NASCAR: Two drivers will miss the 2023 Daytona 500

With 42 cars on the entry list for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, two drivers will not get to compete in the race.

The 65th annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to get the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season underway on Sunday, February 19. Single-car qualifying to set the front row for the race is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 15, ahead of the two Bluegreen Vacations Duels qualifying races to solidify the full starting lineup on Thursday, February 16.

But not all of the drivers who attempt to qualify for the 200-lap race at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida will get to compete in it.

There are 42 cars on the entry list for the season opener, but the field is capped at 40 cars, meaning that two drivers who attempt to qualify for the race will not get the opportunity to do so.

Of the 42 drivers set to attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500, 36 are already locked in, those being the drivers of the chartered NASCAR Cup Series entries.

This means that two of the six drivers of the non-chartered entries will not get to compete in the race.

The six non-chartered cars on the entry list are the No. 13 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford, the No. 50 The Money Team Racing Chevrolet, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, and the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet.

Chandler Smith is set to drive the No. 13 Chevrolet, Zane Smith is set to drive the No. 36 Ford, Conor Daly is set to drive the No. 50 Chevrolet, Austin Hill is set to drive the No. 62 Chevrolet, Travis Pastrana is set to drive the No. 67 Toyota, and Jimmie Johnson is set to drive the No. 84 Chevrolet.

Two of these drivers will not compete in this year’s Daytona 500. The two fastest drivers of this group in the single-car qualifying session lock into the race, and the drivers who finish highest among the drivers of non-chartered car in the qualifying races (one driver from the first race and another one from the second) also lock in.

If a driver effectively locks in twice, then his second spot goes to the next fastest driver of a non-chartered car in the single-car qualifying session, not necessarily the next highest finisher in that driver’s Duel race.

The single-car qualifying session and the Bluegreen Vacations Duels are both set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1, with the former scheduled to begin at 8:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 15 and the latter scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 16. Fox is set to broadcast the Daytona 500 live beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 19.

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