Back in early January, MBM Motorsports announced that it would attempt to qualify for the 2025 Daytona 500 with driver Mike Wallace at the wheel of its No. 66 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Unfortunately, the sanctioning body denied Wallace’s entry, citing ‘inactivity’ as the reason for barring him from competing in the Daytona 500.
According to a report from NASCAR.com, Wallace is not approved because he does not have recent experience at an intermediate or larger racetrack. The last time he raced at a superspeedway was almost exactly 10 years ago, when he qualified for the 2015 Daytona 500 in a Toyota race car fielded by Premium Motorsports. He finished 36th in a 43-car field.
Wallace also competed in select races during the 2020 Xfinity Series campaign, driving a Chevy race car for JD Motorsports in three road course events at the Indy Oval, Road America, and the infield road course at Daytona. However, because these races were run at road courses, not large ovals, they do not count toward his Daytona 500 bid.
Wallace is no stranger to the Daytona oval. He won the ARCA Series race there in 1994, and backed that victory up with a win in the Truck Series in 2000 and again in the Xfinity Series in 2004.
“MBM Motorsports can confirm that NASCAR has deemed Mike Wallace is not eligible to compete in the 2025 Daytona 500, despite eleven previous 500 starts and several superspeedway wins, due to lack of recent races in major professional motorsports,” MBM Motorsports said in a statement after NASCAR’s announcement.
The team added, “We are devastated for Mike and the Wallace family that this opportunity will not come to fruition. For MBM, we must regroup at this late stage with the loss of our driver and sponsor for The Great American Race. Our team is working swiftly to sign another funded driver for Speedweeks in order to still attempt the 67th Daytona 500.”
At this time, it’s not clear who will drive the No. 66 NASCAR Ford in the 2025 Daytona 500.
Comments
NASTYCAR IS AS CORRUPT AS THE BIDUM ADMINISTRATION. I QUIT ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THEM 24 YEARS AGO
Absolutely the correct call. Wallace had not driven a Cup car in ten years and the cars are completely different than the ones he last drove. There are LOTS of young and upcoming drivers that could fill the bill.