Conor Daly, Zane Smith take divergent paths to Daytona 500

Running for unchartered teams, both drivers essentially had to race their way into the 40-car field through their respective 150-mile qualifying races Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Both did, but Daly’s road was much more difficult and unlikely.

Smith, the reigning NASCAR Truck Series champion, ran a solid race in the first qualifying race and ended up finishing eighth – the highest finishing driver among the unchartered teams.

Seven-time Cup champion and team owner Jimmie Johnson claimed the other spot from the race based his Wednesday night qualifying speed.

All national divisions champions in the 500

With Smith’s addition to the field, Sunday’s 500 will be the first to have the reigning champions of the Truck, Xfinity and Cup series all competing in the event.

“My emotions are definitely weird, just how big this event is,” said Smith, 23, who is driving the No. 36 Ford for Front Row Motorsports. “You don’t realize it coming until you’re making an attempt at it.

“It’s been crazy, all the media, and just all the hype behind it. Those duels were a little nerve-racking, but I kind of just followed my teammate (Michael McDowell) through there, and he was a huge, huge help.

“Big shout-out to him, all the Fords really. I felt like we really all worked together well.”

Smith is expected to compete in six Cup races with FRM this season, but making the 500 was expected to be the most difficult because there were more entries than spots in the field.

“This is a huge win for us, not only me, but all of FRM,” Smith said. “Obviously they’ve shown their success on the superspeedways, but there were some really good open cars that we had to beat, and just really proud that we beat them.”

Daly’s journey to Sunday’s race could not have been more different.

Daly was a late addition by The Money Team to drive its No. 50 Chevrolet and has little NASCAR experience.

He was never able to make a qualifying attempt on Wednesday night due to an electrical issue with the car. That meant Daly’s first lap on the track would be when the second qualifying race went green on Thursday night.

But right from the start, Daly knew it was going to be a difficult night as he reported his car was shaking terribly once he left pit road.

The situation didn’t get much better once the race got underway and Daly soon…