‘My hunger never stopped’: Former F1 champ Villeneuve qualifies for Daytona aged 50

Jacques Villeneuve has a Formula One title to his name and an Indianapolis 500 victory. He has nothing left to prove and yet celebrated as if qualifying for the Daytona 500 was the biggest win of his career.

The 50-year-old doubted he could make it into the race through Wednesday night’s time trials at Daytona International Speedway. His Ford wasn’t particularly fast and needed three tries to pass Nascar inspection. So when he posted the fastest time of the six cars eligible in time trials to earn a spot in Sunday’s field, Villeneuve erupted in joy and jogged his way down pit lane in search of his crew.

“To be able to make such a big race at such a high level is amazing and when I’m in the race car I don’t realize that I’m 50, which is good,” he said. “As long as it carries on like this, I can’t imagine myself stopping racing.

“It’s satisfying and amazing because there’s quite a few times where I’ve been hearing, ‘OK, come on. You’ve passed it. Just give it up.’ No, the hunger has never stopped ... until the day where I guess you start getting your foot off the throttle because you get a little bit scared or you don’t get that adrenaline rush anymore as a positive thing, that’s when you should stop.”

There are four spots in the field earmarked for teams that don’t own a charter that guarantees entry every week, and two were awarded on Wednesday night.

Villeneuve was in one of the six cars vying for one of the spots and locked himself into his first Daytona 500 by beating the other five open teams. Noah Gragson, who was born a year after Villeneuve won his 1997 F1 title, earned the second spot.

“Obviously, it’s not a win. It’s not like winning the Indy 500 or the F1 championship, but at this point in my career ... just to