Dale Earnhardt Jr. is ‘surprised and disappointed’ with Trackhouse Racing over Helio Castroneves OEP entry at 2025 Daytona 500
NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared his feelings about the new OEP rule and how Trackhosue is using it for Helio Castroneves.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Helio Castroneves (Via IMAGO)
Going into the 2025 NASCAR season, the sanctioning body made some major rules changes and formed some new policies. One of them was the Open Exemption Provisional rule, which guarantees elite drivers from different racing series a slot in the starting line-up and not everyone in the community is excited the new policy.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his feeling about the new rule change, Trackhouse Racing becoming the first team to use the provision for four times Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves’ Cup debut at Daytona. He pointed out that it raises a lot of questions Trackhouse is going through with OEP entry.
This is something that they had planned out. Trackhouse was like, we’re going to put this deal together, we’re requesting this exemption. We’re going to spend the next several months preparing a car and getting ready. So, it does raise a lot of questions.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Dale Jr. Download.
He surprised by the fact that Justin Marks’ team made the decision considering they have driver capable enough to qualify in the race, considering how competitive Trackhouse cars are. Junior questions whether it was worth it for the Chevy team to lose their share from the prize pool over a guaranteed race start.
I am a bit surprised though because I think Trakckhouse is competitive enough to qualify in. And it’s a lot of money to finish last. If you’re just looking at, hey man, what’s it cost to start the race? It’s a lot of money. So, to forgo that possibility is pretty significant for a team.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares how other teams are going to feel about OEP entry
In the same conversation, Junior shared how he thinks other open teams are going to feel about the OEP entry. He pointed out that it a lot of open cars came into the Daytona 500 in 2026 and sees one racer gets a free pass, they will be pissed.
‘Wow, there’s all these guys that are going to show up and try to make this race, but there’s this one that’s also trying to make the race that’s got a free pass.’ Imagine if the amount of open cars were to double next year, right? … but this one guy has this exemption. Then it becomes a little more hard to accept or swallow. Especially if you’re one of the open teams.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.
The comments from Junior might be something many in the community might align with and some might see the provision as unfair. It would be interesting to see how the OEP rule is going affect the Daytona 500, as well as the remaining races of the 2025 season.
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