NASCAR: 3 candidates to fill the Daytona 500 field
By Asher Fair
There still aren’t 40 confirmed entries for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, with the race only three and a half weeks away.
With the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 just over three weeks away, the provisional entry list still does not feature 40 cars.
None of the first 63 editions of the “Great American Race” at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida featured fewer than 40 cars, and no race at the track has featured fewer than 40 entries since 1968.
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In addition to the 36 chartered entries, the three open cars set to enter this year’s running of the 200-lap race include the #27 Team Hezeberg Powered by Reaume Brothers Racing Ford (Jacques Villeneuve), the #62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet (Noah Gragson), and the #66 MBM Motorsports Ford (Timmy Hill).
Who might join those open entries in attempting to qualify for the (presumably) 40-car field for this year’s race?
Daytona 500 candidates: No. 1 – The Money Team Racing
The Floyd Mayweather-associated The Money Team Racing have been rumored to join the NASCAR Cup Series since 2019, and yet they still have not made an appearance. A recent report indicates that they finally plan to confirm those rumors with a 2022 Daytona 500 entry.
That report states that they are working toward finalizing a deal to field their car, presumably the #50 Chevrolet, in this race, and that they have already secured both a car and a sponsor, in addition to young journeyman Kaz Grala as a driver.
Grala tested StarCom Racing’s Next Gen car at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval last October before they shut down following the 2021 season, and this is the car that The Money Team Racing have supposedly secured.
With that being said, there is still nothing that has been confirmed (much like every other rumor about The Money Team Racing), so don’t be surprised if the 40th entry, if it happens, comes from another organization.