Three drivers entered the first race of the America 250 Florida Duel at Daytona International Speedway vying for one of the two remaining spots in the 41-car field for the 68th annual Daytona 500.
RFK Racing's Corey LaJoie was the favorite, and he was in position to finish well ahead of both Front Row Motorsports' Chandler Smith and Garage 66's Casey Mears on the final lap of the overtime-extended race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Then a multi-car pileup was triggered, and LaJoie found himself involved. He was officially scored in 19th, just behind Smith in 16th. But Mears, who had been a lap down earlier in the race (pictured) after spinning while attempting to enter the pits, maneuvered his way through the carnage to finish eighth, locking himself into the Daytona 500.
Full results can be found here.
Mears hasn't been in the Daytona 500 since 2019, but he also hasn't attempted to compete in it since 2019.
As for Garage 66?
Mears' successful Daytona 500 qualifying attempt ended an agonizing streak of seven consecutive Daytona 500 qualifying strikeouts for the Carl Long-owned team that had dated back to 2020.
Casey Mears ends agonizing Garage 66 Daytona 500 drought
Timmy Hill, then a full-time driver for Garage 66 (then known as MBM Motorsports), successfully qualified for the Daytona 500 in 2020, even though the No. 66 Ford did not have a charter. But for six years, that remained the team's most recent success story when it came to the "Great American Race".
That same year, Chad Finchum failed to qualify. In 2021, both Hill and Garrett Smithley failed to qualify. In 2022, just two cars failed to qualify, and both were MBM Motorsports entries, with both Hill and J.J. Yeley missing the cut.
The team didn't compete at all in the Cup Series in 2023, marking their first time without any starts at NASCAR's top level since they first entered the series in 2017. They returned in 2024, but not in time for the Daytona 500.
In 2025, they managed to go 0-for-2 with a single car. They had planned on entering the No. 66 Ford for veteran driver Mike Wallace, but NASCAR ruled him ineligible to compete, given his lack of experience in the Next Gen car and lack of recent experience in superspeedway competition. He had made just one Daytona 500 start since 2007, that coming in 2015.
Chandler Smith ended up getting the nod to drive the No. 66 Ford, and he failed to qualify.
Now Mears is in, ending the team's 0-for-7 drought, and ironically doing so at Smith's expense following LaJoie's last-lap incident.
Fox is set to provide live coverage of the 68th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action!