Mike Wallace has not received approval from NASCAR to contend for a starting spot for the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway scheduled for February 16, 2025.
The decision was announced on January 13, only 11 days after MBM Motorsports announced that the 65-year-old Wallace would attempt to qualify for a starting spot in this year’s Great American Race in the team’s No. 66 Ford. After evaluating Wallace’s recent on-track activities, NASCAR flipped the script and deemed him ineligible to compete in the 2025 Daytona 500, which is scheduled to occur nearly a month from now.
The decision was based on the fact that Wallace has not competed across NASCAR’s top three national touring series since August 2020, when he competed at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course venue while driving for J.D. Motorsports. He has also not competed in any large venues within NASCAR’s premier series, the Cup division, since he made his recent Daytona 500 start in 2015, where he finished 36th while driving for Premium Motorsports.
To date, Wallace has made 11 career starts in the Great American Race. During his 11 starts, he recorded three top-10 results and notched a career-best result of fourth place during the 2007 event while driving for Phoenix Raceway.
In total, Wallace has made 115 career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series division, 497 in the Xfinity circuit and 197 in the Cup competition. While his best result in the Cup division is a runner-up result at Phoenix Raceway in October 2001 while driving for Team Penske, he has amassed four career victories in the Xfinity division and five in the Truck Series division. His latest Xfinity victory occurred at Daytona in July 2004 while driving for Biagi Brothers Racing. His latest Truck victory occurred at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2011 while driving for Kevin Harvick Inc.
Following the news of NASCAR’s decision, Wallace took to Facebook to express both his disappointment on not being eligible to compete and his endorsement to MBM Motorsports.
“Daytona 500 NON update! 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 Daytona 500 but at this time 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. I owe this posting to all my fans and [non-fans] who were so supportive through the great messages and postings of support as they say I inspired them! Please -Please show your Love and support to Carl Long and the complete MBM Motorsports team as this has now put them in a terrible position as I was not just the driver but also committed to sponsorship for their Daytona 500 effort, I had sponsorship commitments for the effort around me and. Help them find an approved driver and plenty of money!”
MBM Motorsports also took to social media to express the team’s disappointment in not having Wallace as the driver throughout the 2025 Daytona Speedweeks. Nonetheless, the organization remains committed to recruiting another competitor with funding for the team’s No. 66 entry to make a bid for a starting spot in the upcoming Daytona 500.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled for February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
