Helio Castroneves will be a very busy man as he prepares for NASCAR's biggest race. He has added multiple test sessions and a race to his schedule.
Videos by FanBuzz
Castroneves, who will join Trackhouse Racing's Project91 program for the Daytona 500, will head to the Florida track on Thursday to kick off the two-day ARCA Menards Series practice session. He will join 76 other drivers spread between 42 cars as he familiarizes himself with the 2.5-mile track and the ARCA cars.
This practice session is a late addition to the four-time Indy 500 winner's schedule. It follows the announcement that he will compete in the season-opening ARCA Menards Series race at Daytona on Feb. 15. He will drive the No. 82 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet.
This is the same entry that Connor Zilisch drove to five wins last season while making his move into stock car racing. Castroneves will use this ARCA race to further prepare for the Daytona 500.
"I am looking forward to ARCA racing," he said in a statement. "I think getting as much seat time as possible will help in our preparation for the Daytona 500, plus I have watched ARCA races in the past on television and they look like a lot of fun."
The ARCA practice and race will not be the only times that Castroneves gets behind the wheel of a stock car before he attempts to qualify for the Daytona 500. He will also take part in a test session featuring the Gen 7 car.
As Castroneves explained during a media session on Jan. 7, he will head to Talladega Superspeedway and complete some laps in a Gen 7 Chevrolet Camaro so that he can get a feel for the car before practice and qualifying in February.
"I think NASCAR allows us at least to do a familiarization with the car — obviously, I've never been in a Cup car before — just to see how it is," Castroneves explained.
"And I'll probably focus mostly, as I mentioned before, on the in and out of the pits to make sure that I can understand the whole system."
The test at Talladega is the result of a rule change NASCAR made in June 2022. The sanctioning body updated sections 13.2.7, 13.2.7.1, and 13.2.7.2 of the Rule Book and made it possible for a guest driver to take part in a test session before competing in the Cup Series. According to these rules, the driver needs to have elite credentials from another motorsports series.
