NASCAR team with one full-time employee relishes Daytona 500 start
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Beard Motorsports will compete in Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on Fox), continuing a trend of the one-employee team taking on juggernauts with incalculable resources.
The reason behind this is simple — it’s what the late Mark Beard Sr. would have wanted.
Beard, who owned the team with his wife Linda, passed away in 2021, two weeks before the season-opening Daytona 500.
The team still attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 and nearly accomplished the goal. Noah Gragson was in a transfer position during the second Duel race but was collected in a multi-car crash that sent the race to overtime.
Undeterred, Beard Motorsports returned for the 2022 Daytona 500. Gragson qualified on speed, marking the first race for the team since Beard’s death.
“(Mark) started this and I always told him, ‘This is not gonna last, it's not gonna last,’” Linda Beard told media members Wednesday after Anthony Alfredo locked the team into this season’s Daytona 500 on speed.
“But as he always said, ‘This is a business.’ And I went, ‘Okay.’ And he loved it, so then I loved it. And I just said, ‘Okay, this is what we're going to do.’ And after he passed, I just said, ‘We're not stopping. We're just going to keep going.’”
Starting lineup for 2024 Daytona 500
Joey Logano and Michael McDowell will start on the front row for Sunday’s race.
Linda’s words were correct. Beard Motorsports has continued competing in select Cup Series races while taking on new tracks in Atlanta, Michigan and the Charlotte Roval. Now the team is set to take on the Daytona 500 for the sixth time.
For Alfredo, the Daytona 500 represents an opportunity to drive a car he believes can win the race. It’s a way to show support for a family he has grown fond of in a brief amount of time.
“There's just a lot of things that were motivating me, but most of all was the unfortunate passing of Mr. Beard,” Alfredo told NBC Sports. “To know what this race means to them and NASCAR in general, to keep coming back to the track after that and want to be a part of it.
“… I really wanted to put it in the show for them and for Mr. Beard. To get it done on time, have a fast car like that, it's just a big accomplishment for all of us. But also after last year them missing the show, I wanted to be the guy to deliver for them.”
There were multiple opportunities to walk away from NASCAR. Beard Motorsports does not own a charter that guarantees entry into every race on the schedule. This is a part-time organization that primarily focuses on superspeedway races.
Brendan Gaughan, the former primary driver for Beard Motorsports whose business card said he is the vice president of racing operations, acknowledges that he told the Beard family multiple times that they could leave the sport after accomplishing so much between 2017-20.
After all, the team scored four top-10 finishes with Gaughan behind the wheel, led laps and put themselves in position for potential wins before late-race crashes.
Gaughan was no longer competing in NASCAR after 2020. He said that he did not know if he would be able to help the team acquire cars from Richard Childress Racing or power from ECR Engines.
Gaughan did not know what he could help the team control moving into the future, so his final start could have served as a natural exit for Beard Motorsports.
The team did not listen to Gaughan before Beard passed away. They did not listen after missing the 2021 Daytona 500, the only race Beard Motorsports attempted to qualify for during the last season of the Gen 6 era.
“(NASCAR teams) were switching to the new car and I told Mrs. Beard, ‘What we accomplished was unreal,’” Gaughan told NBC Sports. “‘Nobody's gonna be upset.’ But there's something with Linda and Mark (Beard Jr.) and Amie. They couldn't chew on that’s how we went out.
“They went and told me they bought the new car, and I told them I thought they were foolish. And I yelled at them and they said, ‘This is Mark.’ And I go, ‘Whatever we need.’”
Gaughan reached out to Richard Childress Racing and ECR Engines and asked if Beard Motorsports could still work with them to prepare for select races. Both organizations agreed.
Beard Motorsports returned to the Daytona 500 starting grid in 2022 with Gragson in the No. 62. Gragson went out and raced inside the top 10 with 10 laps remaining but finished 31st after being collected in a crash.
Gragson made two more starts for Beard Motorsports in 2022. He finished 20th at Talladega and then fifth in the Daytona summer race. That finish was the best in team history.
“We came back with Noah and Noah was absolutely on fire in this race car,” Gaughan said.
“And it meant a lot to the team, it meant a lot to that family being able to do what they did and do it in honor of their father and their late husband. It was special.”
Beard Motorsports attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 last season with Austin Hill. A crash in one of the Duel qualifying races prevented this.
Hill ultimately made five starts for Beard last season. His best finish was 14th in the Daytona summer race. He finished 24th or worse in his other four starts.
When Alfredo climbs into the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro on Sunday, it will mark the 27th time Beard Motorsports has competed in a Cup race and the 10th time since Beard passed away.
Alfredo will use the race to honor Beard’s memory but make no mistake — his goal and the team’s goal is to put on a show.
“That family, they're not here to make money,” Gaughan said. “They're not here just to say that they were here. When the 62 team shows up — not just open cars — every car in this field knows the 62 is here.
“… What Mr. Beard wanted to accomplish when he hired me to drive for him — and I told him no for two months — we accomplished more than I ever would have imagined. And we're still doing it for him.”
