Daytona 500 entry list has 42 cars Date announced for 2024 Daytona 500 Jimmie Johnson’s Cup return provides special thrill to younger drivers NASCAR schedule for Daytona International Speedway Dale Earnhardt vs. Daytona: A long and winding road

NASCAR entered 42 cars for Sunday’s Daytona 500, according to a preliminary entry list released by NASCAR on Monday.

Thirty-six cars are guaranteed to start the race because they have charters. This means that six drivers will be competing for the remaining four places in the Daytona 500. These six drivers are: Jimmie Johnson (Legacy Motor Club), Travis Pastrana (23XI Racing), Zane Smith (Front Row Motorsport), Chandler Smith Cowlig Racing, Austin Hill (Beard Motorsport) and Conor Daly (Team racing for money).

There are 43 cars on the preliminary entry list, but number 80 Finishline Motorsports Marketing pulled out.

List of Daytona 500 participants

Riley Autumnfull-time Xfinity Series driver, competing in the #15 Rick Ware Racing Cup charter car.

The top two in Wednesday night’s qualifying out of six unchartered cars will be guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500. The other two places will be determined in Thursday’s qualifying races.

The 65th Daytona 500 will be at 2:30 pm ET Sunday on Fox.

Xfinity Series

There were 44 entries for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race in Daytona. The race will consist of 38 cars.

Justin Hailey – the only participant of the Cup, working on a permanent basis. He will drive number 10 Kaulig Racing.

List of Daytona Xfinity members

The season opener marks the return to the Xfinity series for Cole Custer, who will manage No. 00 after having played a full Cup schedule over the past three seasons. He finished second in Xfinity points in 2018 and 19.

This race marks Brandon Jonesfirst to JR Motorsports after moving there from Joe Gibbs Racing. Jones has finished in the top 10 in Xfinity points each of the past five seasons.

Artisan Truck Series

There are 42 trucks entered for Friday’s Daytona race. 36 trucks will take part in the race.

Chase Elliott And Corey Lajoie – the only registered drivers of the Cup on a permanent basis. Also included are the last two series champions: Zane Smith (2022 champion) and Ben Rhodes (champion 2021). Smith won last year’s race. Rhodes was second.

List of Daytona Truck members

While this year’s Daytona 500 is only a few days away, the date for next year’s Daytona 500 has been announced: February 18, 2024.

Daytona International Speedway officials also said that fans could start renewing tickets for the 500 next year and that exclusive pre-sale options available. This is the first announced race date for the 2024 NASCAR Cup season.

MORE: Daytona Trail Schedule Leading To Sunday’s Daytona 500

Circuit officials also announced that all tickets for this year’s Daytona 500, which takes place on Sunday at 2:30 pm ET, are sold out. This marks the eighth consecutive sold-out event at the event. Tickets remain for other events in Dayton this week.

Harrison Burton admits there was a time when he wasn’t a fan of Jimmie Johnson.

“I always hated Jimmie Johnson when I was little because he won all the races that I wanted my father to win and won the championships that my dad I wanted him to win,” said Harrison Burton, son Jeff Burton. NBC Sports.

“So I have to defeat him to avenge my father, right?”

Harrison Burton is one of the few Cup drivers who has never raced Johnson in the NASCAR Premier Series. That will change this year when the seven-time champion returns to the Cup for the first time since 2020 to host separate events. Burton says he is looking forward to racing with Johnson.

“It’s really cool for a young guy like me to be racing with someone who has won seven championships in our sport,” Burton said. “When you first get into the Cup, it doesn’t even cross your mind that I want to win seven championships in one day. You just want to win your first race.”

Johnson raced against 270 drivers during his Cup career, which began on October 7, 2001 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. One day he competes with Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland This season, Johnson will face 12 father-son groups in the Cup, which include the Jarretts (Dale and Jason), the Elliotts (Bill and Chase) and the Earnhardts (Kerry and Geoffrey).

Johnson also raced 12 sets of brothers in the Cup including Terry and Bobby Labonte, Kurt and Kyle Bush and Brad and Brian Keselowski.

Johnson’s connection to sports history goes even deeper. He competed with 12 NASCAR Hall of Famers. Johnson also raced the Cup against four Indianapolis 500 winners and seven Formula One drivers.

Gilliland, son David Gillilandcan’t wait for the opportunity to race with Johnson that could come at Sunday’s Daytona 500 – provided Johnson takes one of the four non-chartered car spots.

“I think racing Jimmie Johnson is probably going to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in racing,” Todd Gilliland told NBC Sports.

“Growing up in the sport, I watched the 2000s era and he was a guy. He literally dominated every year. I was definitely a fan of his.”

One point about Johnson stands out the most for Gilliland. Gilliland, who raced in what was then the K&N Pro Series West, was walking with his father in Dayton when they ran into Johnson.

“Dude, you’re doing a good job, Todd,” Gilliland recalls Johnson’s words.

“I’m like, ‘You know my name,’ or something like that. I was just amazed at how good he was. I definitely look forward to racing him.”

Among those who haven’t raced Johnson yet is last year’s Daytona 500 winner. Austin Sindrik, Chase Briscoe and newcomers Ty Gibbs And Noah GragsonJohnson’s teammate at the Legacy Motor Club.

Sindrik met Johnson while they were racing go-karts. He looks forward to racing with the driver he considers the best in NASCAR.

“I think Jimmie Johnson is the greatest of all time because of the format change, the car change and dominating in such a short amount of time, winning all those races,” Sindrik told NBC Sports.

However, Sindrik doesn’t just want to share the track with Johnson. He wants to compete with him.

“I want to see how he handles situations like this,” Sindrik said. “It will be new for him to race a Next Gen car. He has spent the last couple of years at IndyCar learning pretty fast and I have a lot of respect for him. Looking forward to it. Hopefully we can trade some paint.”

Gragson has the opportunity to compete with Johnson as a colleague and also see how Johnson performs as a teammate.

“This will be an incredible opportunity for a young guy like me… a rookie to lean on a seven-time champion,” Gragson told NBC Sports. “An incredible person, friend, mentor that Jimmy has become for myself.

“Probably by the time we get to the Daytona 500, he’ll be over me because I just keep pestering him with questions and trying to poke around in his brain.”