RFK Racing had not initially been considered among the teams most likely to add to the entry list for the 68th annual Daytona 500 this coming February. But that changed earlier this week when they announced an expansion to four cars.
Corey LaJoie, who has nine Daytona 500 starts and boasts a top finish of fourth place in 2024, is set to drive the No. 99 Ford for RFK Racing next month. LaJoie is also set to replace injured team owner Brad Keselowski behind the wheel of the No. 6 Ford in the preseason Cook Out Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium next weekend.
LaJoie's No. 99 Ford is expected to be one of eight non-chartered (open) cars competing for one of the final four Daytona 500 starting positions, and the surprise addition of this car to the entry list undoubtedly makes life a lot more difficult for everybody.
RFK Racing news create a Daytona 500 challenge
The other seven entries include Chandler Smith's No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford, Justin Allgaier's No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, J.J. Yeley's No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, Anthony Alfredo's No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet, Casey Mears' No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, Corey Heim's No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, B.J. McLeod's No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet.
The No. 44 car, the No. 67 car, and the No. 78 car have yet to be officially confirmed.
Jimmie Johnson's No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, while it is technically an open car, is locked into the race via the Open Exemption Provisional, which is actually good news for these other eight since he cannot lock in by taking away one of the four open spots. Instead of nine cars going for four spots, just those eight are set to take part in that battle.
The provisional means that this year's race is set to be just the second since 1993 to feature exactly 41 cars.
Aside from the No. 99 entry, when you look at the other seven open cars, you see five that are set to be entered by part-time teams. NY Racing haven't made the race since 2022. Beard Motorsports missed it in 2025. Garage 66 have missed it with six straight entries, dating back to 2020. And Live Fast Motorsports have yet to get in since selling their charter in 2023.
And yes, JR Motorsports, despite Allgaier's impressive qualifying effort and subsequent ninth place finish in 2025, have only made one Cup Series start all-time.
Front Row Motorsports, 23XI Racing, and RFK Racing are the only three teams actually expanding their full-time programs with open entries (again, aside from Legacy Motor Club). Yet even Smith is 0-for-2 in terms of successfully qualifying for the Daytona 500, and Heim shockingly became the first non-Daytona 500 DNQ since 2018 in the 2025 Chicago race.
So if history is any indicator, LaJoie being left out of the race is extremely unlikely.
RFK Racing always bring impressive pace to the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway. And even if LaJoie isn't fast enough to get in on speed, he would have to be a favorite in his America 250 Florida Duel race based on his history in superspeedway events, especially if he has a teammate or two (or three) to assist.
In 2025, when he drove an open car for Rick Ware Racing, which ironically had a technical partnership with RFK Racing at the time, he qualified all the way up in 12th vial his sixth place Duel finish, despite the fact that he was not even locked into the 41-car field.
LaJoie is a veteran of nine Daytona 500 starts, and he recorded a top finish of fourth place in 2024. He has led laps in each of his two most recent Daytona 500 starts.
All things considered, RFK Racing's addition of the No. 99 Ford for LaJoie is bad news for all of these other open teams, as it's highly unlikely that the No. 99 car won't take one of those four open spots. While races aren't decided on paper, if they were, this would effectively leave seven drivers in a battle for the remaining three.
Fox Sports 1 is set to provide live coverage of the Daytona 500 single-car qualifying session from Daytona International Speedway starting at 8:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 11. It is also set to provide live coverage of the two America 250 Florida Duel races starting at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 12. The 68th annual Daytona 500 itself is set to be broadcast live on Fox starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15. Catch all of the action from the "World Center of Racing" by starting a free trial of FuboTV!