4 NASCAR greats still winless in Daytona 500

While seven past Daytona 500 champions will try to pad their legacy this year in NASCAR’s biggest race, many are still looking to forge theirs in it.

The list of drivers who are winless in the 500 reads like a who’s who of modern NASCAR — Champions, even.

Kyle Larson – 10 previous attempts

If you ask Kyle Larson about racing on traditional superspeedway tracks, you may not get the most excited response.

Larson has an average finish of 18.6 or better at every track – except for Daytona and Talladega.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion has only one top-5 finish and 8 top-10s in 37 starts at the two tracks. He also has 15 DNFs in those 37 starts.

His best finish in the 500 is seventh, twice (2016, 2019), and has never finished in the top 5 at Daytona.

The odds aren’t exactly in Larson’s favor like they are for other drivers who are winless in the 500.

Brad Keselowski – 14

For anyone who lived through Dale Earnhardt’s hard-fought journey to lifting the Harley J. Earl trophy in 1998, Keselowski is stirring up ancient memories.

In the last two years, Keselowski has led the most laps in the 500. The year before, he appeared to be in line to pull the perfect move on teammate Joey Logano – until bad timing caused that to go horribly wrong.

Keselowski has the best average running position (8.4) in the last three 500s. Even going back to 2020, 2014, 2013… If one thing or another went a little different, Keselowski might’ve won the Daytona 500 each year.

Akin in some ways to Earnhardt, Keselowski is a champion and one of the masters of the art of drafting.

There is a champion who is drawing even more striking comparisons to the seven-time champion, however.

Kyle Busch – 18

With three laps to go in the 2023 Daytona 500, tensions heightened. A team duel mounted between RFK Racing and Richard Childress Racing. On each side, a champion with everything to show for their legacy except for a Daytona 500 win.

Two-time champion Kyle Busch led with RCR teammate Austin Dillon in tow, and 2012 champion Brad Keselowski and RFK teammate Chris Buescher stalking them.

Tension snapped as Daniel Suarez’s tires squealed in a spinning white haze of smoke.

What shaped up to be a modern-day version of February 18, 1998, wound up with only Buescher’s car escaping the tow truck hook.

Fast forward to this year and the 500 falls on February 18 again – a date significant in the Earnhardt-Childress legacy for triumph in ’98, 2007 and 2018 but also tragedy in 2001.

Like Earnhardt in ’98, Kyle Busch is entering his 20th Cup Series season hoping to shake the Lake Lloyd-sized money off his back once and for all.

2008, he led a race-high 86 of 200 laps but fell short in fourth.

2009, he led 88 of 123 laps before crashing during a jumbled-up restart.

2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022… All years where the two-time champion led double-digit laps but for one reason or another, did not go to victory lane.

63 NASCAR Cup Series wins – none of them in the Daytona 500. In fact, at ninth on the all-time wins list, he is the only driver in the top 10 of the all-time wins list who has never won the 500.

Busch has three top-5 finishes in the 500. His best finish is second in 2019.

All the stars are aligning for him to do one better this year to end the waiting. There’s one driver who has been waiting longer than him, though.

Martin Truex Jr. – 19

In 2016, Martin Truex Jr. was 0.010 seconds off of claiming a Daytona 500 win.

Surely, after coming so close, and finishing eighth the year before, a 500 win seemed inevitable. Right?

Not quite.

That 2016 race was the last time the 2017 champion finished better than 13th in the 500. In that span are two DNFs – 2019 and 2020.

The 2016 Daytona 500 was his only top-5 finish in the race. Now, eight years later, the 2017 champion is still searching and now has the most starts in the 500 among all active drivers – let alone those without a win.

He swept the stages in 2022 and led double-digit laps again in 2023. Toyota has been strong at the drafting tracks and, with three extra horses in the field, Truex could stand to benefit.

Worth a mention is David Ragan. In 16 attempts, he has two Top-5 finishes in the Daytona 500. His best finish was fourth in 2020.

The rest of the field

A.J. Allmendinger 10
Ryan Blaney* 9
Chase Elliott* 8
Chris Buescher 8
Corey LaJoie 7
Erik Jones 7
Alex Bowman 7
Bubba Wallace 6
William Byron 6
Daniel Suarez 6
Ross Chastain 5
Tyler Reddick 5
B.J. McLeod 5
Christopher Bell 4
Ryan Preece 4
Chase Briscoe 3
Justin Haley 3
Noah Gragson 2
Harrison Burton 2
Daniel Hemric 2
Kaz Grala 2
Todd Gilliland 2
Riley Herbst 1
John Hunter Nemechek 1
Ty Gibbs 1
Anthony Alfredo 1
Zane Smith 1
Josh Berry 0
Carson Hocevar 0
* – Denotes past Cup Series Champion

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Wednesday

• Daytona 500 Qualifying: 8:15 p.m. ET; FS1, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio; 1 lap per car, 2 rounds; Front row for Daytona 500 set

Thursday

• Duel race No. 1: 7 p.m. ET; FS1, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio; 60 laps
• Duel race No. 2: 8:45 p.m. ET; FS1, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio; 60 laps

Friday

• Practice: 5:35 p.m. ET; FS1, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio; 50 minutes

Saturday

• Practice: 10:30 a.m. ET; FS1, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio; 50 minutes

Sunday

• 66th annual Daytona 500: 2:30 p.m. ET; FOX, MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio; 200 laps (Stages end on laps 65/130/200)