NASCAR: The 6 drivers not locked into the Daytona 500

There are 42 entries for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, though only 36 of those entries are locked into the field.

Despite rumors and concerns about this year’s Daytona 500 field potentially not being full (40 cars) to open up the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, there are more than 40 cars on the entry list.

As a result, the 64th running of the “Great American Race” around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida will not be the first in race history to feature fewer than 40 cars.

In fact, no race at the track has featured fewer than 40 cars since July 1968, when 37 competed in the Firecracker 400. This year’s Daytona 500 will mark 107 races in a row there with at least 40 cars.

A total of 42 cars are on the entry list, including the 36 chartered entries and six non-chartered entries.

With the field capped at 40 cars, this means that the six non-chartered entries are set to battle for the final four spots in the single-car qualifying session (Wednesday, February 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1) and then the Bluegreen Vacations Duels (Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1).

While only two of these six entries will fail to qualify for the race, none of the six are locked in.

Here’s a list of those six non-chartered entries (and drivers for those entries).

• #27 Team Hezeberg powered by Reaume Brothers Racing Ford: Jacques Villeneuve
• #44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet: Greg Biffle
• #50 The Money Team Racing Chevrolet: Kaz Grala
• #55 MBM Motorsports Ford: J.J. Yeley
• #62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet: Noah Gragson
• #66 MBM Motorsports Ford: Timmy Hill

The Money Team Racing, after several years of rumors about them potentially making their Cup Series debut, added the 40th entry, the #50 Chevrolet for Kaz Grala, to guarantee a full field. MBM Motorsports were initially expected to only run the #66 Ford for Timmy Hill, but they have added the #55 Ford for J.J. Yeley as well.

NY Racing Team added the 42nd and final entry, the #44 Chevrolet, for Greg Biffle. Biffle was sighted getting his seat fitted for the #44 Chevrolet, which ignited rumors that he would be returning for the Daytona 500.

NY Racing Team have not competed in a Cup Series race since 2018, and they have not competed in a Daytona 500 since 2015. Biffle hasn’t competed in either one since 2016.

Last year, there were eight non-chartered entries battling for the final four spots in the field, leaving four on the outside looking in.

Of the six non-chartered entries set to battle for this year’s final four spots, only three were among the eight that battled for the spots last year. But all three of those entries, the two MBM Motorsports entries and the Beard Motorsports entry, failed to qualify in 2021.

The only driver change among these three entries is that Yeley, not Garrett Smithley, is set to be behind the wheel of the second MBM Motorsports entry (which was the #13 Ford last year). Hill drove the #66 Ford last year, and Gragson drove the #62 Chevrolet last year as well.

The Daytona 500 is set to be broadcast live from Daytona International Speedway on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 20. Start your free trial of FuboTV and don’t miss any of the action!