The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s greatest race, but some of its greatest drivers never won. That’s the case with the sport’s current crop of stars as well. Going into Sunday’s running of the 67th Daytona 500, here are the best active NASCAR Cup Series drivers who have not yet won the ‘Great American Race.’
Kyle Busch
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, has made 19 Daytona 500 starts. He came ever so close to winning in 2023, but finished 19th after a crash on the final lap. In 2019, he finished second to teammate Denny Hamlin. His lone Cup Series win at Daytona came in July of 2008, and it could take some old Busch magic in order for him to recreate Dale Earnhardt’s iconic ’20 years of trying’ triumph.
Ryan Blaney
The 2023 Cup Series champion has become one of NASCAR’s brightest stars over the past two seasons, but Blaney is yet to find a way to win the Daytona 500. That’s an oddity considering he’s one of the best superspeedway racers in the sport. Blaney boasts three wins at Talladega and won at Daytona in August of 2021. He finished runner-up to Kurt Busch in just his second Daytona 500 start in 2017, and lost to Denny Hamlin by inches in 2020. Blaney nearly outdueled Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric for the win in 2022 before contact from Cindric relegated Blaney to a fourth-place finish. For a driver who’s only 31 years old, Blaney has already seen his share of Daytona heartbreak.
Brad Keselowski
Like Blaney, Keselowski is one of the best superspeedway racers to not yet have won the Daytona 500. Keselowski is a six-time Talladega winner and won at Daytona in July of 2016. His best Daytona 500 finish was a third-place effort in 2014, but his most heartbreaking loss occurred in 2021, when an errant shove sent both Keselowski and Penske teammate Joey Logano around. Keselowski should have a quick RFK Ford underneath him on Sunday, and if he gets to the front, he won’t be taking any prisoners.
Kyle Larson
Superspeedways have not been kind to the 2021 Cup Series champion. In 21 starts at Daytona, Larson is yet to finish inside the top-five. His most heartbreaking loss in the Daytona 500 occurred in 2017, when he ran out of gas in the race’s waning moments. His seventh-place finishes in 2016 and 2019 are tied for his best Daytona 500 efforts, and it could take a stroke of luck for the No. 5 to grace Daytona’s victory lane.
Chase Elliott
Elliott is a two-time Talladega winner and a winner at the reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway, but Daytona has eluded him so far. In 18 Daytona starts, he only has three top-five finishes. Like Larson, fuel mileage took him out of contention in the closing laps of the 2017 500. His best Daytona 500 finish came in 2021, when Elliott drove through the aforementioned carnage that enveloped Keselowski and Logano and followed race winner Michael McDowell for a second-place finish.
The chaos that often consumes the Daytona 500 field takes many aspects of the race out of the drivers’ hands, but make no mistake about it: these drivers want to win the Daytona 500 more than any race on the schedule.
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