Castroneves and a Little Controversy: Hélio’s Headed for the Daytona 500 No Matter What

Whether or not NASCAR did a favor for four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Hélio Castroneves remains to be seen. But the buzz around a potentially controversial new rule that NASCAR unexpectedly implemented in a raft of revisions unveiled on January 10 has drivers and fans talking.

It’s called the “Open Exemption Provisional,” and it “guarantees a starting position for world-class drivers who enter a NASCAR Cup Series race.” It also says that a “Race team must request the provisional 90 days prior to an event.”

Some background: Castroneves, who has plenty of experience in IndyCar and IMSA sports car racing, has long been trying to find a way into the Daytona 500 which is, of course, NASCAR’s biggest event by far.

In a Zoom interview from his father’s home in Brazil last week, hosted by the Hagerty-owned The Amelia, for which Castroneves is this year’s honoree, Castroneves said he never planned to use the provisional, instead racing his way in by qualifying well in time trials Wednesday night, or finishing high enough in one of the two 150-mile Duels on Thursday.

And, it should be noted, this is a controversy not of his making. Prior to NASCAR’s announcement, Trackhouse Racing offered him a ride with its Project91 initiative, which began in 2022, making a car available for an internationally known racer. That year 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen qualified and raced the car at Watkins Glen, and in 2023, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, an Australian Supercars champion, drove the Project91 car to a stunning win in his very first NASCAR race, the Grant Park 220, held on the streets of Chicago. He now races in NASCAR full-time for Trackhouse.

But Daytona is a different animal than the Glen or Chicago. The Daytona 500 field is 40 cars and there are 45 entries (which makes for better odds than, say, 1983, when 80 cars vied for 42 starting spots). Since 36 spots are reserved for teams holding a multi-million-dollar NASCAR charter, that leaves just four spots for teams that don’t have a charter, including Castroneves’ number 91 Trackhouse Racing entry.

There are some pretty heavy hitters attempting to qualify without a charter, including seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and 2017 champion Martin Truex, Jr., who are competing part-time this year. Every driver in the field has at least moderate NASCAR experience except Castroneves, who will be making his first start.

With the new rule, if Castroneves, undeniably a “world-class driver,” fails to qualify, the field of 40 will be increased to 41 to accommodate him.

Again, Castroneves plans to qualify on his own. “I’m going to try my best not to use it. But if I have to use it, I’ll take it. If I can do it the way I want to do it, I won’t need to use the rule,” he said.

So what’s the big deal? Can’t the cars that don’t qualify just move on to the next race, which is at Atlanta Motor Speedway a week after the Daytona 500?

Well, maybe, but that’s underselling the Daytona 500. It is, by far, the richest, most-watched race of the NASCAR season, and it’s a great thing to have on a driver’s resume. For charterless teams that are struggling, purse money from a Daytona 500 finish can finance that trip to Atlanta and beyond, and possibly attract a sponsor. NASCAR quit announcing race purses in 2015, but in that year’s Daytona 500, it paid $262,390 for last place. Last place in the Atlanta race paid $68,355.

So some drivers and teams are speaking out about the Open Exemption Provisional. Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Tony Stewart, who now races in the Top Fuel class in the NHRA, questions the fairness. “If it was me driving,” he told Hagerty, “I might be tempted to run the qualifying race as hard as I can, and pull over on the last lap so some team that could probably use the money might get in.”

Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin has been an outspoken critic of the rule. “Nothing comes for free,” he told the Orlando Sentinel. “If you let guys in that don’t earn their way in, it’s not a good thing.”

Chandler Smith, who is trying to make his first Daytona 500 with the Garage 66 team, told Fox Sports: “In my opinion, if somebody should be getting a spot that’s guaranteed, it should be somebody who has won championships in the top premiere Cup series, and that would be Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex—not somebody who has not even raced in NASCAR.”

Of course, all this greatly discounts what Castroneves brings to the NASCAR table. His presence is bound to attract some first-time fans, especially south of the border, as well as from IndyCar, where in May he’ll go for his fifth Indy 500 win. He has also won the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona sports car endurance race three times, and he was an IMSA series champion. Fans still recognize him, he says, from his win on 2007’s Dancing with the Stars, and he is regarded as a genuinely nice guy who is generous with his time.

Castroneves has been trying for years to get a Daytona 500 ride after watching one in person, held the day after he competed at the track in the International Race of Champions. “I was blown away,” he said. He drove IndyCars for Roger Penske at the time, and Penske also owns a NASCAR team. “I asked RP several times to allow me to race in a Cup car,” Castroneves said.” The answer was always the same: No.

Then in 2023, Castroneves was competing in the SRX series, a championship founded by Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham, held on multiple short tracks and televised on CBS, and then ESPN. They hired NASCAR veteran Don Hawk to be the series CEO. The well-traveled Hawk, who was once the president of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., made a bet with Castroneves: Win a race, and I’ll get you that Daytona ride. Castroneves won at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.

Castroneves said that Hawk was indeed able to find a ride for the Daytona 500, “but it wasn’t an appropriate one, wasn’t a good situation for me, and I passed on it. Then this year Trackhouse and Project91 came about,” and it has just been “fantastic.” He had a practice session at Talladega Superspeedway, and to gain some more experience on the Daytona oval, he will be participating in the ARCA race on Saturday, which uses cars that are very similar to NASCAR Cup cars.

There’s no question that the car Trackhouse has built for Castroneves will be a very fast Chevrolet, backed by full sponsorship from Wendy’s. His crew chief is the championship-winning Darian Grubb, who won the Daytona 500 with driver Jimmie Johnson.

Castroneves could well race his way in, but joining Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt, the only two drivers to have won the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, may be ambitious.

Regardless, the invariably cheerful Castroneves said he can’t wait for Daytona. And as far as that controversy goes: “Hey, I didn’t write the rule.”

Hélio Castroneves will be back in Florida March 6-9 as the honoree of The 2025 Amelia Concours d’Elegance, held at the Ritz-Carlton, featuring a 300-car display and the annual Broad Arrow auction. Ticket information can be found here.