Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club will utilize the Open Exemption Provisional to guarantee Johnson’s spot as the 41st car in the 2026 Daytona 500, NASCAR officials confirmed Wednesday.
Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer, will drive the No. 84 Carvana Toyota in the 68th running of the “Great American Race” on Sunday, Feb. 15 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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NASCAR created the OEP ahead of the 2025 season as a guaranteed “promoter’s choice” provisional in a given NASCAR Cup Series field for accomplished, world-class drivers from NASCAR or other forms of motorsports. Trackhouse Racing became the first team to utilize the provisional in the 2025 Daytona 500 to allow four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hélio Castroneves to make his NASCAR debut. Revisions to the application of the provisional now mandate a 41-car field whenever the provisional is granted. This differs from last year, when the Duel at Daytona qualifying races determined whether Castroneves would need to rely upon the provisional to make the starting field, typically capped at 40 cars.
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Because Johnson, a two-time Daytona 500 champion, will start the Daytona 500 via the provisional, he will be eligible to compete for the race win, the trophy and All-Star Race eligibility, but he will not be eligible to receive championship points or prize money from the event.
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An 83-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series and team owner of Legacy Motor Club, Johnson retired from full-time competition following the 2020 campaign and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2024 before returning to competition on a part-time basis in 2023 with LMC. Johnson is currently scheduled to drive the No. 84 Toyota in both the Daytona 500 and the June 21 race at Naval Base Coronado near San Diego, NASCAR’s first race on an active United States military base and near Johnson’s hometown of El Cajon, California.
