NASCAR has adjusted its Open Exemption Provisional rule following its inaugural usage by Helio Castroneves and Trackhouse Racing in the Daytona 500 last month.
Prior to the Great American Race, it was made known as early as January that Trackhouse and Castroneves had applied for and was granted the guaranteed starting spot designed for a world class driver that first appeared in the 2025 Cup Series Rule Book.
The original version of that policy would have allowed the open entrant provisional designee to attempt to qualify into a race with more than 40 drivers on the entry list but would be eligible start as the 41st entrant if otherwise failing to make the field.
Castroneves failed to qualify into the race and used the guaranteed starting spot — meaning that Trackhouse Racing would not be eligible for owner points or prize money.
NASCAR has now changed the rule to automatically lock the open entrant provisional into the field as the 41st driver. The driver will no longer have to qualify into the race and the team will automatically be excluded from prize money or owner points upon receiving confirmation of the provisional.
That team will start the race based on where they qualified.
In the event that a team applies for (and is granted) the Open Exemption Provisional, and the race ultimately has 40 entries or less, they will be eligible for owner points and prize money. Teams still must meet the 90 day in advance of a race deadline to receive approval. If there are multiple applications, NASCAR will decide which entrant will receive the designation.
