NASCAR: Concerns arising ahead of Daytona 500?

Could we be looking at the smallest ever field for the Daytona 500 to start the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season next month?

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway in a month, as we are already nearly two and a half months into the offseason between the 2021 and 2022 campaigns.

The official debut of the Next Gen car is scheduled to take place in the Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, February 6, but the season is officially scheduled to get underway with the 64th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 20.

As the season approaches, concerns have started to arise that the Next Gen era may begin with a Daytona 500 that does not have a full 40-car field.

Several charters have changed hands from 2021 to 2022, though there are still 36 chartered entries locked into the field. So we’re looking at 36 of 40 spots filled on charters alone.

But last year, there were eight non-chartered entries attempting to make the field (four made it). This year, we’re nowhere close to that.

One of those was a full-time JTG Daugherty Racing entry for Ryan Preece, and that one won’t be returning.

Two of them were MBM Motorsports entries for Timmy Hill and Garrett Smithley (both DNQ), and this time around, it looks like they will be entering just one car for Hill.

One of them was an extra Team Penske entry for Austin Cindric (qualified), but with Cindric replacing Brad Keselowski full-time, that car won’t be entered in 2022.

Kaulig Racing fielded one as well for Kaz Grala (qualified), but now they have two chartered entries so won’t need an additional non-chartered one.

Front Row Motorsports, which field two chartered entries, also fielded a non-chartered entry last year for David Ragan (qualified), but there have been no indications that they will do so again. Ragan himself is set to drive a chartered entry for Rick Ware Racing.

Gaunt Brothers Racing competed part-time last year, including in the Daytona 500 with Ty Dillon (DNQ), and had been widely expected to do so again in 2022, but nothing has been solidified.

Finally, the other one was a Beard Motorsports entry for Noah Gragson (DNQ). That entry has actually been confirmed for 2022 with Gragson behind the wheel.

This brings us to 38.

We also know about the addition of new part-time team Team Hezeberg Powered by Reaume Brothers Racing for the 2022 season. The Daytona 500 wasn’t initially expected to be one of their events. However, former Indy 500 winner and Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve is expected to attempt to qualify, bringing us to 39.

Where will another entry (or more) come from? Will Gaunt Brothers Racing be back? Will NY Racing Team tease a return like they did last year? Is it finally time for The Money Team Racing to enter NASCAR, as reports seem to indicate?

Will Rick Ware Racing run a third car, despite the fact that they are downsizing to a two-car full-time program after running four chartered entries in 2021? Could we see Tommy Baldwin Racing return?

Regardless, let’s hope we don’t see the first Cup Series race at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida without at least 40 cars since 1968 — and the first ever Daytona 500 with fewer than 40 cars.