These NASCAR Cup Series Champions Have Not Won the Daytona 500
What’s Happening? Feb. 16 marks the 67th running of the Daytona 500. As always, key drivers are looking to take home…
With another Daytona 500 just days away, it’s a great time to crack out the NASCAR record book. In NASCAR history, nine different Manufacturers have won the Great American Race, so who has dominated the banks of Daytona, and who is hunting for more in 2025?
What’s Happening? Feb. 16 marks the 67th running of the Daytona 500. As always, key drivers are looking to take home…
Buick last took a stock car to Daytona victory lane with three-time Daytona 500 Champion Bobby Allison won in 1988. Allison led 70 laps that afternoon in a memorable 1-2 finish with his son Davey, who would win the 500 in 1992.
Buick’s first win was in 1981 with Richard Petty, who won seven Daytona 500s with four different manufacturers. Allison won the brand’s second 500 in 1982. However, Buick officially left NASCAR following the 1991 season.
In a nine-season period, Mercury won all three of their Daytona 500s. All three of these were won by Wood Brothers Racing, which was then known for its relationship with Mercury rather than Ford.
The drivers who won in these Mercurys are a short list of all-time greats. In 1968, NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough won, followed by IndyCar legend A.J. Foyt in 1968 and fellow Hall of Famer David Pearson in 1976.
Oldsmobile had one of the longest droughts between wins. In 1959, they won the first Daytona 500 with Lee Petty behind the wheel, but they did not win again until Richard Petty did so in 1979. That win was Petty’s sixth 500, third with a different OEM, and considered one of the greatest races ever.
Olds would not have to wait long until they won their third and final 500 in 1980. That afternoon, Buddy Baker led a dominating 143 laps in his Gray Ghost en route to his only Daytona 500, and first win at Daytona International Speedway.
Pontiac had a similar streak to Olds, and they won back-to-back Daytona 500s in 1961 and 1962 with Marvin Panch and Fireball Roberts. However, they had to wait until 1983 to win their final Daytona 500 with Cale Yarborough.
Cale’s 1983 win is memorable as he flipped what was supposed to be his main entry, a Chevrolet, before switching to a Pontiac backup car. Pontiac would not win another 500, however, in the next 21 years before their 2004 departure from NASCAR.
Toyota had to wait sometime before winning its first Daytona 500. Veteran driver Denny Hamlin broke through for them in 2016. Toyota dominated that race and then entered a three-year drought.
However, Hamlin would win again in 2019 with room to spare. All looked lost as Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney’s Fords pulled away from Hamlin in 2020 until a wreck nudged Hamiln in front of Blaney. The 2016 and 2020 wins are some of the most memorable in recent history, though for drastically different reasons.
Dodges Daytona’s losing streak, puts Oldsmobile and Pontiac to shame. Dodge won back-to-back Daytona 500s in 1973 and 1974 with Richard Petty. However, the brand slowly faded from NASCAR during the 1980s.
When the brand re-emerged in 2001, it took one season for them to return to victory lane with Ward Burton and Bill Davis Racing in 2002. Dodge won again in 2008 before suddenly leaving the sport as Champions in 2012.
Plymouth won four Daytona 500s from 1964 to 1971. Of course, this was during the infamous aero wars. Petty Enterprises fielded all four winning entries, and Richard Petty won three of the four races alongside part-timer Pete Hamilton.
Of course, the most memorable victories came in the iconic high-winged Plymouth Superbird in 1970 and 1971. In 1970, Pete Hamilton drove his red-nosed Superbird to victory, and Petty drove his now iconic No. 43 Superbird to victory with a race-high 69-lap lead.
Ford clocks in at Second with 17 total wins in the Daytona 500. The list of winners reads as a laundry list of greats, including Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Fred Lorenzen, Mario Andretti, and Matt Kenseth.
Ford won their first Daytona 500 in 1963 with the Wood Brothers. Tiny Lund’s victory would be easily remembered 48 years later when Trevor Bayne took a WBR Ford to Daytona victory lane.
However, the winningest Ford organization at Daytona is Robert Yates Racing, which won three Daytona 500s with Davey Allison (1) and Dale Jarrett (2). In its 1993-2003 prime, RYR had consistent speed at the track with multiple chances to win.
Since 2015, Ford has had the most wins of any OEM in the Daytona 500, with four. This dominance began with Joey Logano’s 2015 win and continued with Austin Cinidric’s win in 2022, the Blue Oval’s most recent.
Chevrolet is undoubtedly the king of OEMs at the Daytona 500. The brand is led by its 1990’s poster boy, Jeff Gordon, who won three 500s from 1997 to 2005.
Gordon’s 2005 win was part of an unprecedented five-year win streak that began with Michael Waltrip’s 2002 victory for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and ended with Kevin Harvick’s victory in 2007. Had Dale Jarret’s Ford not won in 2000 and Ward Burton’s Dodge in 2002, this streak would have lasted from 1997 to 2007.
Chevrolet’s first win at Daytona was in 1960 with Junior Johnson. However, Chevrolet’s top-winning team would not win their first until 1986. This win, of course, was with Hendrick Motorsports and Geoff Bodine, who led a massive 101 laps.
At the time, this was Chevrolet’s fifth win. However, thanks to Hendrick, Chevrolet has finally pulled away from the competition. In fact, team wins are the only category in which the Bowtie Brand does not have a leg up, as HMS is tied with Petty Enterprises at nine wins.
HMS most recently won last year with William Byron; if they win in 2025, they will be the all-time winningest organization in the 500, and it would be Chevrolet’s third in a row.
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Three races into the season, the new Chase format has already intensified the competition for a foothold in the NASCAR standings. As a system that rewards both race winners and those who maintain consistent results, it keeps the postseason race open for a wide range of contenders, while cycling out those drivers who can’t get their wheels under them during the season.
In the NASCAR Cup Series, Tyler Reddick has established himself as the early points leader with a dominant lead. After securing three consecutive victories, he enters Phoenix Raceway as the clear favorite to make the Chase, while the rest of the field looks to break his momentum.
However, the start of the season has been difficult for several drivers. Despite their previous accomplishments, these competitors are currently struggling to maintain their standing in the early stages of the race to the Chase.
Christopher Bell
Last season, Christopher Bell kicked off his campaign with a dominant stretch of three wins stretching from Atlanta to Phoenix, propelling him into a clear spot for the postseason.
The early stages of his 2026 campaign, however, have made it difficult for him to secure even top-five or top-ten finishes. Bell currently sits 24th in the standings with 59 points. The speed has been there, yet in-race incidents have dug him into a points hole.
At Daytona International Speedway, Bell ran inside the top ten with fewer than ten laps remaining before the race turned on its head. Contact from behind sent his car into trouble, leaving him to limp away with a 35th-place finish, far from where he had been running.
The following race at EchoPark Speedway brought more of the same. During an overtime restart, Bell lined up on the front row when contact from Carson Hocevar pushed the No. 20 Toyota into the outside wall, turning what looked like a chance at a trip to victory lane into another lost afternoon, ending his day 21st.
Bell finally managed to stop the downward slide at COTA. When a late caution flew, he took a gamble on fresh tires and charged from 16th to third, climbing through the field with solid pace. The run placed Bell on the proverbial podium and brought home 34 points, pushing him up by seven positions in the points standings table.
Connor Zilisch
Connor Zilisch showed speed and talent this past weekend at COTA. Starting 25th, he climbed through the pack and crossed the line in 14th despite a day marred by incidents with other drivers. At one point, he even climbed from the back 30s to fourth before trouble struck again.
While numbers do not tell the whole story, for now, results from the opening racing of the season have left Zilisch with ground to make up. Zilisch collected five points at Daytona, nine at Atlanta, and 23 at COTA. The tally has left him with 37 points, placing him in 32nd in the standings, among the bottom group in the standings.
Zilisch closed last season at Phoenix (albeit in the O’Reilly Series) with a third-place finish, hinting that the one-mile oval in the deserts of Arizona, this weekend, could offer him a chance to improve his ranking.
Chase Briscoe
Chase Briscoe entered 2026 after his best Cup season so far in his young career. His first season with Joe Gibbs Racing ended with a third-place finish in the standings. However, the early stretch of the 2026 season has delivered mixed returns.
Briscoe finished runner-up at Atlanta, but the other two races have slipped through his fingers after looking strong. Briscoe came home in 36th in the Daytona 500, and after starting from third at COTA, he had high expectations.
But his weekend came undone on Lap 63 of the 95-lap race when the No. 19 Toyota lost its transaxle. Briscoe said the car shifted into neutral before smoke began to rise, leaving him with a 37th-place result.
The run was his second DNF in the first three races of the 2026 season. As a result, Briscoe slid from 15th to 27th in the standings with 46 points, trailing Reddick by 140 as the series heads further west.
Beyond the Cup Series, who is facing early points trouble in NASCAR’s lower National Series?
Harrison Burton
Harrison Burton moved to Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 24 and Toyota for the 2026 season. Through the first three races, Burton has recorded two DNFs. He currently sits 34th in the standings with 18 points, a significant decline from the two top-10 finishes he held at this point last year while driving for AM Racing.
Nick Sanchez
Nick Sanchez joined AM Racing this season after closing last year with an 11th-place finish in the standings after scoring his first win in the series at Atlanta. He hoped to ride that momentum into the new season. The start, though, has come with swings in fortune.
Sanchez bagged a third-place finish at Atlanta. But a DNF at Daytona and a 25th-place run at COTA have slowed his climb. After three races, Sanchez finds himself 19th in the standings with 53 points.
What’s Happening? Nick Sanchez will drive AM Racing’s No. 25 car in 2026, filling one of the final open seats in…
Jeremy Clements
Jeremy Clements has long cut out a role as a driver who can surprise race fans and steal a ticket into the NASCAR postseason, though, without the win-and-in format, the driver/owner will have to work much harder to do so in 2026.
Last season, Clements closed the year in 21st place in the standings and began this campaign by scoring a top-10 finish at Daytona. Since then, however, a 32nd-place finish at Daytona, a DNF at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and another P32 result at Circuit of the Americas have left him in P30 with 25 points, placing him well below the cut line.
Grant Enfinger
Grant Enfinger entered the 2026 season after a run in 2024 that carried him to the Championship Four. And last year, despite not reaching victory lane, he sat seventh in the standings by the end of the season.
At this point last year, Enfinger had already placed inside the top five at Daytona International Speedway and at Las Vegas. This year, three races into 2026, Enfinger has finished outside the top 20 in each race and currently stands 23rd in the standings with 41 points.
Daniel Hemric
Daniel Hemric is 19th in the standings with 46 points. After starting the season with a 26th-place finish at Daytona and a 34th-place finish at Atlanta, Hemric secured his first top-10 finish of the year at St. Petersburg. He continues to seek his second career series win following his victory at Martinsville last year.
Mini Tyrrell
Mini Tyrrell arrived in the Truck Series as a rookie after closing last season in the CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour with a fifth-place finish and three wins.
Driving the No. 14 Ram for Kaulig Racing, Tyrrell opened the 2026 season with results of 19th at Daytona and Atlanta. His run at St. Petersburg, however, ended with a 28th finish, which dropped him to 20th in the standings with just 45 points.
What’s Happening? One major storyline to follow during the 2025 and 2026 NASCAR seasons is the ongoing saga of Dodge and…
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Alex Bowman will not compete in Sunday’s Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway after being diagnosed with vertigo earlier this week. The Hendrick Motorsports driver stepped out of the car during the race at Circuit of the Americas due to illness, and after further medical evaluation, the team decided he should sit out this weekend. In his place, reserve driver Anthony Alfredo will drive the No. 48.
The situation also opens the door for a substitute appearance by Alfredo while the No. 48 team focuses on owner points and waits for Bowman to be medically cleared. Beyond the immediate lineup change, the update has sparked broader discussion about Bowman’s early-season struggles and how quickly he might return to the car.
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Alex Bowman will miss this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway. Hendrick Motorsports confirmed the news after Bowman was diagnosed with vertigo following medical evaluations earlier in the week. With Bowman sidelined, Anthony Alfredo will step in to drive the No. 48 car as the team prepares for Sunday’s event.
The video breaks down the latest update from Hendrick Motorsports, what it means for the No. 48 team this weekend, and how the situation could shape the early part of the season.
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