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NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Coke Zero Sugar 400 Aug 23, 2025 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA Drivers get the green flag to start the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach Daytona International Speedway Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMikexWattersx 20250823_tbs_sk4_324
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NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Coke Zero Sugar 400 Aug 23, 2025 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA Drivers get the green flag to start the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach Daytona International Speedway Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMikexWattersx 20250823_tbs_sk4_324
NASCAR fans were far from impressed as it made a last-minute change to the Daytona 500 event. With nearly a week to go for the Crown Jewel race, NASCAR tweaked the qualifying, which is set to affect the non-chartered or open teams in locking themselves into the 40-car field. A move that wasn’t appreciated by the fans.
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The upcoming Daytona 500 will consist of 41 cars, out of which 36 will be from the regular chartered entries. Former NASCAR driver and team co-owner Jimmie Johnson will drive a car, which will get a guaranteed spot due to the open exemption provision.
The remaining four cars will have to go through qualifying and duels, and this is where NASCAR made the tweak. As of now, there are eight open entries, out of which only four cars will make it to the final race.
The two fastest open cars from qualifying will make the Daytona 500. The other six open cars will race in the duels, fighting for one spot available in each duel.
NASCAR has tweaked Daytona 500 qualifying:
—the top two open cars in single-car qualifying are locked in and they aren’t racing for the spot allotted to the top open car in each duel
—the remainder of the open cars race for the one spot available in each duel.— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 5, 2026
As per reports, Anthony Alfredo, Justin Allgaier, Corey Heim, Corey LaJoie, B.J. McLeod, Casey Mears, Chandler Smith, and JJ Yeley will contest for the four available spots.
However, the open car entries can increase given that the deadline is set until Wednesday. But the 41-car limit will be intact. While some fans welcomed the tweak, most did not.
Fans lambaste NASCAR over Daytona tweak
A fan pointed out NASCAR’s tendency to change the rules often, and wrote, “Haha, only sport I know that can just change the rules whenever they want.”
Another fan called the change “dumb” and shared why it was unnecessary. He wrote, “Dumb rule that didn’t need to be put into place! So now the top 2 fastest open cars literally have no reason to race on Thursday…and no, it doesn’t matter where you start at Daytona.”
“There’s really no point in even having qualifying races anymore. Probably should just mothball the Clash and make these Twins the season-opening exhibition race. Then just line up the field by the net worth of each team’s equity investment firm,” wrote another fan, explaining why the qualifying does not make sense anymore.
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Another fan wrote that the fans get deprived of good cars because of the 41-car field. He shared, “So dumb good cars get sent home because we can’t run a full field anymore.”
“Take away some of the excitement of racing for that spot,” wrote another fan, criticizing the tweak.
The Daytona 500 will take place on Sunday, February 15, at the Daytona International Speedway. It will be the 69th running of the event, and FOX Sports will broadcast it.