Who is the Winningest Manufacturer in Daytona 500 History Entering 2026?
What’s Happening? The Daytona 500 is not only important to teams, drivers, and fans, but also to NASCAR’s Manufacturers, as they…
Entering this season’s 68th running of the Daytona 500, five former NASCAR Cup Series champions are pursuing their first-ever Daytona 500 victory.
What’s Happening? The Daytona 500 is not only important to teams, drivers, and fans, but also to NASCAR’s Manufacturers, as they…
Despite his two pole positions in the Great American Race, 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Chase Elliott sits with a surprising 19.7 average finish in his ten career starts in the Daytona 500. Though this isn’t to say he doesn’t finish the race, as Elliott has scored seven career top-tens in his ten starts, suggesting he just gets lost in the races’ shuffle.
By far the closest that Elliott has come to winning the 500 was in 2021, when he and Michael McDowell slipped through a fiery crash to finish first and second. Ultimately, Elliott’s second-place finish came at the mercy of NASCAR’s caution system, with Elliott pulling ahead of McDowell slightly late.
Ryan Blaney could be a favorite to win the 2026 Daytona 500 with Penske power in his No. 12 car, having powered him to two wins at Daytona in his Cup Series career, including the most recent race at the track last August. In contrast, a look at the stat book would suggest otherwise, with Blaney touting a measly 16.3 average finish in his ten starts, but with two second-place finishes to his name.
His first second-place finish came in the memorable chaotic fuel mileage race in 2017, with Kurt Busch coming away the winner after leading just the final lap. Blaney’s most recent second-place finish came during the dramatic 2020 finish that saw Ryan Newman go airborne off the nose of the No. 12, with Denny Hamlin sneaking through for the win.
Kyle Larson looked like the most likely driver to win that 2017 Daytona 500, holding the lead on the backstretch during the final lap of the race. Larson would, of course, run out of fuel on the backstretch, surrendering the lead to Busch. Since 2017, things haven’t been much better, with Larson scoring just three top ten finishes and having yet to score his first top five finish in the 500.
Larson is by no means known for his ability on superspeedways and drafting tracks. But, 2025 might have been a breakthrough for the reigning champion, tying his best career finish of sixth at Daytona in the summer, while also finishing third in Atlanta’s spring race, and second in Talladega’s spring race.
Many NASCAR fans may consider Brad Keselowski one of the best superspeedway racers of his generation, and, with seven combined career wins at Daytona and Talladega, who could blame them? But that luck runs out in February, when Keselowski has just two top-five finishes in 16 career Daytona 500 starts.
This isn’t to say that Keselowski doesn’t put himself in a position to win the race; he seems to get swept up in whatever chaos happens towards the end of the race. Bad Brad is entering the twilight of his career, and, entering this year’s 500 with a recently broken leg, could be one of the all-time great stories in Daytona 500 history, that is, if he can avoid the unpredictable.
Last year, fans did not get to hear Mike Joy call home Kyle Busch for 21 years of trying, as in his 20th start, Busch finished 34th, completing only 186 laps. This has compounded Busch’s legacy in the 500 of being good but not great, having led a career 342 laps in the race, but finishing no higher than second.
Busch’s second-place finish came in 2019, a finish somewhat overlooked as teammate Denny Hamlin joined the elite group of drivers to win two career Daytona 500s. His best chance at the 500, however, was far and away his 2023 effort, where, in his first 500 with Richard Childress Racing, Busch looked great, before a late caution foiled his shot at victory, ultimately wrecking on the final lap of the race and finishing 19th.
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