Tony Stewart Says The Daytona 500 Doesn’t Mean As Much As It Used To: “Anybody Can Win”

Has Daytona lost its luster?

NASCAR’s 2025 Cup Series season was officially kicked off with the Daytona 500 back in February. It’s arguably the sport’s biggest event, but fans, analysts, and even drivers are started to sound the alarm that the “Great American Race” might not be all that great anymore.

If you are a racing fan, you’ll likely remember that driver William Byron took home his second straight Daytona 500 trophy a couple of months ago, and it was all thanks to a tumultuous last lap. The race basically concluded with a crash that included almost every car in the field, which allowed for Byron to jump from 7th place all the way to 1st at the very end.

Dayton is often known for its big crashes, but as of late, some of NASCAR’s biggest events have seemed to be decided more with luck than skill. As exciting as a final lap crash can be, it also has the power to make the ending anti-climactic. All of the strategic racing just for the winner to be decided by… not getting caught up in the mess?

The real racing fans know that William Byron wasn’t deserving of his Daytona 500 victory. Sure, he was near the front of the field, but there were a number of cars and drivers that had a better days than him… and they got caught up in the wreck. And it’s not just the die-hard fans that are calling out the “Great American Race.” Former NASCAR driver Tony Stewart also believes that the Daytona 500 isn’t what it used to be.

As he explained on the Rubbin’ is Racing podcast:

“I’m gonna get crucified by a lot of people for this. In my eyes, it doesn’t mean the same now as it did 15 to 20 years ago. Anybody can win. I mean, you look at some of the guys that won the Daytona 500.

And I don’t want to go into the list of guys, because they are guys that I do respect and have friendships with. But they’re not guys that should’ve won the Daytona 500. And they won the Daytona 500, and that’s all they’ve won. They may have won one or two other races outside of that.”

It seems like Stewart, who never won a Daytona 500 in his career, sees the inexperienced and “non-big-name” drivers winning the race as its biggest problem in the modern day. The decorated driver in his own right went on to name some of the Daytona 500’s most famous victors, suggesting that the “Great American Race” used to mean something… and now, at the very least, it doesn’t mean as much:

“We won 49 cup races. Jeff Gordon won, what, 75 cup races? Richard Petty, 199 or 200 cup races. Anybody in the field can win the Daytona 500 now. So to me, as much as it’s a crown jewel… I would trade some of my race wins to get a Daytona 500. (Now) I wouldn’t trade a championship for three Daytona 500 trophies. Even though I don’t feel like it carries as much weight as it used to, it still carries the weight because it’s still the Daytona 500.”