Getty Cup Series drivers race during the Daytona 500.
The NASCAR Cup Series season starts with the Daytona 500 on February 19. This race obviously provides excitement for the fans, but it also creates some concern among some of the drivers.
The Crown Jewel event is the biggest race on the schedule. It’s the Super Bowl of NASCAR, so there is some mystique. However, the opportunity to join a historic list can often lead to some drivers going too hard and sparking “The Big One” that collects several cars.
“Daytona is a wide-open crapshoot,” Martin Truex Jr. said in a press release. “Everyone holds it wide open. You get down to the end of the race and we’ve seen the crashes over and over on the green-white-checkereds.
“Everyone just holds it wide open and, if they have any momentum at all, they just try to drive through the guy in front of them and it spins him out and crashes him. It’s really just a wild card, it’s kind of crazy. I wouldn’t say I’m not uncomfortable there, but it kind of stinks to get down to the end, if you make it that far, to just get crashed at the end.”
Truex Has Some Near-Misses at Daytona International Speedway
GettyNASCAR drivers race during the 2022 Daytona 500.
The 2017 Cup Series champion has taken on the Daytona 500 a total of 18 times while driving for a variety of teams. He has been unable to win at Daytona International Speedway. Though he was inches away from accomplishing this goal in 2016. Instead, teammate Denny Hamlin won.
Truex will have another opportunity to pursue a win in the Daytona 500 when he suits up for the start of the 2023 season. He will expect to see numerous crashes, but he and his peers will also embrace the opportunity to compete in a race that has worldwide popularity.
“[Daytona is] the greatest place on earth to go race at,” Aric Almirola said in a press release. “It’s the biggest race of the year, the one everyone wants to win. Your name is forever etched in history. There’s just no other race like it. It’s such a special race because of the prestige and the paycheck at the end. It’s the highest-paying race.
“Anybody who is alive and breathing knows of the Daytona 500. Even if you’re not a huge race fan or even a NASCAR fan, you know of the Daytona 500. There’s just so much history around this race that being a Daytona 500 champion is a really big deal.”
A Manufacturer Streak Will Be on the Line
The drivers have an opportunity to put themselves in the record books with a Daytona 500 win. Some, such as Truex and Brad Keselowski, can potentially snap a winless streak at the Florida track.
There is also a manufacturer streak that will be on the line on February 19. The past two Daytona 500s have featured a Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. Michael McDowell won in 2021 while Austin Cindric won in 2022. Now the Ford Performance drivers will try to keep this streak alive for a third consecutive season.
Making it three in a row would be significant. No manufacturer has captured more than two Daytona 500s in a row since 2004-2007 when Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick all won in Chevrolets.
Ford had back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012 while Chevrolet went back-to-back in 2013 and 2014. Denny Hamlin then delivered back-to-back Daytona 500 wins for Toyota in 2019 and 2020.