Helio Castroneves attempts to make NASCAR, Daytona 500 debut with Trackhouse’s Project 91

Nearing his 50th birthday this May with an American racing career that spans close to 30 years, Helio Castroneves is eyeing rookie status once again. The four-time Indianapolis 500 winner will attempt to make his NASCAR debut in next month’s Daytona 500, aiming to join Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt as just the third driver to win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and the Great American Race.

Two years after plans fell through near the finish line of a deal to make his Daytona 500 debut — an opportunity he explored with Floyd Mayweather’s The Money Team in a ride that later would go to Conor Daly — Castroneves has landed a seat in Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 ride. It’s a part-time NASCAR Cup series entry launched in 2022 that team owner Justin Marks has used to bring some of the world’s best international talents to compete in the top level of stock car racing. Castroneves’ No. 91 Chevy will sport sponsorship from Wendys, and the team has named Darian Grubb, the 2011 Cup title-winner with Tony Stewart, as the NASCAR rookie’s crew chief.

His teammates for his Cup debut will include Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and Shane van Gisbergen.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would enter a NASCAR race and certainly not the Daytona 500 with a team like Trackhouse Racing,” Castroneves said in a release. “This is an opportunity that nobody in their right mind could ever turn down.

“I am so thankful to Wendy’s for allowing me to wear their uniform and drive their car, (Trackhouse owner) Justin Marks and everyone that made this happen. I wish the race were tomorrow!”

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Ex-Formula 1 driver and 2007 drivers champion Kimi Raikkonen has run twice for Project 91 at Watkins Glen (2022) and Circuit of the Americas (2023), and the ride also welcomed Supercars champ van Gisbergen to NASCAR’s Chicago Stree Race — which he won in his debut — in 2023, along with an appearance on the IMS road course.

The program took a hiatus in 2024, but Marks and company have relaunched the ride in a major way.

““Helio is one of the greatest drivers of all time and exactly the type of driver we want to bring to NASCAR,” Marks said in a release. “I think race fans around the world will be excited to see Helio in NASCAR’s most prestigious race.

“It also exposes our sport to a global audience and allows them to see just how great of a series we have in NASCAR.”

Castroneves’ NASCAR race debut, though, is far from guaranteed. Among the 500 field, various NASCAR Cup teams own a combined 36 charters that guarantee them entry into every race — including the Daytona 500. The race’s starting grid is capped at 40 cars, allowing for four non-chartered, or open, entries to race.

Most years, though, five or more open entries attempt to qualify for the race, forcing those interested to have to qualify for one of the four spots. Recently, NASCAR has awarded automatic starting spots to the two single fastest open entrires during single-car qualifying, and the final two spots have gone to the highest-finishing open entries in each of the two qualifying Duels — if those highest-finishing cars have already qualified on speed, then the next-highest-finishing entries are locked in.

As the field currently sits, Castroneves would mark the prospective Daytona 500 field’s 40th entry, along with Mike Wallace (MBM Motorsports), J.J. Yeley (NY Racing) and B.J. McLeod (Live Fast Motorsports). Entries are still expected for Legacy Motor Club co-owner Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR veteran Martin Truex Jr., among other teams and drivers, meaning Castroneves’ appearance in the Feb. 16 kickoff to NASCAR’s 2025 points-paying calendar.

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Should he make the 40-car field, Castroneves’ appearance in the Great American Race could serve as a solid marketing tool for IndyCar as the series enters a new exclusive media rights deal with FOX Sports, who also broadcasts the first chunk of the NASCAR Cup series calendar on FOX and FS1 — including the Daytona 500.

Of Castroneves’ 31 career IndyCar wins, 18 have come on ovals. The 49-year-old Brazilian racing legend has also won three times at Daytona International Speedway in his historic three-peat in 2021-23 in the 24 Hours of Daytona, a course for which includes part of the 2.5-mile oval.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Helio Castroneves attempts to make NASCAR, Daytona 500 debut with Trackhouse