Starting in 1959, the Daytona 500 is the birthplace of NASCAR, and is often hyped up as the Super Bowl of stock car racing. Winning the Daytona 500 is a historic feat in any stock car driver’s trophy case. Recently, the importance of the event feels lost amongst fans.
The Daytona 500 is one of four crown jewels in stock car racing alongside the Southern 500, the Coca Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400.
The margin of victory for the race since NASCAR’s adoption of electronic scoring in 1993, which has made data more precise, on average is 0.166 seconds. The only other race on the calendar that beats it is Talladega with 0.097 seconds. This means that race wins are usually photo finishes that highlight how narrow the competition is, making each race more memorable.
In the past 10 years, only five races have finished under the green flag while the others have finished under caution. Drivers are more likely to wreck out of the Daytona 500 than they are to win it. The event alone produces more race-ending wrecks than any other race, and the odds of winning are one out of 40.
These drivers aren’t just fighting to make history, they’re fighting to survive as they succumb to pressure and desperation, trying to make it to the checkered flag first.
In recent years, rules and regulations have changed a lot, which has drastically switched up the quality of racing produced. For example, there are no practice sessions for the Daytona race, which has upset fans and drivers as there used to be “speed weekends,” where teams could practice and test. NASCAR has taken the criticism into consideration as they have decided to reintroduce practices for the 2025 event.
The drastic changes NASCAR has put into place after 2012 has deeply affected viewership. In 2013, the race garnered 16.5 million viewers, but in 2024, only 6 million tuned in. The decreased viewership can be attributed to the cars, the rules and the current playoff system.
The Next-Gen car and the type of racing it produces takes a lot of heat from both drivers and fans. With the Gen-7 cars, problems like heavy drag, reduced speed and traffic jams are a big issue, especially at superspeedways like Daytona. These problems lead to tight-pack racing, where everyone gets stuck together, causing unpredictable finishes. Working your way up as a drafting driver is virtually impossible and drivers have been vocal about their frustration with the task.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona champion said in his podcast, “I had conversations with what I deem probably the most talented speedway racers before the race, ‘Do you feel like your skills are shown as much now with the Next-Gen superspeedway racing?’ All of them unanimously said ‘no.’”
To new and older drivers, the significance of the Daytona race is not a legacy-maker anymore. While it is the biggest race on the calendar, it does not define drivers the way it did 20 years ago.
Up-and-coming Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson has expressed his disinterest by saying, “I want to win a second Snowball Derby just because this is the biggest race I run every year. This is bigger than the Daytona 500 to me.”
Underdogs and unexpected Daytona winners are not new. However, even in the restrictor plate era, for every “undeserving” winner, there would be multiple future hall-of-famers in a row. A recent example of this would be from 2004-2009. The Daytona 500 winners combined have 13 cup titles; since 2018, the Daytona winners have zero titles.
As NASCAR stands at a crossroads with its most popular event, the organization must find a balance between tradition and evolution to bring the former glory and interest of the fans back. Listening to drivers and teams feedback regarding the race and racing in general would not only boost their enjoyment of their jobs but also the fans’ enjoyment of the event. What made the old Daytona races great may not work now but there are ways to work around it rather than changing everything people love about it.
The current situation that superspeedways and the Daytona 500 find themselves in does not allow drivers to make bold, aggressive moves but rather forces them to play it safe — making the spectacle boring to watch. The pack racing, combined with the current car design and restrictions, has taken away much of the excitement that used to define the race. While the Daytona 500 will always be relevant due to its historical significance, the spark that it once had is dwindling. If NASCAR wants to keep fans and drivers interested, it needs to find a way to make Daytona important again without compromising the safety or integrity of the sport.
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