Helio Castroneves skips 2023 Daytona 500, Conor Daly still a possibility

Hélio Castroneves had long been interested in racing in NASCAR someday, but his dreams of running the Daytona 500 have been put on hold for now. During a media availability on Thursday ahead of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Castroneves told NBC’s Nate Ryan that attempting the 2023 500 was out of the picture.

Castroneves is one of the most iconic faces in the NTT IndyCar Series as a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner. In 2022, he won the Superstar Racing Experience season opener at Five Flags in a one-off, winning a bet with SRX CEO Don Hawk in which Hawk would promise Castroneves a NASCAR Cup Series ride if he was victorious.

Many speculated he would race the #91 Chevrolet Camaro of Trackhouse Racing Team, part of the PROJECT91 banner for international racing stars who wanted to dabble in NASCAR. Although Trackhouse owner Justin Marks filled in for Castroneves at another SRX race later that year, Marks ruled out the possibility of the #91 entering the 500.

Eventually, negotiations from Castroneves’ camp took him to The Money Team Racing, who made their début at the 2022 Daytona 500 with Kaz Grala. However, TMT’s #50 does not have a charter and would have had to make the 500 on qualifying time or Duel performance, especially with over forty entries expeted.

“I believe it would be a little bit tough throwing myself in such a short notice, and to go in a place that you’ve got to race yourself into it, so as of right now, it’s not going to happen,” Castroneves said to NBC.

With Castroneves out of the picture, Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal reported TMT is looking at another IndyCar driver in Conor Daly. Daly entered the 2022 Charlotte Roval race in the #50 and finished thirty-fourth.