For just the second time since the November 2018 NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, an entry list for a Cup race other than the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway features more than 40 cars.
With Cup Series races having been limited to 40 cars since 2016, specifically the 36 full-time chartered entries and up to four non-chartered (open) cars, somebody will ultimately fail to qualify for this Sunday afternoon's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
There are 41 total cars and five open cars on the entry list for Sunday's 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval.
NASCAR driver to miss Talladega Cup Series race
Richard Childress Racing have entered the No. 33 Chevrolet for Jesse Love, NY Racing Team have entered the No. 44 Chevrolet for Joey Gase, Beard Motorsports have entered the No. 62 Chevrolet for Casey Mears, Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) have entered the No. 66 Ford for Chad Finchum, and Live Fast Motorsports have entered the No. 78 Chevrolet for Daniel Dye.
One of these drivers will ultimately fail to qualify for the season's 10th points race.
On paper, it's hard to imagine the battle for the final spot in the field will come down to anybody other than Gase and Finchum, possibly with Dye thrown into the mix, given the overall lack of speed from their part-time race teams on a consistent basis. However, as this year's Daytona 500 showed, anything is possible when it comes to superspeedways.
The only other non-Daytona 500 Cup race to feature more than 40 cars on its entry list since November 2018 was the street race in Chicago, Illinois back in July 2025. Although that wasn't even a superspeedway race, that one had its own shocking turn of events in qualifying.
It was 23XI Racing's Corey Heim who failed to qualify for that event, when Live Fast Motorsports' Katherine Legge pulled off the upset and knocked him out to claim the final open spot.
The Jack Link's 500 is set to be shown live on Fox from Talladega Superspeedway beginning at 3:00 p.m ET this Sunday, April 26. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action!
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