Mike Wallace Heartbroken, Confused by Daytona 500 Ineligibility

Mike Wallace, seen here celebrating a win in the 2004 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, says he is heartbroken about being denied the ability to compete for a Daytona 500 starting spot by NASCAR.
Mike Wallace, seen here celebrating a win in the 2004 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, says he is heartbroken about being denied the ability to compete for a Daytona 500 starting spot by NASCAR. / Sherryl Creekmore / NASCAR

At 65 years old, Mike Wallace was looking at becoming the biggest Cinderella Story leading into the 2025 Daytona 500. The driver, who has accumulated nine wins between the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (two of them at Daytona International Speedway) and has compiled 809 total starts in NASCAR National Series competition was set to attempt this year's edition of The Great American Race in the No. 66 MBM Motorsports entry.

Then, on Monday afternoon Wallace received a phone call that cut through him like a dagger. NASCAR concluded that Wallace was not eligible to compete for a spot in the Daytona 500 field.

"Well, I think it's past heartbreaking, it's devastating," Wallace explained in an exclusive interview with Racing America on SI. "It's because I did what I knew, or thought was appropriate in getting the proper clearances and everything."

According to Wallace, he had been attempting to obtain approval since late December, and until Monday's phone call took place, he had every indication that he would be approved to compete at Daytona International Speedway in February.

"These conversations about this started on December 22 with the upper management of NASCAR, and I was assured everything was fine," Wallace groaned. "And to get prolonged and stretched out, and then as recent as last Thursday be reconfirmed verbally on the phone that everything was fine. Then, I get a call at 4:00 PM ET [Monday] telling me that I was not approved to run the Daytona 500. And not just not approved to run the Daytona 500, but I wasn't approved to run any NASCAR Cup race this year or Xfinity race or Truck race."

Wallace, who hasn't competed in a NASCAR National Series event since the 2020 season, says the denial of his Daytona 500 bid amounts to a slap in the face, essentially, from the sanctioning body.

"You know, I think what it amounts to -- in 1990 I won the NASCAR Winston Racing Series, and that gave me an opportunity to move to the Carolinas in August 1991. And I put my heart and soul into NASCAR racing. I thought it was the greatest form of motorsports, something I wanted to be involved with, and was involved with. I didn't always agree with NASCAR's opinion, but everybody has a right to agree and disagree. And to be honest, to be treated like this, a simple lack of respect," Wallace stated, "it really, really is heartbreaking."

Adding to the heartbreak were Wallace's intentions to pay tribute to his late wife Carla, who passed away last year after a lengthy battle with ovarian cancer.

"This race was not just about me. The Daytona 500 was not just about Mike Wallace. It was about my family," Wallace said passionately. "My kids, my grandkids today. It was going to be a race that I honored my wife Carla, who passed away a year ago, January 22nd will be a year ago. We have some cool pictures hanging around our house in the basement of her and [me] in victory lane. Whether it was Daytona or Talladega, she always loved going to those places. It was more of a storyline. And it was more of a -- I kind of had the belief that for some reason this [opportunity] was dropped on me to do this race."

Wallace says over the past month, he's received congratulatory messages and calls from Steve Phelps, Mike Helton, and many other members of NASCAR's leadership team for his pending return to Daytona. Those congratulatory messages led to him believing he was all set to go for the Daytona 500. Those messages led to Wallace being even more confused when the final decision was made to keep him from competing in the 2025 Daytona 500.

"When you have staff members telling you they're happy for you and they're excited for you from the organization, there's some huge disconnect somewhere," Wallace concluded.

As a result of the congratulatory messages from NASCAR's brass, Wallace says he began spending the necessary money for safety equipment.

The driver says he paid $2,000 to have a seat mold poured so he would have a perfect fit inside of the No. 66 MBM Motorsports Ford Mustang, and he also purchased a new helmet and new firesuit in order to be compliant with safety regulations for the 2025 NASCAR season.

Additionally, Wallace began a workout regimen at the gym in order to be physically ready for the rigors of the Daytona 500, and he also did all of the required health testing for NASCAR leading into the season., and was even fully set up to wear a special data-gathering mouthpiece for NASCAR at Daytona.

"I had already throughout the year lost some weight. I went up to the gym and started working on a daily routine. I'm pretty damn tough right now, to be honest with you," Wallace stated. "My mental sharpness is there. I went over to the Charlotte Motor Speedway two weekends ago on Sunday. I had a 10:30 AM ET appointment per NASCAR's requirements to do the health fair and did the drug test, did the eye test, and did the physical test. I even volunteered to have my mouth scanned. I have the new mouth guard with the sensors in them that you would wear during the race, I committed to wearing them only during practice, but they gain data over a driver, what's happening in a driver's mouth during the race. You know, I was all-in, all-in. And they allowed me to pay those fees, the drug fees, the concussion fee that they charge to do those tests."

All of that effort to upgrade his safety equipment, and to physically prepare for the Daytona 500, all for not. All of the effort to acquire a sponsorship partner for the MBM Motorsports team, all for not. All of it, all for not.

Wallace says he could accept the reasoning that he hasn't competed in a NASCAR race over the last few years, and has never competed in the NASCAR Next Gen car as to why he was ultimately not approved for the Daytona 500, but he feels that reasoning for his ineligibility doesn't hold weight as NASCAR created a brand-new 'Open Exemption Provisional' which has officially secured a place in the Daytona 500 field for four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves.

"All I wanted to do was attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 with the hopes of making the Daytona 500, right? I wanted the opportunity to attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500, and they canceled that," Wallace pointed. "They canceled me is what they did. They canceled me. That two-three-year-old story about people getting canceled, well, they canceled Mike Wallace. In the same breath, they gave another person an honorary starting position in the Daytona 500. Guaranteed. Never been in one of these cars in their life. Incredible person, with incredible talent, but created an all-new provisional."

Like Wallace, Castroneves has never competed with the NASCAR Next Gen car, and unlike Wallace, Castroneves has never actually competed in a NASCAR National Series event. Yet, Castroneves is approved for the Daytona 500 and even has a guaranteed spot in the field to fall back on regardless of how he competes in qualifying and the Duel qualifying races.

While he's disappointed personally as he wanted one last chance to compete at Daytona International Speedway, Wallace says he feels even worse for Carl Long, who owns the MBM Motorsports organization, which is an "Open" entry team just trying to find its footing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

"Yeah, I mean, my side of it is one thing. And I'm sincere about this, I'm more concerned for Carl, and his organization MBM Motorsports," Wallace said. "Look, back in December, they had a driver, they had a sponsor, and now the first part of January, the second week of January, they have neither."

Wallace continued, "And if this approval process is as challenging as they made it look to me, who knows who they're going to put in the car, or who can get in the car."

Wallace continued, "I sincerely hope that his race team can find a driver that is approved and they can find funding that they can go and try to take all of the effort that has been put forth so far, and continue to capitalize on it and get themselves into the Daytona 500. For them, I'll do everything I can to help them."

It's almost weird to be disappointed because the veteran racer explains that he wasn't actively looking for a ride for the 2025 Daytona 500, but the opportunity to race for Long, who he has been friends with forever came to pass when Long fired off a longshot post on Facebook asking why he couldn't get any younger drivers to spend their sponsorship money to race his No. 66 car.

Wallace, ever the racer, saw the message and gave his old friend a call.

"I called him and I'm like, 'Well, what about an old guy?' He says, 'I'd rather have you than anybody,' he says, 'Actually, we were looking at a list the other day. You're the only guy that's out there that has won at Daytona.' He says, 'I would give anything.' So, that's how the conversation started," Wallace recalled.

Wallace says that NASCAR has offered him the chance to follow their approval process, and if he checks off the steps put in place, he could be approved to run next year's Daytona 500. While that's nice, Wallace feels the opportunity he had for this year's race was a one-time deal.

"Most likely, the opportunity won't present itself like it did this year," Wallace explained.

And even if the opportunity does present itself, Wallace isn't sure he would take it as he is very put off by how he and MBM Motorsports were treated by NASCAR this time around.

"I'm not going to pursue another entity. NASCAR has made their statement to me. They were totally disrespectful to me. They're very disrespectful to Carl Long and his race team," Wallace said.

The driver in the twilight of his racing career knows he wasn't fighting for his future, or how his racing legacy will ultimately be defined. He simply wanted one last chance at making the field for the Daytona 500, wanted to pay tribute to his wife, and wanted a chance to inspire others in his age demographic.

"You know, I'm not trying to make a career out of NASCAR racing, I've done had that," Wallace admitted. "I was going for a golden opportunity to be a part of the Great American Race. It was a way for me to pay tribute to my wife on a National platform. And honestly, it was an inspiration to a lot of people my age that a guy at 65 years old was ready to go racing again. You just have to read social media for about five hours, and you could tell how many people were supportive of it. And especially a lot of what I call the mid-age race fans, they were excited to see that, at least that's what I've been told and the bits and pieces I've read."

While his 2025 Daytona 500 bid ended in ultimate frustration, there is a silver lining to everything for Wallace. The driver whipping himself back into shape, and upgrading all of his safety gear, has allowed for him to contemplate returning to dirt racing, where he initially cut his teeth in Missouri.

"I was over at Longhorn Chassis two weeks before the Daytona 500 deal came about, [I was] talking to Steve Arpin about going dirt racing again," Wallace said. "I grew up dirt racing in the Midwest. And Longhorn Chassis is 10 miles from my house, they're the best in the business right now in the dirt world. I've got buddies [like] Bobby Pierce, who just won all the shootout stuff out there in New Mexico for the Wild West willing to help me if I wanted to go dirt racing. You know, it's something I would like to do as a driver. I don't want to do it to have to work on the car, or maintain it all and everything else. You never know."

And as far as things you never know about, if Wallace can return to the dirt track this year, perhaps he'll get to do battle with his younger brother Kenny Wallace, who has remained active in dirt track circles since retiring from NASCAR competition.

"You know I would really enjoy doing that. I would enjoy competing against Kenny," Wallace said with joy. "Just because we're brothers, it would be fun. It would be; there's another storyline. You get to a point in life, you want to have fun stories in life. I was telling him, I wish I could sit around like you and [Ken] Schrader and tell stories, but you've got to build the content to grow it. So, we'll see. Nothing is out of the question. I realize, at least the opportunities. Now, whether they come to fruition, we don't know yet."


Published
Toby Christie
TOBY CHRISTIE

Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.