DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will race in the Daytona 500 as a special 41st driver under a new rule that allows for a “world-class driver” to receive a provisional spot. For Castroneves he has had a great deal of success at Daytona but it has been as a driver in the Rolex 24 Hours race and not NASCAR.
He has also won four Indianapolis 500 titles and raced Formula 1 but the NASCAR series has not been kind to the world class driver.
The Brazilian did not want to use the provisional and hoped to race his way into the field. But he was involved in an early eight-car accident that sent his Chevrolet behind the wall for repairs and took him out of contention for one of the open spots available in his Thursday night 150-mile qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway.
“Unfortunately, we’re going to have to take the provisional,” Castroneves said. “That’s not what we wanted, but we will. And, in the end, we have more to learn.”
“I was having a good time,” Castroneves said. “The good news is hopefully the guys will be able to fix the car. I learned so much, such small details that folks from the other side of TV don’t understand. It’s so interesting. And I love it.”
The provisional has been controversial in that seven-time NASCAR champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson and 2017 NASCAR champion Martin Truex Jr. didn’t understand why they weren’t considered as the designated “world-class driver.”
The seven-time NASCAR champ — who races part-time for his team, Legacy Motor Club after retiring from full-time racing in 2020 —will pilot the No. 84 Toyota in Sunday’s Daytona 500. He’s one of nine drivers without a charter entered in the race, and he and Martin Truex Jr. — who retired from full-time racing at the end of the 2024 season — locked themselves into the after qualifying for the 40-car Daytona 500 Thursday night.
