DAYTONA, Fla. (WGHP) — Hélio Castroneves, an IndyCar Series legend, is looking to make his mark in the world of NASCAR at the Daytona 500. However, he’s a bit older than the typical rookie.
Castroneves, 49, of São Paulo, Brazil, is driving the No. 91 Chevrolet ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing.
Castroneves’ four Indianapolis 500 victories are tied for the all-time record. Despite those impressive racing accolades, he’ll be making his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday.
Nexstar’s FOX8’s Kevin Connolly and Danny Harnden and WFLA’s JB Biunno spent Wednesday afternoon catching up with drivers as they get ready to hit the speedway this Sunday for the Daytona 500.
“A racecar is a racecar, it doesn’t matter,” Castroneves said. “When I was out there, I’m feeling the wind, I’m feeling the car.”
While the holders of the 36 NASCAR Cup Series charters are guaranteed a spot in the race, nine non-chartered drivers are fighting to claim four remaining spots in the Daytona lineup.
Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson claimed two of those four spots on Wednesday night by completing the qualifying races as the top two fastest non-charter cars. Overall, Truex Jr. qualified 22nd and Jimmie Johnson qualified 29th.
The remaining two spots will be filled by the highest-finishing non-charter cars in the two Duel races on Thursday evening. That leaves Castroneves duking it out alongside Anthony Alfredo, Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie, BJ McLeod, Chandler Smith and JJ Yeley.
That said, Castroneves does have another option even if he doesn’t finish as one of the highest-finishing non-charter cars in the Duels.
New this year, NASCAR has introduced an Open Exemption Provisional rule that grants “world-class drivers” a guaranteed spot in a NASCAR Cup Series race. Four-time Indy 500 winner and three-time Rolex 24 champ Hélio Castroneves, of Trackhouse Racing, applied and secured the opportunity to be the OEP entrant for the Daytona 500.
If doesn’t otherwise qualify, Castroneves can take advantage of the provision and advance directly to the Daytona 500 as a special OEP entrant. This would expand the field to 41 drivers and would have him starting 41st. The downside? He would receive no season points and would be ineligible to receive prize money from the race if he wins. That’s why Castroneves aims to secure his spot the old-fashioned way.
“We are talking about the gods of racing, right? Imagine, you say my name alongside those guys. That would be absolutely incredible,” Castroneves said about possibly joining AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti as the only drivers to ever win both the Indy 500 and Daytona.
DraftKings Sportsbook considers Castroneves to be among the longer shots to win the Daytona 500 at +8000 odds. Only seven drivers have longer odds than Castroneves.