Travis Pastrana discusses the challenge of qualifying for Daytona 500 main race - "There are only four spots"

Travis Pastrana, a renowned stunt driver and extreme sports icon, will leave Pit Road at Daytona International Speedway in less than a week to try a 200 mph qualifying run for the Daytona 500.

Pastrana be driving the new race car for the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time at high speed.

Travis Pastrana's first NASCAR appearance since two races in the third-tier Truck Series in 2020, and his first time at a superspeedway since a full season in the second-tier Xfinity Series in 2013. Xfinity ran three Superspeedway races that year, twice at Daytona and once at Talladega. At Daytona, he qualified fourth and second and won the pole at Talladega.

While discussing the difficulty of just entering the race, Pastrana told Beyond the Flag:

“There are only four spots.”

Travis Pastrana will join the team's full-time drivers, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, in driving the No. 67 car for 23XI.

However, unlike Reddick and Wallace, who will have secured berths in the race thanks to NASCAR's charter system, Pastrana will have to qualify for one of four 'open' spots against drivers such as seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, and he'll have to do it with no practice beforehand. He said:

“We have a great car, but there are another – six official and I think eight that are on the bubble if they’re getting in, if they’re going to give it ago – but I mean you got Jimmie Johnson, two-time Daytona 500 winner, who is trying to qualify."

He explained how his partnership with Black Rifle Coffee Company to try to qualify for the Daytona 500, a race he has always wanted to run, came about:

“Dude, I tell you what, it has been such a fun ride to be with a company that like, every year, they’re like, alright, what do you want to do? What do you want to do that’s fun?"

"What do you want to do that we can bring in the veteran community or even just first responder community? What can we do that we can hang out with the crowd more, that we can be kind of just a part of what’s going on?"

He continued:

“And then I said the Daytona 500, and they’re like, that’s kind of the opposite! That’s this one big event! I said no, man, it’s Speedweeks!"

"To be able to do something that’s – the 500 is the Great American Race – it’s the one race that didn’t matter if you were into racing or not. It’s kind of like the Super Bowl. Doesn’t matter if you’re into football; you probably watch the Super Bowl. This is the race that I’ve always wanted to do.”

Though Travis Pastrana has NASCAR experience, he understands that a Superspeedway race at the Cup level, particularly the Daytona 500, will be difficult:

“It’s not in my wheelhouse. I raced NASCAR for a little bit, I had the experience necessary for NASCAR to sign off on it, but this is the only race – and yeah, I want to win, every driver wants to win – but we want to be a part of it."

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"I'm gonna do everything I can" - Travis Pastrana will give his absolute best in the upcoming Daytona 500 Qualifying

Daytona is also a Superspeedway, where a flinch may be disastrous and drafting alliances can determine the winner. Travis Pastrana was inspired to run 500 last year after receiving a call from Robby Benton, who spotted him in NASCAR a decade ago. Travis Pastrana made the decision to go for it. He said:

“If I do what I first did in the first simulator lap, where I just literally spun it off of pit road and almost backed into the wall, I will have every single NASCAR person saying: ‘I told you so. Why are you out there?’"

"But that's not going to happen. I'm gonna put in the homework. I'm gonna do everything I can. And if everything breaks loose in front of me—hell, let's go for it.”