NASCAR has never taken a page from Wrestlemania and dubbed the Daytona 500 “The Showcase of the Immortals.”
However, even a NASCAR novice will quickly get the sense that a win in the Daytona 500 will change the life, to say nothing of the career trajectory, of the driver that hoists the Harley J. Earl Trophy. They will forever be known as a Daytona 500 champion. No matter how many more races or championships they win, this will be the biggest win of their career.
But the reason I write today is to ask the question: What does being a Daytona 500 champion really mean in 2025? Can one truly argue that a win in the Daytona 500 places that particular driver among the elite in NASCAR? And, for that matter, does not winning the Daytona 500 leave a massive gap on a driver’s resume?
Let’s start with the second question. Among the drivers in the Top 10 in all-time Cup Series wins, only Kyle Busch (as of 9:39 a.m. on February 16, 2025) does not have a Daytona 500 win. One could take that as an argument that the most legendary drivers in NASCAR (save one) have all won the Daytona 500.
Meanwhile, there are seven drivers in the Top 20 without a Daytona 500 win. Should one take that as an indication that a Daytona 500 win elevates some drivers to the all-time elite in NASCAR?
I wouldn’t suggest that. After all, Richard Petty had 200 Cup wins and while seven Daytona 500s puts him head and shoulders above all other drivers, he logged 193 wins that weren’t in The Great American Race. David Pearson, second on that list, had 105 wins but only went to Victory Lane for the Daytona 500 once, in 1976. Petty and Pearson are both legendary drivers, but their respective inductions into the NASCAR Hall of Fame (Petty in 2010 and Pearson in 2011) were for their accomplishments over the course of their career (10 championships and 305 Cup Series wins between them). This is not to diminish their Daytona 500 wins, it’s to point out that it was not the be all and end all of their careers.
Let’s move on to the third question. Prior to February 15, 1998, Dale Earnhardt, with his seven championships, was already entrenched in the conversation about who the greatest driver in NASCAR history was. He had 70 wins and 7 NASCAR Championships, tying Richard Petty for the most all time. However, he had been unable to win the Daytona 500. He had come close, in 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1996, and 1997…but something had always happened to rob him of that Harley J. Earl Trophy. And so, when Earnhardt won the Daytona 500, at long last, in 1998, it made the win that much more special. To this day, Earnhardt’s win, Mike Joy’s call of “20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration, Dale Earnhardt will come to the caution flag to win the Daytona 500” and the arrival of “every man on every crew” to the edge of pit lane to congratulate the driver of the #3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is still remembered every time one talks about the Daytona 500. But certainly no one thought, coming into the 1998 Daytona 500, that Earnhardt, while a fine driver, would never be remembered unless he got that trophy.
So let’s go back to that first question:
Dale Earnhardt: Daytona 500 winner.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.: Daytona 500 winner.
Can one truly argue that Stenhouse, 88th on the all-time wins list with 4, is on par with Earnhardt? Or for that matter, should he be considered better than Tony Stewart (16th with 49 wins and three championships but no Daytona 500 win)? Of course not! Nor would you rank Austin Cindric or Michael McDowell or, at this point in his career, William Byron above Stewart, or Mark Martin, or Rusty Wallace. While Stenhouse, Cindric, McDowell and Byron all have Daytona 500 wins, they have not had the overall wins or, more importantly, the impact on NASCAR that Stewart, Martin and Wallace have had.
For Stenhouse, McDowell, and Cindric, the glow of the Daytona 500 win faded rather quickly. By the end of each season, it was difficult to remember they’d even won the 500. This can be attributed to the fact that none of those three won another race that season and have 8 career wins between them.
Even if you want to suggest that we’re comparing apples to oranges by comparing the drivers of today to the starts of yesterday, let’s take a look at Kyle Larson. While I’m not a huge fan of the guy, no one can deny the impact that Larson has had on this sport and what a representative of NASCAR he has been in other disciplines of racing, from the Chili Bowl to the Indianapolis 500. (One could argue he’s probably more a representative of sprint car racing in NASCAR but…)
A former Cup champion, Larson is already in the Top 30 on the all-time Wins list but much like Kyle Busch, however, as of the morning of February 16, 2025, he has not won a Daytona 500. Does this take away all of the other wins, across all these different disciplines? No! Kyle Larson is still lauded as one of the great drivers of our era, not because he’s won a Daytona 500, but because he is successful no matter what type of car he gets in.
For Dale Earnhardt coming into 1998, not having a Daytona 500 win was a huge blank spot on his resume. For Kyle Busch coming into 2025 and for Tony Stewart during his career, that win in the Daytona 500 was still the big prize that has continued to elude them. I remember hearing Danny “Chocolate” Myers, gas man on Dale Earnhardt’s crew, talk about how the RCR crew tried to tell themselves that the Daytona 500 was just another race, as far as the points go. That it wasn’t a big deal.
That all changed on February 15, 1998. Still, at the end of the day, a Daytona 500 win doesn’t make or break your career. It’s a highlight, the cherry on top of the sundae, so to speak. The winner of today’s race will have to carve out an entire career in order to be remembered as one of the all-time greats, not just have one good day at the track.
johnmilner.ca 