NASCAR: Helio Castroneves at risk of missing the 2025 Daytona 500?

Trackhouse Racing confirmed that four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves is set join the team in a fourth car next month at Daytona International Speedway as he attempts to make his first career NASCAR Cup Series start.

Castroneves is set to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval, but because of NASCAR's charter system, simply getting into the race looked as though it may prove to be a challenge.

There are 36 chartered entries, and all of them are locked into each race. All races are capped at 40 cars, meaning that only four non-chartered (open) entries can qualify for any given race.

Who is not locked into the Daytona 500?

There are already five non-chartered cars on the entry list for the 67th annual "Great American Race". NY Racing Team are set to enter the No. 44 Chevrolet for J.J. Yeley, Beard Motorsports are set to enter the No. 62 Chevrolet for Anthony Alfredo, MBM Motorsports are set to enter the No. 66 Ford for Mike Wallace, and Live Fast Motorsports are set to enter the No. 78 Chevrolet for B.J. McLeod.

There could be as many as five more added, which could set up a battle between 10 drivers for the open spots. Legacy Motor Club are expected to enter the No. 84 Toyota for team co-owner Jimmie Johnson for the third year in a row.

Then there is Martin Truex Jr.'s Toyota entry, which is expected to mark Tricon Garage's entry into the Cup Series through a partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing, Truex's team before he retired from full-time competition at the end of the 2024 season.

Other rumored entries include the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which is set to run a partial schedule in 2025, and the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford, which was a chartered entry before Rick Ware's team leased out their second charter to RFK Racing, allowing them to expand from two to three cars.

There are two ways for non-chartered cars to lock into the main event. The first is in the single-car qualifying session, and the second is in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races.

The fastest two open entries in the single-car session lock in, and all of the open entries are then split up into two groups for the Duel races, where the results determine the remaining two spots. Should a driver effectively secure a spot twice, the next fastest driver (or drivers) in the single-car session would fill out the rest of the 40-car field.

Castroneves locked in?

Trackhouse Racing co-owner Justin Marks apparently knew the rules better than anybody else. As a part of NASCAR's new charter agreement, there is a "world-class driver" provisional spot for open entries. Castroneves qualifies as a "world-class driver", so he is locked into the race whether he qualifies or not.

He could, of course, still qualify and take one of the four open spots. But if he doesn't, NASCAR would expand the field from 40 to 41 cars, with Castroneves as No. 41. No Daytona 500 has featured more than 40 cars since 2015, back when field sizes were still capped at 43.

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