"We've waited for a long time" - When Tony Stewart ended his Daytona 500 drought with Kurt Busch behind the wheel

In his 18 full-time seasons behind the wheel in the NASCAR Cup Series, Tony Stewart failed to ever win the sport's most prestigious race, the Daytona 500. However, one year after retiring, the three-time Cup Series champion captured a Daytona 500 win in a different capacity.

Tony, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, retired from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of the 2016 season. One year later, the Indiana native watched on as his driver, Kurt Busch, wheeled his #41 SHR Ford to victory in the 2017 Daytona 500. It marked the first Daytona 500 win of Busch's career and the first for Tony Stewart, but this one as an owner.

After the race, the 49-time Cup Series race winner was quoted in an ESPN article jokingly saying that if he knew he could retire and win his first Daytona 500 as solely an owner, he would've done it a long time ago.

"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," Stewart Tony said.

Stewart didn't get the chance to race in what was supposed to be his final Daytona 500 in 2016 after suffering a back injury prior to the start of the season. Yet, the winning car owner of the 2017 Daytona 500 didn't have any regrets as he said there comes a time as a competitor when you want to step out of the car and do something else.

"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. 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.

Tony Stewart's team Stewart-Haas Racing ceased operations after the 2024 season

Back in 2017, Stewart-Haas Racing was as strong as ever as it was one of the most formidable teams in the NASCAR Cup Series garage. However, the team co-owned by Tony Stewart and Gene Haas is no longer functional as it closed its doors for good at the end of the 2024 season.

The team found a litany of success over its 16 years of operation, starting in 2009. SHR won two Cup Series championships, one with Tony Stewart in 2011 and the other with Kevin Harvick in 2014. Kurt Busch picked up the team's sole Daytona 500 win in 2017 while Cole Custer added an Xfinity Series championship in 2023.

Now, Stewart is out of NASCAR completely as an owner and Haas now owns Haas Factory Team. The organization is a one-car Cup Series team with Custer behind the wheel of the #41 machine.