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DAYTONA BEACH — With 45 Daytona 500 hopefuls hitting the podium, NASCAR media day was bound to produce some insight, some humor and a lot of storylines.
It did, of course.
William Byron returns for a Daytona 500 title defense. Shane van Gisbergen and Helio Castroneves make their Great American Race debuts. Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson go for their first 500 victories.
And so on.
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The drivers completed the first Cup Series practice session of Speedweek at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway. Then, they cycled through scrums of reporters from noon to 6:30 p.m. before qualifying at 8:15.
Only 40 or 41 drivers will make the race.
But conversations ranged past racing. Here are a few highlights.
Is William Byron’s drive to win the Daytona 500 the same after his 2024 victory?
“I have more joy coming down here than I did before,” Byron said. “I have more passion and excitement for this race than I did before. I feel like having experienced it the way it was last year really changed my perspective on the race as a whole in a good way, obviously. I feel that’s created some more motivation to get another one.
“This race, it’s a lifetime achievement. It’s something people reference everywhere you go. It’s something that the first time in my career I’ve had something like that. It makes it cool. It makes it more special, because you can tell people care about the race.”
Is 2025 the year for Kyle Busch’s Daytona 500 win?
“You’d certainly like to hope so,” Busch said. “Twenty years of trying. There was another storied racer of the past that won on his 20th try, and that was a pretty big deal. He was a former RCR driver as well, so it’d certainly be nice to win that race and do it with RCR in the No. 8 Zone Chevrolet. So that would be pretty cool.”
What did Christopher Bell think of the pre-qualifying practice session?
“It was definitely an awkward practice session,” Bell said. “It is just so laid back. I don’t know. Everyone was on different agendas. I don’t even really know what to think of it. It was kind of like, ‘Why are we doing this?’ “
Will Jimmie Johnson run more races this year if the sponsorship funding is there?
“I would consider a few more,” Johnson said. “The time it takes to be prepared and do it right is something I overlooked running nine races. I’ve been living out of the country, a chance for my family to live abroad. As a minority owner of the team, it was easier to do. Now with my new position, it’s becoming much harder. So, staying focused on the growth of the team, our partners, prospects, OEM, management, drivers. It’s really tough to give the driving piece a chance right now.”
What are the differences between the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 for Kyle Larson?
“Yeah, I think the car,” Larson said. “I don’t know. Both atmospheres are really good, for sure. They’re still very different. It’s hard to answer that because they’re both the peak of the sport. They just have their differences.
“The infield at Indy has the snake pit, but the infield here has all the campers, and that’s really cool. Driver intros (are) sort of similar. The crowd feels closer to you at Indy, at least the grandstand crowd.
“The frontstretch at Indy is swarmed with people. But pit road is also similar to that here. But it’s more race fans.
“I don’t know. I feel like maybe Indy just has like a little bit more of the kind of history feel to it than the Daytona 500. Other than that, I mean, they’re both great.”
Helio Castroneves has won Indy 500s and ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and been personally blessed by the Pope. What’s left on his bucket list?
“Hopefully we’ll be celebrating the Daytona 500 win,” Castroneves said with a laugh. “I know it’s a tough deal, don’t get me wrong. Obviously if I didn’t trust the people behind me, obviously the team… My team, I have experienced guys that know what to do and they give me the right rules. I got to go with the mentality like I’ve always been to a race.
“What’s left? I don’t know. As long as I still have the fire like I have right now, I’m going to keep it going?”
Which NASCAR drivers would Shane van Gisbergen like to see try Supercars?
“I would have loved to see how Kyle Busch went last year in the Supercar,” van Gisbergen said. “It would have been very difficult, but I’m sure if he took it seriously, he would have done really well. Hopefully that happens this year. There’s talks actually Kyle Larson might go and do it.
“Love to help them if they have any questions. I’d be really interested to see how they went.”
How long until people start asking about Alex Bowman’s future at Hendrick Motorsports?
“It started two months ago,” Bowman said. “It never ended. When is it going to end? That is never going to end and that has been my entire career. Yeah, just got to go win some races.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500 questions: What’s left on Helio Castroneves’ bucket list?
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