Are you trying to find a longshot in the Daytona 500 this year? A possible heartwarming tale? What if it’s also a man who has won a few races at the World Center of Racing and is known for being comfortable with big-pack racing? In addition, he is a widower who is 65 years old. NASCAR team owner Carl Long, who owns a few different teams, revealed on Thursday that he had signed Mike Wallace, one of the racing Wallace brothers from the previous generation, to drive the team’s No. 66 Ford in the 2025 Daytona 500. After “being away for a few years,” Wallace expressed his excitement about returning to the Daytona 500 in a news release. A couple of years?
The only time Rusty’s younger brother has competed at Daytona in the last eighteen years was ten years ago. Mike, to his credit, fared well in superspeedway pack racing and finished in the top 10 in more than 25% of his Daytona Cup Series starts (5-for-19). In 2020, he participated in three Xfinity races, his final NASCAR race. He has won twice at Daytona: once in the Xfinity Series and once in a truck, most famously for Geoff Bodine’s collision that nearly killed him in the first-ever Truck Series race in 2000.
The Wallace brothers of NASCAR have a lengthy history. In 2008, Kenny, Mike’s brother, completed his final Daytona 500. With 55 career Cup victories, big brother Rusty, who is inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, retired from racing in 2005. From the St. Louis region, the Wallace brothers participated in numerous Cup Series events on the same Sundays. It goes without saying that Mike may be the lone brother to go green at the 67th Great American Race on February 16 at Daytona. And it would occur 13 months after Carla, his wife of 44 years, passed away from cancer in January of last year. Mike Wallace stated that although the previous year was terrible, “2025 brings fresh excitement, starting with this Daytona 500 announcement.”
They say you have to be in it to win it, and we are rolling into Daytona with the chance to both be a part of and then race to win the Daytona 500!”
