Despite being one of the greatest wheelmen to ever step foot in a NASCAR race car, Tony Stewart was unable to capture a win in the Daytona 500.
In 17 Daytona 500 starts, Stewart’s best finish in the ‘Great American Race’ was second in 2004. That loss to Dale Earnhardt Jr. was just one of the heartbreaking losses Stewart suffered in NASCAR’s biggest race. In 2007, he and Kurt Busch had the two fastest cars in Florida before both drivers crashed on Lap 153. In 2008, Stewart finished third after losing another heartbreaker to Ryan Newman. He would only finish top-10 in the Daytona 500 once after 2008, despite winning two summer races at Daytona in that same span.
Earlier this week, Stewart appeared on the ‘Rubbin Is Racing’ podcast to discuss the Daytona 500, among other things. It was on the show where Stewart made a bold claim about the Daytona 500 that immediately sparked discourse among fans.
Stewart’s Bold Claim
“In my eyes, it (the Daytona 500) doesn’t mean the same now as it did 15, 20 years ago,” Stewart said. “You look at some of the guys that have won the Daytona 500. They’re guys that I do respect and have friendships with, but they’re not guys that should’ve won the Daytona 500. They won the Daytona 500 and that’s all they’ve won. They may have won one or two other races outside of that. Well, we (Stewart) won 49 Cup races. Jeff Gordon won (93) Cup races. Richard Petty, 200 Cup races. Anybody in the field can win the Daytona 500 now.”
Tony Stewart did not hold back in this interview.
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“So, to me, as much as it’s a crown jewel, yeah, I would still go back and trade some of my race wins for a Daytona 500. Even though I don’t feel it carries as much weight as it used to, it still carries the weight because it’s still the Daytona 500. It’s still the marquee event on the NASCAR schedule. It still has that rich history.”
“But you look at the guys winning some of these, they’re not the guys that led the most laps, they’re not the ones that were up front. They were second, third, fourth when the last-lap crash happened. I don’t hold as much stock in it.”
Is Stewart Wrong?
While it still takes a great driver and a fast car to win the Daytona 500, it’s easy to see Stewart’s point. Underdog winners have increased not just in the Daytona 500, but in all superspeedway races in recent years. Over the past 15 years, Trevor Bayne, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – all great drivers in their own right – have won the Daytona 500. As Stewart mentioned, those aren’t drivers whose Cup Series resumes would shine without the blinding light of a Daytona 500 victory. Of course, those drivers all put themselves in the necessary position to win NASCAR’s biggest race, but it’s hard to see where Stewart’s claim veers off the road. At its core, NASCAR’s biggest race has become tainted, if only slightly, by the inherently chaotic nature of its modern iterations that can seemingly be won by any driver on the grid.
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