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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 twice in his first seven seasons and did it again six years later in 2005. Of course, he believes, there are more victories to come.
Gordon never won NASCAR’s biggest race again.
“You get into this depression of, ‘Man, what did I do differently?'” Gordon said.
Oddly enough, the answer is nothing.
That’s the nature of NASCAR’s crown jewel event, which represents a unique contrast in the world of top sports: It’s NASCAR’s Super Bowl in many ways, but remains one of the least reliable indicators of greatness.
Some of NASCAR’s most legendary names, such as Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin, have never won this race. Meanwhile, five of the last seven Daytona 500 winners are winless in the remaining 35 races of the season.
“You would think in the biggest race of the year, the best team and driver would always win,” said 2015 Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano. “but it is not the truth.”
Logano brought the fastest car to this year’s 500-mile race, taking pole position for the first time in his career. But the style of racing at NASCAR’s so-called “superspeedways” like Daytona means that when more than three-quarters of the field has a legitimate chance of winning, there’s no guarantee Logano will be there in the race. Good performance. (The game originally scheduled for Sunday was postponed to Monday at 4 p.m. ET due to rain.)
The root cause lies in security issues. If NASCAR Cup Series cars were allowed to drive unchecked on Daytona’s highly banked 2.5-mile track, they could reach speeds in excess of 200 mph, putting competitors and fans at greater risk.
NASCAR requires each car to be equipped with a “cone spacer” (a block of aluminum filled with holes that reduces airflow to the engine) that limits speed to prevent the car from becoming airborne and flying into (or through) the dividing fan fence from racecourse.
But there is a side effect. The reduction in horsepower means cars are often driven in groups, with drivers having to rely on help from other competitors to stay around the track. Otherwise, they risk falling helplessly behind, unable to catch up as the fields rush off into the distance.
This makes the odds skyrocket on two fronts: one, that the unknown underdog can hang with the elite long enough to pull off a shocking win; Shocking victory. Second, even a minor misstep or mistake by one driver in a team can trigger a massive multi-car collision, known as a “macro accident.”
“You can’t completely control your own destiny, and I’ve accepted that,” said defending NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney, who has never won the Daytona 500 despite being one of the best Supercar drivers. “I’m going to do whatever I can to try to hang on, and if I get wiped out for something that’s not my fault, I’m going to be like, ‘What can you do?'”
When Christopher Bell won Thursday night’s Daytona 500 qualifying race, he admitted believing that style of racing was “100 percent luck.”
In fact, this is a bit of an exaggeration. While luck undoubtedly plays a role at Daytona, it’s not everything.
“I used to think this game was more about luck than skill, but the more I studied it, the same guys were always in front,” said Kyle Larson, considered the best player of his generation. One of the most talented American drivers. “These guys are not luckier than other people; they’re not luckier than other people. They’re really talented in this style, and they have a good feel for how things work and where to be at the right time.”
Austin Cindric won the 2022 Daytona 500, his only Cup Series victory in 79 starts. “The drivers that win this race are the ones that stay calm and make the right decisions,” driver Tyler Reddick said. (Chris Grayson/Getty Images)
Becoming a top superspeedway racer requires a different set of skills than a typical track racer, it’s more about allowing the driver to handle better (and therefore go faster) than the competition.
At Daytona, the best drivers possess great racing skills—knowing when to risk a move and when to stay put—and an innate awareness to avoid danger. Beyond that, they’ll require smart strategy from the team, quick pit stops from the crew, and of course, good luck.
“Smart guys are able to ride out (the hazards) or know, ‘I need to get out of this’ — or they’re already ahead in the beginning,” said Tyler Reddick, who has raced in all five of his Daytona The car crashed in both 500 starts but won Thursday’s qualifying race. “The riders who win this race are the ones who stay calm towards the end of the race and make the right decisions.”
Although the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. was mythically said to be able to “see the air,” the reality for modern drivers is that they must see on video. Observers will narrate and even decide which maneuvers should be performed from a position above the track, and drivers will pore over footage from previous races to learn which maneuvers work, which ones backfire, and which ones lead to major crashes.
Some teams track analytics such as where the best runs are relative to success. But even so, there are still many factors beyond their control.
For example, Brad Keselowski has led the most laps in each of the last two Daytona 500s (part of a career total of 177 laps led in this race), but has never led more than Never won a championship. Keselowski, now 40 years old and running out of time to win the Daytona 500, said he was willing to lead these laps in exchange for a lead on the final lap.
“You go to the Daytona 500 and you’ve done all this preparation … and usually, either way, the result feels unearned,” he said. “Like many things in life, you just have to realize it’s not always fair, accept it and move on. But it’s really hard to reconcile.”
Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. are the current Cup Series champion drivers who are nearing the end of their careers but have yet to record a Daytona 500 victory. Busch said he wanted to win the 500 more than any other remaining accomplishment, but admitted “it’s just a race.”
Drivers across the NASCAR garage continue to struggle with this dichotomy. As Gordon said, “Somebody’s going to win this game and there’s no other win like it.”
On the other hand, as Logano points out, the Daytona 500 trophy (or lack thereof) does not define a driver’s career.
“That’s an incredible statistic to put on your resume,” Logano said. “That part is great. But if you had to choose between winning 15 Cup races and a Daytona 500, you’d probably rather win 15 Cup races.”
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(Above: John Bradford/ Competitor; Photo: Jared C. Tilton, Jonathan Ferry, Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
