Ty Dillon will be a little busier during Daytona Speedweeks now. He entered 2021 without a ride for Daytona and now heads to Speedweeks with an entry in every race minus the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.
Dillon, landed a four race deal with Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No. 54 Toyota in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021. One of those races is the season opener at Daytona next Saturday.
He was also hired on by the Gaunt Brothers to drive their No. 96 Toyota for the Daytona 500 as well. That car is an open car and will head to Speedweeks without a Charter, meaning Dillon will have to race his way in via the Duels next Thursday night, but it still is a Cup ride for Daytona too.
Then on Wednesday, 23XI Racing announced that Dillon will drive their No. 23 Toyota for next Tuesday night’s Busch Clash (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN) as well. Dillon, is in the car due to Bubba Wallace not being eligible for the all-star race.
Dillon, is eligible by virtue of him winning the opening stage on the Charlotte ROVAL. But, with Germain Racing closing up shop at seasons end last year, Dillon didn’t have a ride despite being a Clash eligible participant.
The full participant requirements were Busch Pole Award winners, Daytona 500 race winners, Daytona 500 pole winners, 2020 playoff drivers, 2020 race winners and 2020 stage winners.
With 23XI Racing making their debut in 2021, they figured why not put an eligible driver in the car to get going out of the gates.
There are 24 drivers eligible for next Tuesday’s race but three won’t compete. The full list of the drivers are –
Aric Almirola
Ryan Blaney
Alex Bowman
Clint Bowyer (won’t race)
Chris Buescher
Kurt Busch
Kyle Busch
William Byron
Cole Custer
Matt DiBenedetto
Austin Dillon
Ty Dillon
Chase Elliott
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Jimmie Johnson (won’t run)
Erik Jones
Matt Kenseth (won’t run)
Brad Keselowski
Joey Logano
Ryan Newman
Tyler Reddick
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Martin Truex Jr.