Garage 66, formerly known as MBM Motorsports, aimed to qualify for the Daytona 500 with Mike Wallace behind the wheel of the No. 66 Ford to start the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
But due to his lack of recent experience, particularly in terms of superspeedway racing and overall lack of experience in the Next Gen car, NASCAR ruled Wallace ineligible to compete, and the Carl Long-owned team were forced to look for a replacement.
Chandler Smith replaced Wallace, but he was unable to lock into the field on qualifying speed or his Duel result.
It continued a disappointing trend for the small team, one still seeking its first official Daytona 500 appearance since 2020. Timmy Hill, who actually competed for the team full-time that year, qualified his non-chartered (open) car that year. But ever since, the organization has failed to get into the "Great American Race".
In fact, their ongoing drought began in 2020. While Hill qualified, Chad Finchum did not. Then in 2021, both Hill and Garrett Smithley failed to qualify. In 2022, only two cars failed to qualify, and those two cars were both Long's cars, one driven by Hill and the other driven by J.J. Yeley.
In 2023, the team didn't compete in the Cup Series at all, and their return in 2024 as a part-time team didn't come until later in the year. All things considered, their ill-fated 2025 effort with a backup option in Smith marked six consecutive Daytona 500 DNQs, really seven if you include NASCAR's ruling on Wallace.
It's a streak they hope to end this week, and this time around, NASCAR won't be mandating they change drivers.
Casey Mears ran five races for the team in 2025, including two on superspeedways, after entering the year with just one start (2019 Daytona 500) since stepping away from full-time competition once the 2016 season wrapped up.
He did a respectable job competing for what is, with all due respect, effectively the sport's slowest team whenever they compete, placing 29th at Daytona International Speedway and then 18th, matching his best result since the summer of 2016, at Talladega Superspeedway later in the year.
Now he is set to return at Daytona this week.
Mears is expected to be one of eight drivers going for four open spots, with two set to be awarded on qualifying speed and the other two set to be awarded on Duel results.
The other seven include Front Row Motorsports' Chandler Smith, JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier, NY Racing Team's J.J. Yeley, Beard Motorsports' Anthony Alfredo, 23XI Racing's Corey Heim, Live Fast Motorsports' B.J. McLeod, and RFK Racing's Corey LaJoie.
Jimmie Johnson is also set to drive the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, but he has been granted a world-class provisional (officially the Open Exemption Provisional), and as a result, the No. 84 car is effectively set to be treated like a 37th chartered car in terms of being locked into the starting lineup. It means that the field is set to feature 41 cars, not just the usual 40.
Qualifying for the 68th annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 11, and the Duel races are scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 12. Live coverage is set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 both days. The race itself is set to be shown live on Fox from Daytona International Speedway starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!