Mike Wallace carrying confidence into 2025 Daytona 500 attempt

At 65 years old, Mike Wallace is going to attempt to make the Daytona 500 with MBM Motorsports, and he feels good about his chances. His last NASCAR Cup Series start was a decade ago, will Wallace make the field?

As the days tick by to the Daytona 500, there are more and more entries for the race. So, that will make Mike Wallace and MBM’s job even more difficult. But it won’t be impossible.

40 cars make the field. Mike Wallace has qualified 11 times previously for The Great American Race. In 2007, he took Phoenix Racing to P4. To his credit, when he has made the field, Wallace has an average starting position of 25.72.

On top of that, Wallace has three wins at Daytona. He has won at the track in ARCA, Truck Series, and Xfinity Series races. For those reasons and more, Wallace has confidence heading into February, as he shared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“Once you know how to do it, you know how to do it,” Wallace said matter of factly. “And if you keep yourself mentally sharp, physically sharp. I think, you know, of course, this is my side of the opinion … I was a talented race car driver, I won at the Daytona International Speedway three times, had numerous top-10 finishes in the variety of classes.

“You know, I just feel confident. I don’t know what anybody else’s opinion is, except I did tell my kids, I made this commitment to them … I did tell my kids that when I roll out on the race track, fortunately, this year there’s practice, right? That’s a plus in my corner. That if something doesn’t feel right to me, look, my life is way more important than anybody else’s. So, if something doesn’t feel right to me, I’ll just call it, ‘Hey we tried.’ And we’ll put somebody else in that baby. I don’t think that’s going to happen, at least I hope not.

“You know the more cars that are in these qualifiers [the more] exciting, and the sport needs that right now. We need excitement. NASCAR’s been part of my life for years.”

Mike Wallace and MBM Motorsports have a tall task ahead of them. There are likely going to be more open cars this season than there have been in a decade or more. There could be five or more cars going home before Sunday.

Will the 65-year-old be among the 40-car field? He has all the confidence in the world.