned operation this weekend at Missouri's Lucas Oil Speedway on the Lucas Oil Midwest LateModel Racing Association, the Black Diamond team announced Wednesday evening.

The 52-year-old and four-time Lucas Oil Series champion hasn't raced since July 11's Lucas Oil Series event at 34 Raceway driving the Jason Rauen-owned No. 46 BMF Race Car in an 11th-place finish at the Iowa oval. Pearson told FloRacing he could "possibly" race more events beyond the Fall Nationals — "(I'm) not sure yet," Pearson added via text — which begins Thursday and Friday with $5,000-to-win prelims ahead of Saturday's $10,000-to-win finale.

Pearson was the house car driver of the Shreveport, La.-based chassis enterprise from 2018-21, a tenure that began at the beginning of the 2018 season and ended the first week of September in 2021. He spent five of his 19 full-time season on the Lucas Oil Series driving Black Diamond Race Cars, including 2015.

Pearson's won 10 of his 40 career Lucas Oil Series events with the Black Diamond company with none bigger than August 2018's Dirt Million at defunct Mansfield (Ohio) Motor Speedway and its $202,940 jackpot prize.

For Pearson, it's the fourth time he's emerged in a news story of interest this year. In the days before Jan. 25's Lucas Oil Series opener at Georgia's Golden Isles Speedway, Pearson frantically put together a race team with Rauen so he can attempt to campaign for a 20th season on the tour. 

On March 23, Pearson announced he'd drop off the Lucas Oil Series 13 races into the tour's 2024 season. On April 5, he then announced plans to follow the Lucas Oil-backed MLRA tour instead. Pearson raced the first seven MLRA events — from April 12 at Lucas Oil Speedway through June 7 at Missouri's Callaway Raceway — and hasn't raced on the tour since his runner-up finish to Dillon McCowan the first week of June at Callaway.

Pearson has finishes of 13th, 16th and 20th in three feature starts at Lucas Oil Speedway this year.

Thursday's and Friday's MLRA Fall Nationals at the Wheatland, Mo., oval goes for 30 laps while Saturday's finale will contest 50 laps. On-track action at Lucas Oil Speedway begins 7 p.m. Thursday, which is also the same time FloRacing's live broadcast begins.