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

Former NASCAR driver and team owner Tony Stewart could never win the Daytona 500, despite creating his stellar record. Stweart raced in the famous race 17 times, but his best finish was second place.

The Daytona 500 at the 2.5-mile track at Daytona International Speedway in Florida is the most prestigious race in NASCAR. It usually marks the start of the Cup Series every year.

Stewart's first Daytona 500 was in 1999 when he started strong but finished 28th. The Indiana native was leading but finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2004 and came in third four years later in 2008, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Stewart led 107 laps in 2005 but ended up seventh. He finished fifth in 2006 and was involved in a crash with Kurt Busch in 2007. He then watched Trevor Bayne get the win in 2011.

Stewart has had six top-10 finishes in the Great American Race during his 18-year Cup Series career. When asked if he would consider racing again at the Daytona 500, the three-time Cup Series champion had a clear answer.

"I can tell you this, I have zero interest in going and run on a Daytona 500. I respect the history of that event. I respect the sport. As much as I love the Daytona 500 and I haven’t checked it off the list with a win—I’ve kind of just come to terms with how I’m okay with that now after watching the last five or six years of restrictor plate racing," Stewart said in 2023 (via autoweek.com).

Stewart, however, did celebrate a Daytona 500 win as a team owner in 2017.

"If I knew I would retire and win the next race, I would have retired 17 years ago" - Tony Stewart on winning Daytona 500

Tony Stewart was the co-owner of the NASCAR Cup Series team Stewart-Haas Racing when Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500 in 2017. This was the year after Stewart retired from the series.

"If I knew I would retire and win the next race, I would have retired 17 years ago and got it that way. It's a pretty cool deal. This is one that we've waited for for a long, long time....To have an opportunity to come back this year as an owner and still have the opportunity to be where we're at right now, I mean, that's a pretty exciting feeling," Tony Stewart said.

"It's what anybody that does anything with a race team, especially owners, that's what you strive for. You strive to win races and you strive to win championships. But first and foremost, you want to win the biggest one of the year," he added.

Stewart’s final attempt at competing in the Daytona 500 ended in a crash in 2015, as he finished 42nd.