The entry list is set for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, with 45 cars set to turn laps at the "World Center of Racing" during Speedweeks ahead of Sunday afternoon's 67th running of the "Great American Race".
The 36 chartered entries are all locked into the race, and for the first time in the history of the charter system, all 36 of those entries are set to be driven by full-time drivers.
It's the nine non-chartered (open) entries that many plan to focus on during Wednesday night's single-car qualifying session and Thursday night's two 60-lap Bluegreen Vacations Duel races around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
Nine open cars battling for four (or five) Daytona 500 spots
Corey LaJoie is set to drive the No. 01 Ford for Rick Ware Racing, Justin Allgaier is set to drive the No. 40 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, J.J. Yeley is set to drive the No. 44 Chevrolet for NY Racing Team, Martin Truex Jr. is set to drive the No. 56 Toyota for Tricon Garage, Anthony Alfredo is set to drive the No. 62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports, Chandler Smith is set to drive the No. 66 Ford for Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports), B.J. McLeod is set to drive the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson is set to drive the No. 84 Toyota for Legacy Motor Club, and Helio Castroneves is set to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.
The fastest two of these nine drivers in Wednesday's session are set to lock themselves into the race, as are the top finishers (among these drivers) in each of Thursday's two Duel races. Should someone lock in twice, the next fastest driver from Wednesday would get a spot.
Castroneves is locked in regardless, even if he is not one of the four drivers who secures a spot on Wednesday or Thursday, as he has been granted a "world-class driver" provisional, meaning that the Daytona 500 field could potentially feature 41 drivers instead of the usual 40.
But this entry list notably does not feature two part-time entries, the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and the No. 50 Team AmeriVet Chevrolet.
Two open cars not on Daytona 500 entry list
Richard Childress Racing confirmed over the offseason that the No. 33 Chevrolet is set to run a part-time schedule in 2025, but they did not confirm a schedule for the entry. Now the Daytona 500 is officially not a part of that schedule. The team have not run three cars in the Daytona 500 since they still ran three full-time entries in 2017.
As for Team AmeriVet, they entered the No. 50 Chevrolet for Burt Myers in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. But with 45 cars already on the Daytona 500 entry list, they would have faced an uphill battle just to get into the race, and as a relatively inexperienced team, their effort likely would have been all for naught.
They are two for two when it comes to qualifying for the Daytona 500, however, doing so in 2022 and 2023 when they were still known as The Money Team Racing prior to last year's ownership change. They do plan to compete in select points races during the 2025 season, but only races that have entry lists featuring fewer than 40 cars.
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 8:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 12 for the single-car qualifying session, and tune in again at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 13 for the live broadcast of the Bluegreen Vacations Duel races. Fox is then set to provide live coverage of the Daytona 500 beginning a 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 16. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action!