As the NASCAR Cup Series readies for another season beginning this weekend at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina for the Cook Out Clash, drivers weighed in on a number of burning topics.
Among those was NASCAR’s recent Open Exemption Provisional rule, which allows an additional 41st entry into the Cup Series field for special or invited entries to any race.
The rule comes amid four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves’ bid to compete in the Daytona 500 later this month with Trackhouse Racing’s Project91 program.
Castroneves, despite being an open entry, will be guaranteed a spot in the race if he fails to qualify on time or through the duels at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway.
Denny Hamlin, who doesn’t shy away from voicing his opinion, believes “it reeks of desperation,” from the sport.
“I don’t know how else to say it,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know how nice you can really say it. It just feels like you are really trying to get any kind of headline you can to be relevant and I don’t love it.”
The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and co-owner of 23XI Racing continued, stating the move, while is a win for NASCAR with Castroneves’ track record, could be a “long-term loss” going forward.
“I just think that you are premier stock car series in the U.S.,” Hamlin began. “The premier racing sport in the U.S.; be the big boys and force people to come in here and get their credentials and do it the natural way.
“I don’t think it is going to be a big factor anywhere other than Daytona, but just simply put, saying that someone has a name that interests you and that they are going to have an automatic bid in the highest form of motorsports in the U.S. – I don’t love it.”
When posed with the question, 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott took a more neutral approach.
“You’d hate to have a Helio Castroneves, a Max Verstappen, a Lewis Hamilton or someone come in to run a race and then miss the show due to something silly,” Elliott said. “So I can certainly see that aspect of it from a promotor side of things, where you wouldn’t want to risk that because that’s obviously going to be a big deal for you.
“But I also think that with prestigious races, there should be some sort of integrity in making the show. I think that’s part of what makes the race prestigious. You know, it’s a hard event to make.”
On the flip side, Elliott pointed to other prestigious races like the Indianapolis 500 or the Chili Bowl Nationals as a reason to perhaps leave guaranteed spots out of racing.
“I think you see that with the Indianapolis 500, or you see that at the Chili Bowl… It’s a hard race to make,” Elliott said. “It’s a big deal just to get into the show, so I can see both sides of the fence there.
“I think it’s totally fine. I just don’t want to ever degrade or hurt the long-term integrity of the sport and take the prestige out of events that should be some of our biggest days of the year.”
For 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, the opportunity to compete alongside the former Team Penske driver is one he’s looking forward to.
“I might be biased, but I love Helio, so I was psyched when it was like, ‘OK, he’s running the 500. Oh, and he’s locked in? That’s great for Helio,’” Blaney said.
“He was in Indy cars when I was over there at Penske for a while before he moved on, so I love Helio and I’m happy that I’m gonna be able to race against him because I loved growing up watching him run Indy cars, and then to get to be a semi-teammate driving for the same guy for a long time with Roger, so I didn’t really have any thoughts about it, to be honest with you.
“I was just excited that Helio is gonna be running the 500.”
