Wallace not approved for Daytona 500 attempt
Yesterday at 07:08 AM
Mike Wallace has not been approved by NASCAR to attempt to compete in the Daytona 500 next month with MBM Motorsports due to inactivity in the sport over the last few years.
NASCAR confirmed that with any request to compete, a driver's recent activity and performance are a primary factor for consideration. Wallace has not made a NASCAR national series start since 2020 when he ran three road course races in the Xfinity Series. The last time he ran a race on an intermediate (or larger) track was in 2015 when he ran at Daytona in the Cup Series.
Wallace took to Facebook after the news writing, "to my utter shock and devastation at 4:00 today NASCAR competition director Elton Sawyer called me to inform me that NASCAR has decided not only to not approve me for (the) Daytona 500 but at this time (I'm) not approved to race in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series in 2025 but could go through (their) process to possibly get approved for 2026. This comes as a total shock as the President of NASCAR last week in a real phone call told me all was good and he will see me in Daytona."
NASCAR has only denied Wallace for Cup Series activity, which was the only request the sanctioning body said it had for Wallace. No request has been made or discussion held about his participation in the Xfinity Series or Craftsman Truck Series.
The 65-year-old Wallace would have had to qualify his way into the Daytona 500 field with MBM Motorsports. Despite the setback, the team is still planning on going to Daytona but is now searching for a new driver and sponsor.
"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," the team said. "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."
Wallace finished fourth in the 2007 Daytona 500 driving for James Finch. He has five top-10 finishes in 19 starts at Daytona between the season-opening Daytona 500 and the summer event. In all, Wallace has made 809 national series starts.
