Has Kurt Busch ever won the Daytona 500? A look at NASCAR veteran's best record

Former NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, who retired from the sport in 2022, has had a lot of success during his time in the Cup Series. Busch has driven for teams like Stewart-Haas Racing, 23XI racing and Roush Racing over his 20-plus years in the sport. He has also won the Cup Series in 2004, beating out Jimmie Johnson by eight points. During the course of his career, the former SHR driver has accumulated 34 race wins, including the win at Daytona 500 in 2017.

Busch's Daytona 500 win in 2017 came in the last lap of the race, after he started the race in eighth place. At lap 128, a seventeen-car pileup on the backstretch caused damage to the sheet-metal of the #41 car that Busch was piloting. Apart from that, his car also lost a rear view mirror towards the last thirty laps of the race, in the middle of the final restart of the race. Busch, speaking about the chaos of the race afterwards, said (via NASCAR.com):

“There is nothing predictable about this race any more, and the more years that have gone by that I didn’t win I kept trying to go back to patterns that I had seen in the past. My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back. And I thought that was an omen. Throw caution to the wind."

The 46-year-old driver, who was 38 at the time, scored victory in the race after beating Ryan Blaney in the final lap, finishing ahead of him by 0.228 seconds. After he finished the race, Busch went over the radio to say (via NASCAR.com):

“I can’t believe it! I love you guys! Thank you! Thank you!”

The 2017 Daytona 500 victory was Kurt Busch's 29th victory of his career. The #41 driver had come close to winning a few times, scoring a runner-up position in 2003, 2005 and 2008. His 2008 race ended with a 1-2 finish for Team Penske, who he drove for at the time, where he helped teammate Ryan Newman to score the top prize.

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Kurt Busch delivered Daytona 500-themed gift to fan for Christmas

During this holiday season, Kurt Busch took it upon himself to deliver a Christmas gift for one of his fans. Sharing a video to his Instagram detailing the event, Busch dropped by one of his fan's houses in Phoenix to deliver a die-cast #41 car that won the Daytona 500. The race winner posted the video of his drop-off with the caption:

"Secret Santa Kurt Busch style! #surpriseafan #merrychristmas"

The former 23XI Racing driver retired from NASCAR after an accident that occurred during a practice session at the Pocono Raceway in 2022. During his time in the Cup Series, Kurt Busch has won one championship, 34 races, and has accumulated 161 Top 5s, along with 339 Top 10s.