NASCAR: Two drivers will not compete in the Daytona 500

Two of the drivers on the entry list for the Daytona 500 will not compete in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway this Sunday, February 20 with the 64th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, but not all of the 42 drivers on the entry list for this race will compete in it.

With the field for this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida capped at 40 drivers, two drivers failed to qualify for the biggest event on the series schedule this week.

A total of 36 drivers entered the week locked into the race, given the fact that they drive chartered entries, leaving six drivers to battle for the final four spots for non-chartered entries.

Those six drivers included Team Hezeberg’s Jacques Villeneuve, NY Racing Team’s Greg Biffle, The Money Team Racing’s Kaz Grala, Beard Motorsports’ Noah Gragson, and MBM Motorsports teammates J.J. Yeley and Timmy Hill.

Two of those drivers locked into the race in Wednesday night’s single-car qualifying session by being the quickest two of the six: Gragson and Villeneuve.

This left Grala, Biffle, Yeley and Hill battling for the final two spots in Thursday night’s Bluegreen Vacations Duels.

With a fantastic comeback effort in the first Duel, Grala passed Yeley for 18th place on the final lap to lock up his Daytona 500 spot, eliminating Yeley and preventing him from making his first Daytona 500 start since 2015. Both drivers finished ahead of Gragson (21st), meaning that the higher of the two would officially race his way in. Grala had been a lap behind Yeley after a pit road speeding penalty.

In the second Duel, both Biffle and Hill finished ahead of Villeneuve (DNF, 21st place), meaning that the higher of the two would officially race his way in. With Biffle (13th) beating Hill (20th), he secured his first Daytona 500 starting spot since 2016, eliminating Hill.

As a result, Yeley and Hill, who were the slowest two qualifiers (by a significant gap, unfortunately) in Wednesday night’s qualifying session, failed to qualify for the race.

With both of these two drivers left on the outside looking in, MBM Motorsports ended up as the only team with a driver outside the 40-car field — and they unfortunately ended up with two, making them 0 for 2. This comes as a massive blow to the part-time team as the Gen 7 car era gets underway.

Don’t miss this Sunday’s live broadcast of the 64th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. Fox is set to broadcast the race live beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET, so if you have not yet begun your free trial of FuboTV, don’t miss this chance to do so!