NASCAR: The piece still missing from the Daytona 500 field

The Daytona 500 is still at risk of not seeing a full field to open up the NASCAR Next Gen era, and the “Great American Race” has never seen fewer than 40 cars.

It’s hard to believe, but after more than two and a half months of a break in action after Kyle Larson won his first championship at Phoenix Raceway in early November, we are just over three weeks away from the scheduled start of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The 64th annual Daytona 500 is set to kick things off on Sunday, February 20 at Daytona International Speedway, exactly one week after Super Bowl LVI and two weeks after the Next Gen car debuts in the Busch Light Clash exhibition race at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

However, things are far from settled in terms of what the field will look like for the 2022 season opener.

As of now, there are only 39 entries that have been solidified into this year’s running of the “Great American Race”. A full field contains 40 cars.

For context, 36 cars are locked into the field thanks to the charter system. All others must qualify for the race either by their speed in the single-car qualifying session or by their finishing position in the Bluegreen Vacations Duels. Last year, eight cars battled for those four extra spots.

This year, only three are lined up to do so.

We’ll spare you the trouble of reading a full list of the 36 chartered entries; if you want to view the chartered entries, see here.

The important thing to note here is that all of the charters have, in fact, been secured for the 2022 season after a bizarre silly season full of charter movement.

But the three open entries include the following:

• #27 Team Hezeberg Powered by Reaume Brothers Racing Ford – Jacques Villeneuve
• #62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet – Noah Gragson
• #66 MBM Motorsports Ford – Timmy Hill

This still leaves one open spot before we have to start having the discussion about which car(s) may not make it into the field.

Who will fill that remaining spot?

Will the entry list end up exceeding 40 cars after all, resulting in at least one of the open entries being on the outside looking in?

Here’s something to keep in mind: no Daytona 500 has ever seen fewer than 40 cars.

In fact, no race at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida has seen fewer than 40 cars since the 1968 Firecracker 400 featured just 37.

Since then, the track has hosted 106 races, including 53 of 63 Daytona 500s.

The Bluegreen Vacations Duels are scheduled to set the Daytona 500 lineup on Thursday, February 17, with live coverage set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. The Daytona 500 itself is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 20.