There are 41 cars on the entry list for this Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series regular season-ending Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, meaning that one driver will ultimately fail to qualify.
Since November 2018, just two non-Daytona 500 races have featured an entry list with more than 40 cars. It happened most recently in April at Talladega Superspeedway, when qualifying was canceled due to rain and Casey Mears was ultimately left out, since his No. 62 Beard Motorsports team lacked owner points following their removal from the Daytona 500.
Mears is on the entry list for this weekend's 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval as well, and if qualifying is rained out, which is a very real possibility this time of year (or any time of year in the Sunshine State), he would be the driver on the outside looking in.
5 drivers could miss the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona
He is once again set to be behind the wheel of the No. 62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports, one of the five non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list. Because none of the five competed in this past weekend's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, owner points would determine who gets in and who doesn't, and the No. 62 team is lowest (44th) of the five.
The other four drivers at risk of failing to qualify for Saturday night's race are NY Racing Team's Joey Gase, Garage 66's Gray Gaulding, 23XI Racing's Corey Heim, and Live Fast Motorsports' Daniel Dye. Just four spots are available in the 40-car field, alongside the 36 chartered entries that are always locked in.
Logic would suggest that, given his two wins in eight starts behind the wheel of the No. 67 Toyota this year, Heim would be safe, setting up a four-car battle for three spots, but he was the driver who failed to qualify for the race on the streets of Chicago in July 2025 when there were five open cars entered that weekend.
As far as the owner standings go, the No. 67 team leads these five open teams in 36th. Second is the No. 66 Garage 66 team in 38th, which stands to reason since it leads all open teams in starts this year with 11. Next is the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports team in 40th with eight starts, followed by the No. 44 NY Racing Team entry in 41st with four.
TruTV is set to broadcast qualifying from Daytona International Speedway starting at 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday evening. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 itself is set to be shown live on NBC beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 28. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!
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