Although the Daytona 500 is still almost universally considered the ultimate crown jewel on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the sport’s biggest race has arguably lost some of its shine in recent years.
The reason? Pretty simple.
The 500 is increasingly producing what critics have suggested are fluke winners.
Recent Daytona 500s Haven’t Favored Frontrunners In The Race Or NASCAR’s Heavyweights
There was a time not all that long ago when it seemed like only the best of NASCAR’s best ever hoisted the coveted Harley J. Earl Trophy awarded to Daytona 500 winners.
But it now seems as though drivers who don’t spend most of the race running upfront, or drivers who don’t typically contend for victories, are winning the biggest race of all due in large part to simply avoiding the notorious large multi-car crashes so frequently seen at Daytona International Speedway and sister track Talladega Superspeedway.
It happened in the 2021 Daytona 500 when major underdog Michael McDowell, running third with half a lap to go, dodged crashing frontrunners Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano to score an improbable victory — his first in 358 tries at the Cup Series level.
The 2018 Daytona 500, won by Austin Dillon, along with the 2022 Daytona 500 (Austin Cindric) and 2023 Daytona 500 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) have also yielded unlikely winners in the fairly recent past.
Given these realities, two-time and reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson wondered out loud during a Saturday Zoom call with reporters if winning the Daytona 500 means as much as it once did.
Kyle Larson Casts Doubt On Significance Of A Daytona 500 Triumph
Winless in a dozen Daytona 500 starts and without even a top-five finish in 23 outings at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Larson admittedly hasn’t enjoyed great success at the 2.5-mile, high-banked track.
For that reason, perhaps the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s views on the Daytona 500 are a bit skewed.
“I mean, it’s always going to be prestigious and feel prestigious,” he said during the Saturday Zoom call. “You know, I’ve never won the race. I’ve never even finished top five. So, I don’t know what the feeling is like. I would imagine the feeling of winning is still going to be extremely massive, if it ever happens.”
Regardless of Larson’s past or future at The World Center of Racing, though, he doesn’t seem to place as much value on capturing The Great American Race as many of his competitors do.
“In a way, yeah … it is difficult to get really excited about the winner or who’s won when usually there’s a 20-car pile-up and the guy running towards the back squeaks through and then misses another wreck later and wins,” Larson said candidly. “But that’s the race. And that’s how it is.”
Larson stopped short, however, of suggesting that all Daytona 500 winners over the last several years have merely been lucky.
“I think William Byron winning two in a row is not a fluke,” Larson said of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. “So, the cream does rise.
“Daytona and Talladega, sure, anybody can win. But, still, the teams positioning themselves the best and drivers making the best decisions do win.”