by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Thursday, February 13, 2025 (7:21 P.M. ET Green Flag for Race 1, FS1)

CUP Exhibition Races

Duels at Daytona

2024 Last-Place Finishers: Daniel Hemric (Race 1), Noah Gragson (Race 2)

ENTRY LIST

For this year’s running of the Daytona 500, there are 45 drivers for up to 41 starting spots – should Helio Castroneves require the extra spot in the field – meaning between four and five teams will fail to qualify.

MISSING: #15-Rick Ware Racing

MISSING: #50-Team AmeriVet

NEW TEAM: #01-Rick Ware Racing

While neither of them qualified for the main event at Bowman Gray Stadium, both Tim Brown and Burt Myers electrified the local crowd as they waged their own battle for position in the Last Chance Qualifier. Neither driver is entered in this week’s Daytona 500, and neither are their teams. As the AmeriVet effort rebuilds Myers’ car following a hard crash, RWR has left the #15 in the shop and will instead field the #01 for last season’s late hire Corey LaJoie. Take 5 Oil Change and DuraMax will sponsor LaJoie’s first effort of the season.

NEW TEAM: #40-JR Motorsports

This season sees a noticeable uptick in the number of “open” teams, which promises to make tomorrow’s Duel races the most competitive – and consequential – in years. This includes the long-awaited debut of JR Motorsports in the Cup Series, a joint effort with award-winning performing artist Chris Stapleton. Piloting the team’s #40 Chevrolet, sponsored by Traveller Whiskey, is defending XFINITY Series champion Justin Allgaier. Allgaier struggled in his last attempt at the Cup Series with HScott Motorsports, and has continued to find the wall in various one-off starts in the decade since. But perhaps this combination will see his luck change, granting him only his third 500 start and first since 2015.

RETURNING: #44-NY Racing Team

J.J. Yeley came close to authoring the biggest upset of the Duel races last year when he held off seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson until the pack stacked up coming off the final corner. Yeley is back with the same Jonathan Cohen effort and is just as determined to return to the site of his stunning 10th-place finish for Tommy Baldwin Racing in 2013. Like Allgaier, Yeley has not qualified for the 500 since 2015, though he’s since made five runnings of the summer’s 400-mile event. He also has a whiskey brand of his own on board in newcomer Green River Whiskey.

NEW TEAM: #56-TRICON Garage

Last fall saw Martin Truex, Jr. close out his full-time career in the Cup Series with back-to-back pole positions in the final two races of the year, including an emotional finale at Phoenix. But it was already rumored at the time that Truex would return for this year’s 500. The offer had come from Denny Hamlin to run for 23XI, but those plans have since changed to bring another contender into the field. After their second season as Toyota’s new factory team in the Truck Series, TRICON Garage will skip the XFINITY Series and attempt their first-ever start in Cup. Truex once again carries his longtime sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops – now shared by his replacement, Chase Briscoe – and brings back the #56 that Truex himself last ran in 2013, and his late father ran in his own career. But as an “open” driver, Truex still must count on his speed in qualifying or skills on Thursday if he wants another chance at an elusive 500 win.

RETURNING: #62-Beard Motorsports

Last year, “Tony Sauce,” Anthony Alfredo, joined forces with the Beard Motorsports team for their superspeedway schedule, and came away with a career-best 6th in the spring race at Talladega. He also qualified for the 500 for the first time since his rookie campaign for Front Row Motorsports back in 2021. This year, he remains a full-time driver in the XFINITY Series, though now transitions from Our Motorsports to the Randy Young effort, bringing with him longtime sponsor Dude Wipes. On the Cup side, he’ll bring back sponsor Fortify Building Solutions, which backed his most recent effort at Talladega last fall, yielding a 24th-place finish. The team promises to be just as fast in qualifying with their ECR engines.

DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Garage 66

Two years ago, Chandler Smith found himself a surprising DNQ from the 500 field, despite a well-backed effort at the Kaulig Racing team. He then faced an inconsistent XFINITY Series season last year, where at one point he thought he’d be out of the sport altogether. In the time since, Smith has since landed a full-time ride in the Truck Series, expanding the stout Front Row Motorsports effort to a second team (see below). And as bonus, he’ll make a bid at the 500 with perennial underdog Carl Long, replacing Clash entrant Garrett Smithley. Smith’s youthful aggression and much-needed sponsorship from QuickTie, Inc. should be a boon to the underfunded #66 Ford, giving Long a chance at his first 500 start as an owner since 2020, when Timmy Hill came home 24th.

RETURNING: #78-Live Fast Motorsports

After selling his Charter coming into the 2024 season, B.J. McLeod turned heads with his own fight to the finish in the Duel at Daytona, followed by a charge to the front in Talladega. He looks to put his Live Fast Motorsports effort into “The Great American Race” for the first time since 2023, when he finished 30th, which would give him a shot at a surprising run as he’s had in the summer race, earning a pair of top-ten finishes. HitchGO Trailer Services is the listed sponsor for the #78, which plans a seven-race schedule this season.

RETURNING: #84-Legacy Motor Club

It was Jimmie Johnson who narrowly beat Yeley and race his way into last year’s 500 field, and the two-time 500 winner and seven-time series champion faces an even stiffer challenge this year. On the one hand, his two teammates at Legacy Motor Club both enjoyed strong runs during the Last Chance Qualifier in Bowman Gray – their first race since Johnson became LMC’s majority owner. Johnson also partners with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal and returning sponsor Carvana for this weekend’s race. But questions linger as to if driver and team can overcome the other contenders and compete in Sunday’s race.

RETURNING: #91-Trackhouse Racing / “Project 91”

The only “open” driver already not worried about qualifying is the Project 91 entry, which became the center of controversy when NASCAR offered the team a career-based exemption if their accomplished driver struggled in this week’s preliminaries. That driver is none other than four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who attempts his first NASCAR start in conjunction with an ARCA debut at the same Daytona track. Carrying sponsorship from Wendy’s, which promises a competing infield brand activation to 23XI’s for McDonald’s, Castroneves will occupy a 41st starting spot if he fails to find speed tonight, or a transfer spot tomorrow. In either case, he will become the first Brazilian to make the 500 field since Christian Fittipaldi in 2003.

Friday, February 14, 2025 (7:53 P.M. ET Green Flag, FS1)

TRUCKS Race 1 of 25

Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona

2024 Last-Place Finisher: Thad Moffitt

ENTRY LIST

There are 38 drivers entered for 36 spots, meaning two teams will fail to qualify.

TEAM CLOSED: #2-Rev Racing

NUMBER CHANGE: #2-Reaume Brothers Racing

In just three months, the field for this year’s Craftsman Truck Series campaign looks drastically different. Much of this is due to drivers graduating to the XFINITY Series, including Nick Sanchez (see below). This move shutters the #2 entry fielded last two years by Rev Racing. While the team’s Owner Points have transferred to Spire Motorsports’ #77, the truck number goes to Josh Reaume, who plans to field three trucks this year. Reaume is the listed driver for this truck, which will later this year be split by newcomers Tyler Tomassi and ARCA competitor Cody Dennison. As part of the acquisition, the #2 will be a Ford, like Reaume’s other trucks, in place of Rev’s Chevrolets.

DRIVER CHANGE: #4-Hettinger Racing

The Hettinger team came together late last year following the closure of Bret Holmes Racing, and Brett Moffitt earned the team a 16th-place finish in last fall’s Phoenix finale. Taking the controls this week is Mason Maggio, who last year drove for two different teams in both XFINITY and Trucks. His most recent start in this series came last fall in Talladega, where he ran a season-best 18th for Floridian Motorsports, which is not among this week’s entries as team owner Scott Osteen has partnered with Joey Gase’s XFINITY program (see below).

DRIVER CHANGE: #5-TRICON Garage

First among this year’s Rookie of the Year contestants is the popular Toni Breidinger, who has performed admirably in her first four Truck Series starts, most recently a 27th-place finish in this race last year. Breidinger takes the place of Dean Thompson, another driver making the jump to XFINITY (see below), who finished 15th last time out in Phoenix. Breidinger brings with her sponsorship from Rasing Cane’s Chicken, which has backed her recent racing efforts.

RETURNING: #6-Norm Benning Racing

Last fall at Talladega, Norm Benning threatened to battle among the lead draft before a late-race incident on pit road sent him back in the order for the sprint to the finish. This year, he brings the same former Henderson Motorsports truck to Daytona – the very race he’d hoped to start last year before sponsorship issues delayed the effort. This year’s sponsorship forecast has already improved as Epic Racewear will be on the truck’s decklid, joining his longtime backer MDIA. Epic will also provide the team’s uniforms for the season, which will include both Martinsville races and the fall’s return to Talladega.

DRIVER CHANGE: #7-Spire Motorsports

MISSING: #43-McAnally Hilgemann Racing

RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #81-McAnally Hilgemann Racing

Justin Haley seeks his first Truck Series start since 2020, when he finished 7th for GMS Racing in Texas. Kicking off a potential double-header with the team in Sunday’s 500, he pilots the stout Spire Motorsports #7 entry, the team which carried Kyle Busch to a pair of wins at Atlanta and Texas last year. This time, Haley takes the place of Connor Mosack, who finished 8th last fall in Phoenix. Mosack kicks off his Rookie of the Year effort with the McAnally effort, which brings back the #81 for its first full-time campaign. Corey Day finished 18th in the team’s most recent start at Martinsville last fall. McAnally enters the #81 in place of the #43 which was piloted by Daniel Dye last year as Dye is still another driver moving to XFINITY (see below).

DRIVER CHANGE: #17-TRICON Garage

Another rookie candidate this year is 20-year-old Massachusetts native Giovanni “Gio” Ruggiero, a Toyota development driver from the Venturini team in ARCA. Ruggiero won his first ARCA East victory in the season opener at Five Flags Speedway and showed relentless consistency on the ARCA national tour, but has not yet competed on the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega. That will change this week as he takes the place of Taylor Gray, still another XFINITY Series graduate, in TRICON’s #17 Toyota.

DRIVER CHANGE: #19-McAnally Hilgemann Racing

Taking a step back down the ladder this year is Daniel Hemric, who was statistically the least wreck-prone of the Cup Series competitors last year for Kaulig Racing, but nevertheless finds himself back down in the Truck Series. He finds a soft landing in the McAnally #19 NAPA AutoCare Chevrolet, the team which put on a clinic last year in the hands of Christian Eckes. Combined with races in the ARCA Menards Series West, Hemric prepares for his first Truck Series start since May 18, 2018, when he finished 21st for Young’s Motorsports at Charlotte.

DRIVER CHANGE: #22-Reaume Brothers Racing

The second Reaume entry sees a returning Jason (M.) White of Canada pilot the #22 Ford, replacing 29th-place Phoenix finisher Keith McGee. United Association sponsors White, who seeks his 14th series start since his 2018 debut at Mosport and his third-straight start at the Daytona opener, where he finished 12th last year.

NUMBER CHANGE: #26-Rackley-W.A.R.

Dawson Sutton remains with the team he joined late last year as a replacement for Ty Dillon, yielding a 20th-place finish last fall in Phoenix. This time, the team changes car numbers from the former flagship #25 to the #26 which Sutton campaigned in a second Rackley entry at both North Wilkesboro and Nashville last summer.

MISSING: #27-Reaume Brothers Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #33-Reaume Brothers Racing

Piloting the third Reaume entry in the Truck Series is another Rookie of the Year contender in Frankie Muniz, who has been enthusiastic about competing in the division after a frustrating foray in XFINITY. Muniz will pilot the #33 – not the #27 that Reaume had entered in six races last year – and looks to further gain confidence behind the wheel. He takes the place of Lawless Alan, who will scale back to part-time as he shares the TRICON Garage’s #1 entry with William Sawalich (the Daytona entrant), Brent Crews, and Brandon Jones.

RETURNING: #28-FDNY Racing

Bryan Dauzat returns with the Jim Rosenblum effort after a frustrating end to their 2024 where Dauzat was wrecked at the end of the Pocono race, followed by last-minute driver swap Keith McGee crashing hard in Talladega. Dauzat seeks his seventh Daytona Truck Series start, scene of his career-best 8th-place finish in 2018 which he nearly beat last year, taking home 9th.

RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #34-Front Row Motorsports

DRIVER CHANGE: #38-Front Row Motorsports

As mentioned above, FRM expands to two full-time Truck Series efforts, bringing back the #34 entry with which Brett Moffitt pulled a surprising win at Talladega two years ago. Moffitt will not be in either truck this year. Chandler Smith joins the team, making the jump from his closing XFINITY effort with Joe Gibbs Racing. In fact, Smith pilots the flagship #38, bumping last year’s late bloomer Layne Riggs to the #34 (which will still carry the Owner Points that Riggs earned in the #38). After missing the Playoffs, only to score his first wins during that stretch, Riggs looks to enjoy a stronger start this year.

MISSING: #41-Niece Motorsports

DRIVER SWAP: #44-Niece Motorsports

MISSING: #46-Young’s Motorsports

TEAM UPDATE: #02-Young’s Motorsports

Sponsorship issues at the eleventh hour scuttled the full-season ambitions of Christian Rose, who finished 16th in just his second career Truck Series start last fall at Phoenix. Rose had been slated to pilot Al Niece’s #44 Chevrolet, a part-time entry last year, as a full-season competitor for Rookie of the Year. Instead, the ride goes to teammate Bayley Currey, whose #41 from last season isn’t entered this week. It is Currey who will thus replace Stefan Parsons, who finished 23rd in the #44 last fall at Phoenix. Parsons is not on this entry list, but is slated to either share the #02 Young’s Motorsports entry with Daytona entrant Nathan Byrd, the 26th-place runner at Phoenix last fall, or run the team’s #20 on a part-time basis. Byrd – originally shown as “TBA” on the entry list – carries sponsorship from Sonesta International Hotels, but inherits the Owner Points of the #46 team (Young’s Motorsports / Faction46) as the #02 points from last year went to Reaume’s #22. Thad Moffitt, last year’s driver of the #46 for several races, is not entered, but the #46 has been claimed by the Young’s team for later this year.

DRIVER CHANGE: #66-ThorSport Racing

As Conner Jones remains a subject of concern for his fellow competitors following his particularly rough end to the 2024 season, veteran Johnny Sauter has again been summoned to reunite with the ThorSport team in the #66, a truck Jones steered to 17th last fall in Phoenix. Sauter, a three-time Daytona winner, has not driven for the team at this track since 2021, when he won the pole for this race for the very first time.

RETURNING: #75-Henderson Motorsports

While Parker Kligerman has stepped away from full-time XFINITY Series racing, his run in the 24 Hours of Daytona and upcoming broadcast duties in the booth will bracket another Truck Series effort for Charlie Henderson, this time with his Big Machine Spiked Coolers sponsorship from last season. Kligerman did not make a Truck Series start last season, and most recently finished 9th in the 2023 race at Talladega.

DRIVER SWAP: #77-Spire Motorsports

MISSING: #04-Roper Racing

The Owner Points from the Rev Racing #2 entry fall in the hands of another Rookie of the Year candidate, Andres Perez De Lara. De Lara drove to a stunning 9th-place finish in his Truck Series debut at the tricky Gateway track last year, then finished 31st after a late-race crash at Phoenix driving for Roper Racing. Incidentally, the Roper team is not entered this week despite the team’s recent string of strong runs at Daytona. As for De Lara, he now reunites with the Spire team for the first time since his debut, this time taking the place of 12th-place Phoenix finisher Chase Purdy.

TEAM UPDATE: #88-ThorSport Racing

It was a peculiar sight to see “TBA” in the space for the driver’s name next to the ubiquitous neon yellow #88 Ford, but ThorSport confirmed that Matt Crafton will once again be the driver.

RETURNING: #90-Terry Carroll Motorsports

With the qualifying monkey off his back and now ten series starts in the Truck Series over the last two seasons, Justin S. Carroll and his family-owned effort embark on their first-ever attempt at a superspeedway race this week. Carroll’s most recent start came last fall at Martinsville, where he finished a season-best 25th.

RETURNING: #95-GK Racing

Another underdog to watch is Clay Greenfield, whose GK Racing effort missed the cut at Daytona last year, then finished 15th at Talladega. Greenfield has six previous Truck Series starts at Daytona, most recently a 34th-place finish two years ago. He’s crashed out of his last four starts here.

DRIVER CHANGE: #98-ThorSport Racing

Similar to Matt Crafton, defending series champion Ty Majeski’s name was listed as “TBA” next to his #98 Ford, but is expected to compete this season. ThorSport pointed out that their four-truck lineup for Daytona will be composed entirely of champions: Majeski joins Sauter, Crafton, and Ben Rhodes.

NEW TEAM: #07-Spire Motorsports

Spire’s Owner Points for the #77 team tumble back to a new third entry, helping the effort of Cup Series regular Michael McDowell. The new hire for Spire’s #71 entry on the Cup Series side, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner will pull double-duty in what will be only his third career Truck Series start and first since September 19, 2009, when he took 14th at Loudon. GoBowling will sponsor both McDowell’s truck this weekend, then his car this summer at Watkins Glen.

CUP INVADERS: #7-Justin Haley, #07-Michael McDowell

Saturday, February 15, 2025 (5:10 P.M. ET Green Flag, CW)

XFINITY Race 1 of 33

United Rentals 300 at Daytona

2024 Last-Place Finisher: Kyle Weatherman

ENTRY LIST

There are 41 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning three teams will fail to qualify.

DRIVER CHANGE: #1-JR Motorsports

NEW TEAM / DRIVER SWAP: #41-Haas Factory Team

TEAM CLOSED: #98-Stewart-Haas Racing

This year’s grid for the XFINITY Series features an intense Rookie of the Year battle of its own. Taking the wheel of JR Motorsports’ #1 Chevrolet is Carson Kvapil, who nearly scored his first career win last year at Dover. Kvapil takes the place of Sam Mayer, who signed with the Haas Factory Team, which kept both XFINITY Series teams in operation after the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing. Mayer pilots the #41, the former #98 team driven by Riley Herbst, thus eradicating the last piece of the Biagi team absorbed by SHR. Herbst, meanwhile, moves up to the Cup Series in 23XI’s new third team, the #35.

NUMBER CHANGE / DRIVER SWAP: #4-Alpha Prime Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #29-RSS Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #31-Jordan Anderson Racing

NUMBER CHANGE / DRIVER SWAP: #71-DGM Racing x JIM

Blaine Perkins moves from RSS Racing’s #29 to the #31 at Jordan Anderson Racing, replacing Parker Retzlaff, who moves to the former #43 team at Alpha Prime Racing. The #43 is now renumbered as the #4, sponsored by Visual Pak and Rewind It 10. Retzlaff takes the place of Ryan Ellis, who moves to DGM Racing, which has now partnered with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports to form DGM Racing x JIM. Ellis pilots the former #91, a team renumbered to the #71 to reflect a number Ellis raced since early in his career. The swapping of Owner Points keeps both the #91 and #92 part of the DGM Racing x JIM lineup for 2025. While Josh Bilicki remains in the #91, the #92 run to a 32nd-place finish by Dawson Cram last fall goes this week to C.J. McLaughlin. That leaves the RSS #29, whose driver has yet to be named, and whose team must qualify on time. UPDATE: J.J. Yeley will pull double-duty and attempt to qualify the RSS Racing #29.

DRIVER SWAP: #5-Our Motorsports

DRIVER SWAP: #42-Young’s Motorsports

NEW TEAM / DRIVER SWAP: #70-Cope Family Racing

Kris Wright finished 3rd in the ARCA Menards Series standings last year, earning eight top-five finishes but falling short of his first series win. He also made a pair of Truck Series starts for TRICON Garage, but finished no better than 26th. This year, he returns to the XFINITY Series for the first time since the 2022 finale, and this time takes Anthony Alfredo’s place at Our Motorsports. Alfredo moves to Randy Young’s upstart #42 team, displacing Leland Honeyman, Jr., who this year pilots Derrike and Elyshia Cope’s newest NASCAR team, Cope Family Racing. Honeyman, who holds the Owner Points from RSS Racing’s #29, will scale back to part-time, splitting the ride with former JD Motorsports driver Thomas Annunziata.

MISSING: #9-JR Motorsports

DRIVER SWAP: #20-Joe Gibbs Racing

TEAM UPDATE: #88-JR Motorsports

This year, JR Motorsports makes its part-time #88 entry a full-time effort for Connor Zilisch’s Rookie of the Year campaign. In so doing, their #9 entry isn’t in the field, and after a disastrous 2024 season, Brandon Jones takes his Menards sponsorship back to Joe Gibbs Racing. This time, Jones drives the former “all-star” entry, the #20, taking the place of Aric Almirola. JRM is expected to field the #9 part-time later this season.

TEAM UPDATE: #10-Kaulig Racing

TEAM CLOSED: #97-Kaulig Racing / Trackhouse Racing

As Shane Van Gisbergen has graduated to a full-time Cup ride with Trackhouse in the #88, his former #97 team is not entered this year. The team’s Owner Points now fall back to the former part-time #10 entry, which is now a full-time Kaulig car for Rookie of the Year candidate – and Truck Series graduate – Daniel Dye.

DRIVER CHANGE: #14-SS-Green Light Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #35-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen

DRIVER SWAP: #53-Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen

After competing at Bowman Gray for Garage 66 last week, Garrett Smithley returns to full-time XFINITY Series competition in Bobby Dotter’s #14, a car which alternated between multiple drivers last year. Smithley takes the place of Phoenix’s 37th-place finisher Greg Van Alst, who starting with Daytona, site of his landmark ARCA 200 victory, will share time with Mason Maggio and Baltazar Leguizamon in Joey Gase’s #35 Chevrolet. This year sees Gase join forces with Scott Osteen, owner of Floridian Motorsports’ Truck Series effort, which brought his driver Maggio into the mix. Gase, who finished 27th in the #35 last fall, this week drives the team’s second entry, the #53.

DRIVER CHANGE: #16-Kaulig Racing

After his strong season in the Truck Series for the McAnally team, Christian Eckes joins the Kaulig team to take the place of 9th-place finisher A.J. Allmendinger, now back in the Cup Series full-time once more. This Saturday will mark Eckes’ first-ever XFINITY Series start after 114 in the Truck Series.

DRIVER SWAP: #18-Joe Gibbs Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing

TEAM CLOSED: #00-Stewart-Haas Racing

NEW TEAM / DRIVER SWAP: #00-Haas Factory Team

NASCAR Modified star Justin Bonsignore led three laps and finished 22nd in his series debut last summer in Loudon, securing him at least nine races in JGR’s new “all-star” car, the #19 entry, starting this Saturday. Another portion of the team’s schedule will be run by Chase Briscoe, the team’s newest hire on the Cup side. In the #18 is William Sawalich, ready to compete for Rookie of the Year after two outstanding seasons in ARCA. Sawalich takes the place of Sheldon Creed, who lands the second Haas Factory Team entry, the #00 formerly driven by Cole Custer. As Custer rejoins the Cup Series in HFT’s #41, Creed continues to search for his first series victory with his third different team in as many years.

RETURNING: #24-Sam Hunt Racing

DRIVER CHANGE: #26-Sam Hunt Racing

Despite a breakout season last year, a full-time XFINITY Series ride continues to elude Ryan Truex, who this year shares Sam Hunt’s returning second entry with Jeffrey Earnhardt. BB Printing Co. is the listed sponsor for Truex’s #24. His most recent start in the series was last fall at Homestead, where he finished 21st in his only start of the year with the Hunt team. Earnhardt, who finished 35th in Sam Hunt’s #26 at Phoenix last fall, is slated to share that ride this year with Daytona starter Dean Thompson, another graduate from the Truck Series. Thompson made his first two XFINITY starts last year with SHR, taking 34th at Charlotte and 20th at Talladega.

NUMBER CHANGE / DRIVER CHANGE: #25-AM Racing

Last summer’s Daytona winner Harrison Burton returns to full-time XFINITY Series competition for the first time since 2021, when he finished 8th in the standings for back-to-back seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing. This time, he pilots AM Racing, which after a strong 2023 with Brett Moffitt struggled in every way possible with rookie Hailie Deegan, then several other drivers who took her place in the season’s second half, including 19th-place Phoenix finisher Dylan Lupton. Perhaps to recapture that 2023 strength, the team changes its number back from #15 to #25.

DRIVER SWAP: #28-RSS Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #39-RSS Racing

After swapping rides to help the #28 team’s rank in Owner Points, brothers Ryan Sieg and Kyle Sieg return to their most frequent rides – Ryan in the #39 and Kyle in the #28.

RETURNING: #32-Jordan Anderson Racing

Jordan Anderson returns to the driver’s seat for the first time since his 33rd-place finish last fall at Talladega, bringing the same sponsorship from Volpi Foods, but not crew chief Larry McReynolds. Anderson finished 4th in this race last year before the team made a few additional starts in conjunction with Mike Harmon Racing.

TEAM CLOSED: #38-RSS Racing

NEW TEAM: #99-Viking Motorsports

Last year saw Viking Motorsports develop its own branding around the #38, one of four teams at RSS Racing. This year, that branding stands alone, and the team renumbers itself to the #99, keeping driver Matt DiBenedetto. The team also switches from RSS’ Fords to Chevrolets.

DRIVER CHANGE: #45-Alpha Prime Racing

Superspeedway racing at Alpha Prime means Caesar Bacarella is back in the lineup, this time taking the place of Phoenix last-place finisher Stefan Parsons. Mongoose Power Solutions sponsors Bacarella, who failed to qualify for this race last year and most recently took 29th last summer.

DRIVER CHANGE: #48-Big Machine Racing

As Parker Kligerman steps away from competing in NASCAR full-time, Nick Sanchez moves back up from the Truck Series to rejoin the Scott Borchetta team for the first time since 2022, when he raced in four of the season’s last six races. Combined with two other starts for B.J. McLeod, these have been Sanchez’ only eight starts in XFINITY.

RETURNING: #54-Joe Gibbs Racing

MISSING: #81-Joe Gibbs Racing

With Chandler Smith’s #81 entry scaled back and Smith joining Front Row Motorsports in the Truck Series, the final JGR entry this year is a returning #54 driven by Truck Series graduate Taylor Gray, who comes from TRICON Garage. As the new car number indicates, the car is co-owned by Ty Gibbs, still looking for his first Cup win with his own #54 team.

RETURNING: #74-Mike Harmon Racing

While the preliminary entry list showed TBA in the driver’s column, Carson Ware tweeted on Tuesday that he would pilot the #74 at Daytona. This would mark Ware’s 13th series start following a three-race return last fall with Joey Gase Motorsports, where he earned a season-best 22nd in Talladega. His older brother Cody Ware is locked-in to Sunday’s Daytona 500 in the Rick Ware #51 Ford.

CUP INVADERS: None

Sunday, February 16, 2025 (3:11 P.M. ET Green Flag, FOX)

CUP Race 1 of 36

Daytona 500 at Daytona

2024 Last-Place Finisher: Carson Hocevar

“The Great American Race” comes this Sunday!

TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (February 12, 1989): Ricky Rudd finished last in the Busch Clash at Daytona when his #26 Quaker State Buick started outside-pole, then fell to the 13th and final running position at the end of the 20-lap sprint. It was Rudd’s second last-place finish in the last three races.