Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club were granted the Open Exemption Provisional for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, and because NASCAR slightly altered the rule over the offseason, the provisional expanded the Daytona 500 from 40 to 41 cars regardless of Johnson's qualifying performance.
In 2025, Helio Castroneves and Trackhouse Racing were granted the provisional, but Castroneves was still eligible to take one of the four spots up for grabs for non-chartered (open) cars.
Because he was unable to do so, the field was expanded to 41 cars so he could still compete, but in Johnson's case, he was never eligible for any of those four spots, two of which were awarded based on qualifying speeds, and the other two of which were awarded based on America 250 Florida Duel results.
Jimmie Johnson would have missed the Daytona 500
There were eight drivers going for four open spots in this year's running of the 200-lap "Great American Race" around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Had Johnson been the ninth, he would not have successfully qualified for the Daytona 500 like he had done each year since returning to the Cup Series as a part-time driver and team co-owner in 2023.
The fastest two drivers of open cars in single-car qualifying were 23XI Racing's Corey Heim and JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier. They locked in before the Duel races.
Garage 66's Casey Mears then led the open entries with an eighth place finish in the first 60-lap Duel race, beating Front Row Motorsports' Chandler Smith in 16th and RFK Racing's Corey LaJoie in 19th for one of the two remaining open spots.
Live Fast Motorsports' B.J. McLeod then led the open entries with an 18th place finish in the second Duel race, beating NY Racing's J.J. Yeley in 21st and Beard Motorsports' Anthony Alfredo in 22nd after Alfredo's finish, originally 18th, was disallowed.
Johnson, who was slower than both Heim and Allgaier in qualifying, finished 15th in the first Duel race, seven spots behind Mears. However, we need to factor in that, had it been a nine-car battle for the four open spots, the Duel groupings would have been slightly different.
Still, based on qualifying speeds, Johnson would have been in a Duel race against Smith and Mears, and Mears still would have gotten the spot.
The other Duel would have seen a battle between LaJoie, Alfredo, McLeod, and Yeley. Would LaJoie have been able to avoid his last-lap disaster to finish ahead of these other three drivers? We'll never know for sure.
Tune in to Fox at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15 for the live broadcast of the 68th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action!