NASCAR: 2020 Daytona 500 field to be full as entry list total hits 40

There are now 40 cars on the entry list for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, meaning the field will be full.

The start of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season is just over one month away, as the 62nd annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to take place at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 16.

A total of 34 drivers have been confirmed as full-time drivers throughout the 36-race season, with those drivers set to represent 17 teams.

There are two additional confirmed full-time entries at two different teams, with one of those two teams being one of the 17 with at least one full-time driver, bringing the full-time entry total to 36. One of these entries is the lone Spire Motorsports car and the other is the third Rick Ware Racing car.

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Four additional entries have been confirmed for the season-opening 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida.

As a result, the field for this race is slated to be full with 40 drivers, and any additional entries from now until then will mean that a driver or drivers will be bumped from the field in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday, February 13, four days after the single-car qualifying session for the race on Sunday, February 9.

In addition to the 36 full-time cars, the four confirmed entries for this race are the two MBM Motorsports cars, the lone Beard Motorsports car, and the Jonathan Byrd’s Racing with Hayward Motorsports car.

One of these two MBM Motorsports cars, the #66 Ford, is set to be driven by Timmy Hill, and it could turn into a full-time entry if Hill qualifies for the race, which is no guarantee since the team do not have a charter. Their other car, the #46 Toyota, does not yet have a confirmed driver for this race.

The #62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet does have a confirmed driver, and that is Brendan Gaughan, who is slated to compete in all four of the superspeedway races throughout the season, the two at Daytona International Speedway and the two at Talladega Superspeedway.

Finally, the Jonathan Byrd’s Racing with Hayward Motorsports car, which does not yet have a confirmed number or manufacturer, is set to be driven by James Davison, who is also set to compete in IndyCar in the Indianapolis 500 in May for the same team to become the first driver since Danica Patrick in 2018 to compete in both races in the same year.

Be sure to tune in to Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 16 for the live broadcast of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.