Daytona 500 has reportedly garnered interest from team related to Floyd Mayweather
The 64th annual Daytona 500 is officially less than a month away now, but the final line-up still has a few question marks. One of those may be answered sooner rather than later. Floyd Mayweather's The Money Team Racing appears to be close to finalizing a deal to enter the Great American Race next month.
The team has secured a car, sponsor and @KazGrala so it appears close to an announcement.
.@TMTRacing50, the long-aspiring NASCAR team affiliated with @FloydMayweather, is working to try to finalize a deal to enter next month's Daytona 500 as its first race, per sources.
➖ The team has secured a car, sponsor and @KazGrala so it appears close to an announcement. https://t.co/rUBVZATaAP
The team secured a driver, Kaz Grala, who will pilot the #50 Chevrolet. It seems all that's left is an official entry, then the official announcement.
The Money Team's debut shakes up Daytona 500 line-up
Mayweather's debut into the racing world comes after years of rumors and speculation. The former boxer started showing interest in a NASCAR team in late 2018 and things looked more serious the next year when he licensed the TMT brand to Willy Auchmoody, a NASCAR executive who handles sponsorships.
Talk died down, however, and rumors went away, and it seemed like that was it for TMT racing. That is until the team secured driver Kaz Grala.
Grala, the 23-year-old Boston native, has one previous Daytona start, driving for Kaulig Racing in last year's season opener. He went on to finish the race in 28th place after starting 40th.
Could be five open cars at Daytona with Gragson, THill, Villeneuve and then possibly NY Racing (driver tba as team being put together) and The Money Team with Kaz Grala as they work on assembling a car.
This is where things get interesting for the 2022 Great American Race. The race is set to have 40 drivers and there are already 36 teams with Charters, or guaranteed entry, which means there are 4 open entries.
We now know of four open teams: Noah Gragson racing for Beard Motorsports, Timmy Hill with MBM Motorsports, Jacques Villeneuve driving for Team Hezeberg, and now Kaz Grala with The Money Team. There's still the NY Racing team to consider. If they find a driver and enter the Daytona 500, that would mean one of those five race teams wouldn't make it into the race, making the Daytona Duels that much more important.