What happens when the biggest race in NASCAR just doesn't matter anymore? By the sound of drivers like Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin, it might not. It's one thing for fans and even analysts to shrug about the current state of things, to compare it to the glory days. But it's another when active and former drivers collectively shrug at the modern state of driving.
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This all comes in reaction to William Byron winning his second straight Daytona 500 back in February. However, it's not just some regular hating about his winning. Rather, it's the fact that off of one crash in the final lap, the driver jumped from 7th to 1st in the last moments. It's making guys like Tony Stewart upset because they feel like anyone can win. Luck and circumstance has more to do with winning than the skill of driving and racing.
Tony Stewart Believes The Daytona 500 Lost Some of Its Credibility
Recently, Stewart spoke on his Rubbin' is Racing podcast where he laments the current state of the Daytona 500. When he looks at the last crop of winners, he can't help but feel like it doesn't matter, that anyone could take the trophy home. "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," Tony shrugs.
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," Tony adds.
Comparatively, Stewart looks at the all timers and their cup wins and how that makes their big Daytona wins matter more. It's to a point where he doesn't even care that he didn't win one back in his day. "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," Tony explains. "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."
