NASCAR

3 Underdog NASCAR Drivers Capable Of Shocking The World At The Daytona 500

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By
Jared Turner
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Jared Turner Sports Editor

Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.

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Published09 Feb 2025

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Helio Castroneves on the grid during practice for the Superstar Racing Experience event at South Boston Speedway on June 25, 2022 in South Boston, Virginia.

Recent Daytona 500s past have produced multiple surprise winners. They include, most notably, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2023), Austin Cindric (2022), Michael McDowell (2021) and Austin Dillon (2018).

So, will another underdog come from seemingly out of nowhere to claim the 2025 edition of NASCAR’s biggest race? No one knows for sure, of course, but it’s certainly within the realm of possibility.

With this in mind, let’s take a quick look at three drivers who could shock the world at the Daytona 500 — the official start of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Helio Castroneves

Good luck finding a driver in the Daytona 500 field with a more diverse or decorated motorsports resume than Castroneves. One of four people in the world with four Indianapolis 500 trophies, the open-wheel legend will run the Daytona 500 in Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 entry.

For Castroneves, who has a history of remarkable achievements in both the open wheel and sports car ranks, the Daytona 500 will mark his NASCAR debut.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would enter a NASCAR race, and certainly not the Daytona 500, with a team like Trackhouse Racing,” said Castroneves, a four-time IndyCar Series championship runner-up and three-time winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. “This is an opportunity that nobody in their right mind could ever turn down.”

While Castroneves acknowledges that winning NASCAR’s most prestigious event in his NASCAR debut will be a tall order, the Brazilian believes he has the resources to run competitively on Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile, high-speed, high-banked layout.

“I know how much of a challenge this is going to be, but I also know the type of people and team Trackhouse Racing will bring to the effort,” Castroneves said.

Justin Haley

A little-known fact about a not-so-well-known driver: Haley is a three-time NASCAR winner at Daytona. Granted, he only recorded one of those victories in a Cup Series car, but owning a pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series trophies and a single Cup Series trophy from The World Center of Racing still isn’t too shabby.

And it speaks to Haley’s abilities at the superspeedways, Daytona in particular.

Although a Cup Series winner at Daytona thanks to his shocking, weather-assisted victory here in 2019, Haley is hunting his first triumph in the Daytona 500. And his first Cup Series win of any kind since prevailing at a soggy Daytona six seasons ago in just his third career Cup Series start.

After bouncing around between backmarker teams over the last few years, Haley is in probably the best overall situation of his career as a full-time driver for Spire Motorsports — a rapidly expanding organization that he joined with eight races left in the 2024 season.

While Haley is a longshot to win the Daytona 500, doing so is a plausible scenario for the 25-year-old Indiana native.

Josh Berry

Looking for a largely unheralded driver with a real opportunity to capture the Daytona 500? Look no further than the guy who’s driving the car that went to Victory Lane in August when the NASCAR Cup Series last visited The World Center of Racing.

That guy is 34-year-old Josh Berry, who took over Wood Brothers Racing’s famed No. 21 car from Harrison Burton at the end of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Like Burton last summer, Berry will arrive at Daytona winless in more than 45 NASCAR Cup Series starts (Burton actually made 97 starts before he broke through). However, Berry — who lost his ride when Stewart-Haas Racing folded in November — is widely considered a better overall talent than the former driver of the No. 21.

As a rookie last season, Berry recorded four top-10 finishes — including a pair of top-fives — despite running much of the year as a lame duck due to SHR’s imminent closure.

Prior to joining the Cup Series ranks, Berry notched five wins over two full NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons and one partial Xfinity season with JR Motorsports.

So, Berry has the potential to be in the mix at Daytona, especially given that he’ll likely be in a car capable of winning.