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Helio Castroneves utilized the Open Provisional Exemption Rule to get a chance at the Daytona 500 but his day ended prematurely with a crash on Stage 2 of the race. Sharing his thoughts on his pal's mishap around the elusive race, Conor Daly asserted how the Brazillian driver was the innocent victim in a multi-car wreck.
The 49-year-old has had one of the most reputed driving careers in IndyCar. Castroneves scored a massive 31 victories that tie him for the 10th spot on the all-time win list. Moreover, he has 19 more victories than the current reigning champion Alex Palou.
Ironically, despite having achieved such massive feats and winning the Indy 500 four times, Castroneves does not have a single championship under his belt. Wanting to move away from the open-wheel racing action, the Brazillian driver had tried his hands out at the stock car racing sphere.
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The former IndyCar driver participated in the 2025 Daytona 500 with the No. 91 charter of Trackhouse Racing. However, he DNFed out of the race after he was hit by Martin Truex Jr. on lap 72.
Castroneves was dejected after the race, and Daly shared the essence of his DNF on the latest episode of the Pit Pass Indy podcast and said:
"I mean it was just purely NASCAR luck, right? Like Helio [Castroneves] didn't do anything wrong. I talked to him a couple of times, he called me before the duels, and he hadn't done a stock car pitstop yet—just kind of wanted my experience... But yeah, just wrong place, wrong time for poor Helio, that's all. I mean, the guy was doing everything he needed to do but sometimes you are just in the wrong place in that race," Conor Daly said (20:45 onwards).
The Daytona 500 was Helio Castroneves' second outing behind a stock car.
Helio Castroneves reflected on his first experience with NASCAR
With Helio Castroneves racing open-wheel racecars for over two decades, a jump to NASCAR appeared a big one. Sharing his experience at the helm of a stock car the four-time Indy 500 winner said (via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio on Instagram):
"The drivers are getting smarter every time, saving fuel and they’re lagging a little bit back, especially in the race, so that they can come through in the end. I was learning so much. It’s incredible when you get more laps. But unfortunately, that was it for us."
Despite the setback at this year's Daytona race, Castroneves has some unfinished business in the series and wants to return to the elusive track next year. Thus, both NASCAR and IndyCar fans will be eyeing the Brazillian driver to make his return to the 2.5-mile track, where he has had much success, and add another trophy to his cabinet.
