Has a rookie ever won the iconic Daytona 500 race? All you need to know

Winning the Daytona 500 puts a driver in the elite NASCAR category as one of the few fortunate enough to win the sport's most prominent race. In 2022, Austin Cindric added his name to that list of drivers and became the first rookie in history to win the prestigious 500-mile event at the Daytona International Speedway.

While Trevor Bayne won the 2011 Daytona in just his second career Cup start, he was ineligible for the Rookie of the Year honor because he ran a part-time schedule. Therefore, Cindric is the first and only rookie in history to have won a Daytona 500.

It was just his eighth career Cup Series start when he fended off Bubba Wallace for the victory in the 2022 Daytona 500 after leading 21 of the race's 201 laps behind the wheel of his #2 Team Penske Ford. At 23 years old, Cindric became the second youngest driver in history to capture a Daytona 500 victory.

In his post-race interview with FOX Sports' Jamie Little, Cindric expressed his gratitude for his sponsors, teammates, and car owner Roger Penske, who was celebrating his 85th birthday on the same day of Cindric's triumph.

"I've got so many people to thank," Cindric said. "First and foremost, Roger Penske, happy birthday. Oh my gosh. I appreciate Ryan [Blaney] being a great teammate. Obviously, he wants to win this one, but I'm so pumped for Discount Tire, Menard's, Ford, everybody who works so hard with this NextGen car through this whole process. Damn, I'm so excited. This makes up for losing a championship in the last race I did." [6:09 onwards]

The championship race Cindric referenced was the 2021 Xfinity Series title race at the Phoenix Raceway, where he was passed by Daniel Hemric on the final lap in a photo finish for the championship.

The Daytona 500 was the only win Cindric managed to muster in 2022, but it did help him qualify for the playoffs. Cindric finished 12th in the points standings with five top-fives and nine top-10s on the season.

How did former Daytona 500 race-winner Austin Cindric fare in his third season at Team Penske?

Austin Cindric during qualifying for the Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. - Source: Imagn

After a difficult 2023 season that saw him finish 24th in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, Austin Cindric had a bounce-back year in 2024. The Ohio native recorded his second career victory and made it back to the Cup Series playoffs.

On the final lap of the Cup Series race at the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Ryan Blaney ran out of gas while leading the race, allowing Cindric to pass and take the victory after the latter led 53 of the race's 240 laps.

For the second time in his career, Cindric competed in the playoffs as he made it through the Round of 16 but was unable to make it out of the Round of 12 and was eliminated. Eventually, Cindric finished a career-best 11th in the points standings.