Justin Marks and Trackhouse Racing took advantage of a little-known new rule ahead of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 when they applied for (and were granted) and world-class provisional for four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
That provisional locked Castroneves into the Daytona 500 field, even if he was unable to lock up one of the four open spots (two on qualifying speed, two on Duel race results). As it turns out, he needed to fall back on the provisional, and the Daytona 500 field featured 41 cars rather than the usual 40.
This year, the rules have slightly changed. Legacy Motor Club and Jimmie Johnson have been granted the provisional, officially dubbed the Open Exemption Provisional, but there are still set to be four other open spots regardless, effectively guaranteeing a 41-car field because Johnson's No. 84 Toyota is being treated as a 37th chartered car for the purposes of being locked into the race.
No Daytona 500 provisional for Trackhouse in 2026
Aside from that, the confirmation that Johnson and the No. 84 team have been granted this provisional effectively signals that Trackhouse Racing will not run a fourth car in this year's Daytona 500.
Trackhouse Racing have run the No. 91 Chevrolet, which is known as PROJECT91, sporadically since 2022 as a way to give international race car drivers the opportunity to compete in select races at the Cup level, and 2025 marked the first time in team history that they had run a part-time entry in the Daytona 500.
They were not expected to run the No. 91 car, which has made just one appearance since 2023, in this year's Daytona 500 to begin with, and the Johnson announcement all but confirms that it's officially off the table, as adding another car now would lock it into an eight-car battle for four open spots.
The No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for Justin Allgaier, the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford for Casey Mears, and the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet for B.J. McLeod have all been confirmed, while
the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet for Austin Hill, the No. 44 NY Racing Chevrolet, the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, and the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota for Corey Heim are all expected additions.
Just one world-class provisional is available each weekend, though the Daytona 500 is really the only race for which it would have real value. In just one other race since 2018 has a Cup Series entry list exceeded 40 cars. That was the Chicago Street Race in 2025, which shockingly saw Heim fail to qualify for 23XI Racing.
Fox's live coverage of this year's Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15. Single-car qualifying is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 11, followed by the two Duel races on Thursday, February 12.