Eddie Kalegi - Staff Writer
Yesterday afternoon, long-rumored news became official, as Trackhouse Racing announced the return of their “Project 91” program, inking a deal with four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves for an attempt to race his way into the 2025 Daytona 500.
The Brazilian motorsports legend joins JJ Yeley, Mike Wallace, and BJ McLeod as confirmed “open” entrants into the Great American Race, with others expected to follow suit in the coming days.
NASCAR’s twin 125-mile qualification races for the sport’s premiere event, once a staple of the lead-up to the Daytona 500 which used to be deemed Speedweeks, have all but lost their luster in recent years. The sport’s “charter agreement,” which not only restricts the number of teams that can be bumped from the field, but also diminishes key revenue sharing opportunities for non-chartered teams, has discouraged several organizations from attempting to make the field, with the risk of carnage from superspeedway racing far outweighing the modern rewards. The coronavirus pandemic also put a damper on things, as the sanctioning body overhauled practice and qualifying formats during the covid-era that still haven’t changed, and the Daytona 500 is no exception. A lack of track time ahead of the Duels, which affects both mechanical preparation for open teams and potential exposure for sponsors, further disincentivizes teams from putting their names on the entry list.
There was early optimism that this year’s Duels would be different, as the terms of NASCAR’s ongoing antitrust lawsuit with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports initially indicated that the organizations wouldn’t be able to operate as chartered teams in 2025, which would have put talented drivers like Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, and Todd Gilliland in a position where they’d have to race their way into the Daytona 500 field with the rest of the open entrants. However, a successfully filed primary injunction citing “irreparable harm” nullified this for the time being, and barring a successful NASCAR appeal, the two organizations’ six combined entries will indeed be treated like the other 30 chartered cars in Daytona 500 qualifying, guaranteeing them spots in the main event.
This shouldn’t kill the intrigue though. The four confirmed open participants all garner interest. Helio Castroneves has what it takes to not only make the field, but contend for the big prize. He has more than two decades of open wheel oval experience, has raced on the high banks of Daytona before in the International Race of Champions, and even outdueled NASCAR champions Bill Elliott, Tony Stewart, and Bobby Labonte for a Superstar Racing Experience victory at Five Flags Speedway just two years ago. Mike Wallace is a known winner, and raced his way into the Great American Race in his most recent attempt in 2015. Since scaling back to superspeedway racing exclusively, BJ McLeod has proven to be competitive, even leading laps at Talladega Superspeedway last spring. And JJ Yeley and NY Racing came within one spot of beating the legendary Jimmie Johnson to make last year’s field and will come back with a vengeance.
And speaking of the seven-time champion? While not confirmed yet, FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass expects Johnson and Legacy Motor Club to return to the grid next month in another open effort. Pockrass also reports that longtime entrant Beard Motorsports will likely be back with driver Anthony Alfredo, while Denny Hamlin confirmed late last season that 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr, who just retired from full-time competition, will have a seat for the Great American Race. Other efforts, like an additional Rick Ware Racing entry and the mysterious #50 team, which seemingly reemerged at random for November’s Phoenix finale with Jeb Burton behind the wheel as the rebranded “Team AmeriVet,” could also enter the running before the deadline.
Given this information, I safely assume that at least 43 cars will attempt next month’s Duels, meaning three will be bumped from the Daytona 500’s 40-car field. Yes, it’s a far cry from the days of old like 1983, when a whopping 72 cars attempted the Duels, but 43 would actually be the most participants in four years, when 44 teams made the midwinter trek to central Florida, and only the fourth time there were three or more bumps in the charter era.
Additionally, quality of field matters. You can have as many open cars as you want, but it won’t aid the product or intrigue if they are non-competitive and can’t keep up with the pack, as has been the case several times in recent years. All four confirmed entries and the three aforementioned probable entries give me at least some reason to believe that they can contend (I’m not so confident about Mike Wallace, but you get the idea.)
And finally, we must consider the situation itself. The Next Gen car undoubtedly has its faults, but it’s undeniable that the “seventh generation” of American stock car racing has fostered unprecedented parity. Two of the last three years have seen at least 18 different drivers find victory lane in NASCAR’s top series, former backmarker teams like Front Row Motorsports and Spire Motorsports are on the rise, and young organizations like 23XI Racing and Trackhouse Racing are proving to be viable adversaries to kings of the sport like Penske, Hendrick, and Gibbs. These themes continue to hold true across the board, giving smaller teams added confidence that they can hang with the best of the best, which will make the Duels more exciting. Plus, the addition of points payouts for the top ten finishers motivates chartered teams to race hard, as picking up any points at Daytona is crucial with the looming uncertainty of when and where the “big one” will strike on Sunday.
It’s a fact that Speedweeks just simply doesn’t quite hit the same as it once did. The childhood thrill of seeing Cup Series cars on track for practice on the first Friday of February and knowing there were ten days of nonstop action ahead is now a distant memory. But that doesn’t mean the Duels are dead. Taking everything into account, Thursday February 13th will be must-watch television. The Duels at Daytona are alive and well, and will be the best installment since charters were introduced to the sport.
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