The narrative worked itself out.
For much of this week, including media day earlier in the afternoon, there was a considerable amount of conversation devoted to the new ‘Open Exemption Provisional.’ The topic was how fair would it be that Helio Castroneves was guaranteed a Daytona 500 starting spot no matter what while the traditional non-chartered rules still applied to legends Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex.
The latter explicitly called it a ‘slap to the face’ given their contributions to NASCAR.
As it turned out, all of this was a moot point because both champions proceeded to lock in on their qualifying time. They’re racing in the Great American Race.
Speaking of locked-in, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric drive for chartered teams but they’re guaranteed to start on the front row on Sunday as long as they don’t need to go to a backup car at any point before the race.
It makes for a really positive way for Briscoe to officially debut for Joe Gibbs Racing, which he joined in the off-season, and also giving Toyota Racing Development its first ever pole in NASCAR’s biggest race.
Briscoe is also one of NASCAR’s most unlikely success stories, a small town literal blue collar Sprint Car racing son of a Sprint Car racer who made it to the highest level on grit and merit after sleeping on couches and sweeping ARCA shop floors.
“Everybody in here for the most part knows my story, right,” Briscoe said. “I didn’t think I would run a national series race ever. To now be leading the field to green in the Great American Race, do it with the great American brand with Bass Pro on it is crazy, truthfully, for me.
“I did the lap the first round, I was like, Man, I could maybe be on the pole of this thing. I was trying to not think about it. Then we crossed the line the second time. James came on the radio and said I was P1. It didn’t really hit me till turn three. I was rolling around on the apron. I said out loud to myself, I’m on the pole of the Daytona 500. That’s crazy.
“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s fully, fully hit me. Definitely you don’t realize the magnitude of it, I don’t think, until you’ve done it.”
Cindric won this race in 2022 but being on the front row is still an achievement worth celebrating.
“It certainly sends a message, obviously having a fast race car,” Cindric said. “The consistency in our cars and our team is certainly second to none. Super proud of my guys on the 2 car, but everybody back at Team Penske. Everyone takes a lot of pride coming to this race with very fast cars. The front row gives us a lot of flexibility as far as what we do tomorrow night, pit selection, starting spot, so on.
“It’s a good box to check early on in the weekend with the list of things, maybe the shorter list of things, that you can’t control. Yeah, like I said, proud of the team.”
Johnson called it a weight lifted off his shoulders.
“The experience I had last year, it’s been ringing through my brain at night,” Johnson said of narrowly making it into the field. “I’ve jumped out of bed a few times with some nightmares as this day got closer.
“We’re doing so much to turn Legacy Motor Club around, have it pointed in the right direction. The partnership with Carvana and bringing Shaquille O’Neal in, what’s in the days ahead, what we have planned, man, it would have really been a bummer to miss the race.”
Ditto, Truex.
“Yeah, same I guess for different reasons,” Truex said. “A lot of people put a lot of effort and hard work into doing this. You always like to see them enjoy the fruits of their labor.”
Duels have consequence
Castroneves, meanwhile, did not make it in on speed but there is still a tremendous amount consequence baked into what he does on Thursday night.
On one hand, if he races his way into the field by being the highest finishing open driver in his Twin-150 — which would mean defeating Chandler Smith and JJ Yeley — then that would mean one less overall spot in the race.
On the other hand, Castroneves could decide to play it safe and not risk destroying his primary car. That could open the door for the other two to race their way in, or …
What if Truex is the highest finishing open driver in the first duel?
In that scenario, Castroneves would default to his OEP and Truex will defer his qualifying speed to the third fastest non-chartered driver from qualifying in Justin Allgaier and JR Motorsports. Translation: The team owned by the sport’s most popular personality, Dale Earnhardt Jr., trying to make his debut as a Cup Series team owner.
“Tonight was a disappointment in qualifying,” Allgaier told FOX Sports. “Being less than a tenth off what we needed to qualify our way in, that’s the great and bad part about this format, you never know what to expect.
“I don’t know. I’ll run that lap through a thousand times in my head, not really sure what I could differently.”
Allgaier said it makes Thursday more work for him.
“I’m the first one out, and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” Allgaier said. “If Martin or Jimmie race their way in than we have a leg up and have that qualifying time back. I would have liked to have been in tonight.”
To that point, if Truex and then Johnson both race their way in then Allgaier and fourth-fastest non-chartered qualifier Corey Lajoie would make it. In this scenario, Castromeves would again make the field as the ‘Open Exemption Provisional.’
Meanwhile, the only way Smith, Yeley and BJ McLeod have of making the Daytona 500 is to be the highest finishing non-chartered driver in their respective duels.
Yeley and Smith share the duel with Truex and Castroneves while Lajoie and McLeod shared a duel with Johnson. Of note, Lajoie has a locked-in Rick Ware Racing teammate in Cody Ware in his duel race. The Ware cars also operate out of the RFK Racing shop and could lean on chartered driver Ryan Preece for help should it come down to it, too.
There’s a lot of variables for Thursday night.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
