NASCAR: 5 teams that could be added to the Daytona 500
By Asher Fair
There are already 41 cars confirmed for the Daytona 500 to open up the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, but more teams could still join.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway next month with the 65th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
In addition to the 36 chartered entries, five non-chartered entries have been confirmed for this year’s running of the 200-lap “Great American Race” at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Those five entries include the No. 13 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet for Chandler Smith, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet for Austin Hill, the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota for Travis Pastrana, the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet for Jimmie Johnson, and a Front Row Motorsports Ford for Zane Smith.
The field is capped at 40 cars, and with the possibility of more than the current 41 being added to the entry list, multiple non-chartered entries could be at risk of failing to qualify for the race.
Here are five possible teams that could add a car or cars to the list.
Possible Daytona 500 additions: Team Hezeberg
Team Hezeberg made their NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2022 with Jacques Villeneuve behind the wheel of the No. 27 Ford in the Daytona 500. He successfully qualified for the race in a non-chartered entry and finished in a solid 22nd place.
The team went on to make five more appearances throughout the rest of the 2022 season, though they still haven’t appeared in another superspeedway race — or any oval race, for that matter.
If they do enter this year’s Daytona 500, they could do so with either one or two cars. In three of their six races in 2022, they fielded two entries, but the Daytona 500 was not one of those races.