NASCAR team adds third car, names driver for 2024 Daytona 500

RFK Racing have added a third car for the 2024 Daytona 500, one they also plan to run in various other races throughout the NASCAR Cup Series season.

The 2023 Daytona 500 was the first since David Ragan’s NASCAR Cup Series career began in 2007 in which he did not compete, as he was unable to land a ride after running four superspeedway races, including the Daytona 500, for Rick Ware Racing in 2022.

However, the 37-year-old Unadilla, Georgia native never retired, and now he is set to return for another crack at the “Great American Race” this coming February.

RFK Racing announced that they have added a third car, the No. 60 Ford, for select races throughout the 2024 Cup Series season, beginning with the season-opening Daytona 500, and Ragan is set to pilot it at Daytona International Speedway. Build Submarines is set to sponsor the entry.

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season was the first without David Ragan since 2005.

Ragan did not make any starts last season, and it is unknown whether RFK Racing will add to his schedule for 2024. Regardless, he figures to be a threat in the Daytona 500, given his track record in superspeedway races. Both of his career victories came in such events, one at Daytona in 2011 and another at Talladega Superspeedway in 2013.

He finished in a career-best fourth place in the 2020 Daytona 500 for Rick Ware Racing. He finished in eighth for the team in his most recent Daytona 500 start back in 2022, and he finished in ninth for the team in his most recent Daytona start — also his most recent Cup Series start — in August of that year.

The addition of the No. 60 Ford means that there are now 38 confirmed cars on the entry list for the Daytona 500. In addition to the 36 chartered entries, the only other non-chartered entry that has been confirmed thus far is the No. 78 Chevrolet of Live Fast Motorsports, which is set to be driven by team co-owner B.J. McLeod.

The No. 78 Chevrolet is no longer a chartered entry after Live Fast Motorsports sold their charter to Spire Motorsports, but the team still plan to compete part-time during the 2024 season.

There are expected to be at least two more non-chartered cars on the entry list for the Daytona 500, meaning that not all drivers who attempt to qualify via the single-car qualifying session and the Bluegreen Vacations Duels will successfully make it into the 200-lap race around the four-turn 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.

RFK Racing’s two chartered entries, the No. 6 Ford and the No. 17 Ford, are set to be driven by team co-owner Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher, respectively, full-time once again. Buescher is the most recent winner at Daytona, having won the August race at the track ahead of Keselowski in second place.

No Cup Series race has featured a No. 60 car since 2011.

Single-car qualifying for the 66th annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 14. The Bluegreen Vacations Duels are scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 15, and the race itself is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 18.