NASCAR has denied Mike Wallace from making his first NASCAR Cup Series start since the 2015 season in next month’s season-opening Daytona 500.
Wallace, 65, was advised by Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer on Monday afternoon of his ineligibility to compete in the “Great American Race” after Wallace, the brother of former NASCAR drivers Kenny and Rusty Wallace announced his intentions to return to the sport earlier this month.
Motorsports Business Management (MBM) owned by former driver Carl Long announced on Jan. 2 that Wallace would attempt to qualify for the Feb. 16 running of the Daytona 500.
If he succeeded in earning one of 40 spots eligible for the season-opening race, Wallace would have been the second-older driver to compete in the sport’s Super Bowl event.
A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed to CATCHFENCE.com of Wallace being notified of the sanctioning body’s decision. “For each resume approval request, recent racing activity and performance is a primary factor for consideration.
“(Mike) Wallace has not raced on an intermediate or larger racetrack since 2015. Due to this inactivity, at this time, he is not approved to race at the NASCAR Cup Series level.”
Wallace made his last NASCAR National Series start during 2020, when he drove for the now defunct JD Motorsports at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Road America (Wisc.) and the Daytona International Speedway Road Course respectively – all road courses.
Then 61, Wallace, finished 24th twice and 25th at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
From 1991 to 2015, Wallace has 197 Cup Series starts to his credit, including the 2015 Daytona 500 where he finished 36th after starting 16th in an entry fielded by Jay Robinson Racing.
He also has 497 Xfinity and 115 Truck Series starts respectively. He won the 2002 Truck Series race at Daytona and returned to Victory Lane in the summer 2004 Xfinity race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Wallace used the social media platform Facebook to confirm NASCAR’s decision:
“To my utter shock and devastation at 4:00 today NASCAR Elton Sawyer (Vice President of Competition) called me to inform me that NASCAR has decided not only to not approve me for Daytona 500 but at this time not (approve Wallace) to race in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck series in 2025 but could go through there (sic) 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 there Daytona 500 effort, I had sponsorship commitments for the effort around me …
“Help them find an approved driver and plenty of money! Thank you Doug Yates for being in my corner and supportive. I guess we won’t get that Daytona 500 pit road picture after all.”
MBM Motorsports later issued the following statement through a press release Monday evening:
“We are devastated for Mike and the Wallace family that this opportunity will not come to fruition. For MBM, we must regroup at this late stage with the loss of our driver and sponsor for The Great American Race.
“Our team is working swiftly to sign another funded driver for Speedweeks in order to still attempt the 67th Daytona 500.
“Sponsorship opportunities remain with our No. 66 team: contact us at [email protected] for more.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
