NASCAR Cup Series: Obaika Racing won’t compete in 2019 Daytona 500

Obaika Racing will not field an entry for Tanner Berryhill in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season opener, the 61st annual Daytona 500.

After competing in the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time by fielding the #97 Toyota in each of the final three races on the 2018 schedule, Obaika Racing announced that they would field the #97 Toyota on a full-time basis throughout the 36-race 2019 Cup Series season. They also announced that Tanner Berryhill would be the team’s full-time driver.

The 2019 season, which is scheduled to last for nine months, is still more than one week away from getting underway, and the team’s plans to compete on a full-time basis are already out the window.

Obaika Racing will not field the #97 Toyota in the 2019 season opener, the 61st annual Daytona 500, at Daytona International Speedway.

Here is what the team had to say about the matter in a press release, according to MRN.

"“Due to a variety of circumstances, Obaika Racing will not be entering the No. 97 Toyota Camry in the 2019 Daytona 500.“It is no secret that this is a very small team with limited resources. This is also a very new team to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The No. 97 team has worked very hard through the winter to prepare cars and to secure funding for the 2019 season and things did not come together as quickly as hoped or needed. The odds of making the Daytona 500 did not seem reasonable enough to stretch our resources, so the team feels that our assets can best be put towards a future race.“Adding Wave Sports as a year-long partner was a huge boost to our program, and they will be a very important part of our future efforts. We continued with the Wednesday, Feb 6th, press conference at the NASCAR Hall of Fame with great optimism about our program coming together in time to make it to Daytona International Speedway. Even though that did not work out, we are still very thankful to Wave Sports for continuing their support.“The team still has big plans for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. We will compete in as many events as possible, and we will announce our 2019 debut race as soon as possible.”"

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A total of 16 teams were set to compete full-time in the Cup Series this season with at least one full-time driver who was eligible to earn points. As a result of this announcement, that total has been reduced to 15 teams.

Obaika Racing were the only one of these 16 teams without a charter to guarantee themselves an entry in each of the 36 races on this season’s schedule, so it makes sense that they decided against competing in the Daytona 500 given the fact that they are expected to be a backmarker team whenever they compete. However, given the fact that Cup Series race entry list totals have been down over the past few seasons, expect the team to still end up making their 2019 debut in the near future.

In their first three Cup Series races last season, Obaika Racing recorded a top finish of 31st place. Berryhill recorded this 31st place finish in the round of 8 playoff race at ISM Raceway, a race that he failed to finish as a result of a late crash. Berryhill drove the #97 Toyota to a 38th place finish in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway while David Starr drove the #97 Toyota to a 39th place finish in the round of 8 playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway.

In how many races will Obaika Racing compete over the course of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season? We should know in the very near future whether or not they will field the #97 Toyota for the season’s second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This race, the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 24.