The entry list for Saturday night's 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season regular season-ending Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway featured 41 cars, meaning that for just the third time in a non-Daytona 500 race since November 2018, one driver would fail to qualify.
Five drivers entered Friday's qualifying session battling for four spots in the 40-car field, with the 36 chartered cars, as always, locked into Saturday's 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Unfortunately for Gray Gaulding, he ended up being the odd man out, in his first Cup Series action in more than three years.
Gray Gaulding fails to qualify at Daytona
While 23XI Racing's Corey Heim, as expected, locked himself in easily, qualifying 11th, the other four non-chartered (open) cars were the slowest four qualifiers. Beard Motorsports' Casey Mears was 38th, Live Fast Motorsports' Daniel Dye was 39th, and NY Racing Team's Joey Gase was 40th, while Garage 66's Gaulding was 41st and therefore missed the race.
Gaulding qualified just 0.125 seconds slower than Gase, a difference of 0.450 miles per hour over the 2.5-mile lap.
Gaulding's inclusion on the entry list this weekend still ended a 118-race absence from Cup Series competition. He had not competed in the series at all since the June 2023 race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and that race had been his only Cup appearance since October 2020.
The 28-year-old Colonial Heights, Virginia native faced uncertainty regarding his NASCAR career in April 2024, when he was arrested for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence at a time when he was not actively competing at any level.
He was still indefinitely suspended by the sanctioning body and did not return in 2024 or 2025, even though the misdemeanor ended up being dismissed only a few months later.
Gaulding made his official NASCAR return back in April with Mike Harmon Racing in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway and finished 28th. He is not currently lined up to run any more NASCAR races in 2026, although with 10 weeks remaining on this year's schedule after this one, that remains subject to change.
NBC's live coverage of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET this evening. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway!
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