© Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn
Legendary NASCAR driver Tony Stewart accomplished just about everything over his 17-season Cup Series career. Stewart won three series championships, 49 races, and eventually landed in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The one thing that he did not do, however, is win the Daytona 500.
Now, Stewart is far from the only Hall of Famer to never win the Great American Race. Mark Martin never did so. Neither did Rusty Wallace or Terry Labonte, and it took Dale Earnhardt, perhaps the greatest restrictor plate racer of all-time, 20 times before he finally took the checkered flag in the 1998 Daytona 500. Winning the Daytona 500 is wildly difficult. At least, it used to be, according to Stewart.
Tony Stewart Says Daytona 500 Has Lost Meaning Now That Anybody Can Win
Stewart appeared on Bartstool Sports’ Rubbin’ Is Racing podcast recently and explained that he believes the Daytona 500 has become less prestigious in recent years because it’s easier to win.
“When it comes to Daytona, now I’m going to be crucified by a lot of people for this. In my eyes, it doesn’t mean the same now as it did 15-20 years ago,” Stewart said. “Anybody can win, I mean, you look at some of the guys that won the Daytona 500. I don’t want to go into the list of guys because they’re guys that I do respect and have friendships with, but they’re not guys that should have won the Daytona 500 and they’ve won the Daytona 500 and that’s all they’ve won.
“They may have won one or two races outside of that. We won 49 Cup races, Jeff Gordon won 75 cup races, Richard Petty [won] 200 Cup races. Anybody in the field can win the Daytona 500 now.’
To some degree, Stewart has a point. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the 2023 Daytona 500 and has just four career wins (all on restrictor plate tracks, however). 2022 race-winner Austin Cindric has just three career wins, although he’s only in his fourth full-time season. Michael McDowell picked up the first of his two career wins in 2021 and Austin Dillon’s 2018 victory was one of just five total.
But that’s also nothing new. In 2011, Trevor Bayne won his only career race in the Daytona 500. Two of Michael Waltrip’s four career victories came in the 2001 and 2003 Daytona 500s, while 2002 winner Ward Burton won just five races across a 13-year career. The trend continues dating back even further, as well. Derrike Cope picked up his first of two career wins in the 1990 Daytona 500, and 1970 winner Pete Hamilton won just four times.
Fans were quick to point out the error of Stewart’s comments.
He wouldn’t feel this way if he had actually won one. The 500 has always taken a certain amount of luck to win. And who in their right mind would trade a season championship for any single race? https://t.co/mU1YPEfpni
— Willie McGahey Jr. (@wmcgahey) May 2, 2025
I don’t think Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse are less impressive winners than, say, Pete Hamilton, Derrike Cope, and Michael Waltrip https://t.co/s1D2l8wqIe
— Justin (@yet_unborn_son) May 2, 2025
Winning the Daytona 500 has always contained some element of luck. That’s as true now as it was two decades ago. Stewart just comes across as someone who is annoyed that he never won it.