Ty Dillon in talks to fill in for Tony Stewart after NASCAR’s Daytona 500

Ty Dillon confirmed Tuesday that he has talked with Stewart-Haas Racing about filling in for injured driver Tony Stewart after Sunday’s Daytona 500.

“Nothing has been finalized,” said Dillon, who will drive a full Xfinity Series schedule this season. “It would be an honor for me to drive Tony’s car in his last year. Nothing has been announced yet. I haven’t signed anything yet. We’ve been in talks. Hopefully we will have some news sooner or later. It is a slow process.”

Brian Vickers is driving Stewart’s No. 14 Chevy in Sunday’s Daytona 500. Stewart, who is retiring as a Cup driver after this season, is out indefinitely after he broke his back in a dune-buggy accident Jan. 31 in Southern California.

“Unfortunately, it kind of stinks that we are even talking about that down here,” said Dillon. “I think everybody including myself wants Tony to go out the right way and to able to run every single race.”

Notes

▪ Jeb Burton will drive Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 43 Ford in the Xfinity Series this season. Burton has 50 Truck Series starts over the last two seasons, winning one race and having seven top-five finishes.

▪ Trevor Bayne has one career Cup victory: the 2011 Daytona 500. He thinks about that a lot.

“When I come here it is hard not to,” said Bayne. “Every week I kind of think that we can do this, we have done it before but we need to do it again. You don’t look back at it and say, ‘Oh, we’ve already done that, I don’t need to again.’ You say, ‘We can do it, let’s go do it again.’ ”

▪ Actor Gerard Butler will serve as grand marshal the Daytona 500. Butler plays Secret Service agent Mike Banning in the upcoming movie “London Has Fallen.” WWE star and actor John Cena will be the honorary pace car driver and baseball hall-of-famer Ken Griffey Jr. is the honorary starter.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Ty Dillon in talks to fill in for Tony Stewart after NASCAR’s Daytona 500."