On Wednesday night 45 drivers will take to the track to kick off Speedweek. By Thursday evening at least four…and perhaps five…of the drivers will be eliminated from the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon.
Wednesday night’s Cup Series qualifying is the first of five straight days of racing to kick of the 2025 racing season.
NASCAR has a limit of 40 cars for a full field in the Cup Series; but this year they have added an Open Exemption Provisional spot – a 41st starting spot – for a special invited driver. As that special invitee Helio Castroneves knows that he will start in the 500 but he also has the opportunity to advance his starting position during qualifying and the Duel races. Should Castroneves improve his starting position, then the field will have 40 drivers and five drivers will go home.
Among the 45 drivers trying to make the 500 are seven time champion Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr.
The entry list for the Daytona 500:
Corey LaJoie
Ross Chastain
Austin Cindric
Austin Dillon
Noah Gragson
Kyle Larson
Brad Keselowski
Justin Haley
Kyle Busch
Chase Elliott
Ty Dillon
Denny Hamlin
Ryan Blaney
AJ Allmendinger
Chris Buescher
Chase Briscoe
Christopher Bell
Josh Berry
Joey Logano
Bubba Wallace
William Byron
Todd Gilliland
Riley Herbst
Zane Smith
Justin Allgaier
Cole Custer
John Hunter Nemechek
Erik Jones
JJ Yeley
Tyler Reddick
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Alex Bowman
Cody Ware
Ty Gibbs
Martin Truex Jr
Ryan Preece
Anthony Alfredo
Chandler Smith
Michael McDowell
Carson Hocevar
BJ McLeod
Jimmie Johnson
Shane van Gisbergen
Helio Castroneves
Daniel Suarez