NASCAR: 65-year-old veteran at risk of missing the Daytona 500?

MBM Motorsports recently announced that Mike Wallace was set to be behind the wheel of their No. 66 Ford next month at Daytona International Speedway in an attempt to qualify for the 67th annual Daytona 500.

NASCAR has since ruled that Wallace cannot drive the No. 66 Ford, due to the fact that he has not recent experience in major motorsports competition. But even had that ruling not been made, Wallace was not locked into the Daytona 500 field, and he probably wouldn't have gotten in anyway.

Wallace has not attempted to qualify for the "Great American Race" since 2015, when he competed for Premium Motorsports, and MBM Motorsports have not competed in the race since 2020, though they did attempt to qualify in 2021 and 2022.

The 65-year-old Fenton, Missouri native was aiming to become the first driver to compete across five different generations of Cup Series cars. But he would have had plenty of work to do. In fact, it's not a stretch to say that he would have been a longshot just to make it into the race.

Mike Wallace was never locked into Daytona 500 field.

The No. 66 Ford is a non-chartered (open) entry, so it is not locked into the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval like the 36 chartered cars are.

There are only four spots available for open entries. Two drivers qualify on speed via the single-car qualifying session, and two others qualify by racing their way in via the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races. If a driver locks in twice, then the remaining spot goes to the next fastest driver from the single-car session.

If you count the No. 66 Ford, which is now in need of a new driver, there are currently five confirmed open entries.

The other four are the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet (driver TBD; likely J.J. Yeley), the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet for Anthony Alfredo, the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet for team co-owner B.J. McLeod, and the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet for Helio Castroneves. But there are expected to be as many as five more.

According to Jayski, there could be up to 10 non-chartered cars going for those four open spots. Legacy Motor Club are once again expected to enter the No. 84 Toyota for team co-owner Jimmie Johnson. Then there is the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford, which had been a chartered entry before the team leased out a charter to RFK Racing. This entry is still expected to run part-time in 2025.

Richard Childress Racing also have plans to run a third entry, the No. 33 Chevrolet, in select races, and the Daytona 500 could be one of those races. Team AmeriVet could also enter their No. 50 Chevrolet,

Then there is Martin Truex Jr. and his ongoing search for a Toyota ride. A team has yet to be confirmed, but Tricon Garage, through an affiliation with Joe Gibbs Racing, is the rumored landing spot. He already has Cole Pearn lined up to be the crew chief of the No. 56 team.

There are 41 cars on the entry list as things stand, and Cup Series races are capped at 40 cars. However, all 41 of those cars could technically end up competing in the Daytona 500, due to the "world-class driver" provisional that was recently revealed for Castroneves.

This guarantees the four-time Indy 500 winner a spot in an open entry, even if he doesn't actually qualify via the single-car qualifying session or one of the two Duel races, so the field could end up being expanded by one spot.

But if he does qualify, then one of the currently five confirmed entries is guaranteed not to get in, and with five more potentially on the verge of being added, MBM Motorsports could face an even greater uphill battle.

The Carl Long-owned team's relative lack of competitiveness would have made Wallace's Daytona 500 bid a major challenge. Regardless of who, if anyone, replaces him, it is hard to imagine the team securing one of the top two spots on speed during the single-car session, so their driver will more than likely have to race in via a Duel race.

The Daytona 500 single-car qualifying session is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 12, and the two Bluegreen Vacations Duel races are scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 13 (7:00 p.m. ET on Fox). The 67th running of the "Great American Race" itself is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 16 (2:30 p.m. ET on Fox).