February 15th, 2010 
T.C. First, before I get into the meat of this post, I want to congratulate Jamie McMurray and his Earnhardt Ganassi crew. Jamie drove his butt off and the team did a heck of a job to bring home the 2010 Daytona 500.
Now, after tonight’s race I got to thinking about what it means for the season to win the Daytona 500. After doing a little research, I’m wondering if winning the 500 might be becoming a bit of a, dare I say, curse?
I went back and looked at the seasons for the previous ten Daytona 500 winners. They winners are, in chronological order: Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Michael Waltrip, Ward Burton, Michael Waltrip, and Dale Jarrett. This list stretches back to the 2000 season.
Over the previous ten seasons, only once has a driver that won the 500 gone on to win that season’s championship (Johnson, ’06). And since 2000, only four times has a driver that won the 500 gone on to a top ten points finish. Two drivers, Burton and Waltrip, finished outside the top 20 in points.
Winning the 500 hasn’t meant that the particular driver hasn’t had success, as many have gone on to win many more races (see Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson). But it certainly hasn’t boded well for any championship hopes.
If you’ll remember last season, Kenseth jumped out early and won the 500 and again the next weekend at California. His team then began a 34 week slide that would see them miss the Chase and finish 14th in the points.
In 2008, Ryan Newman won the season opener, and then failed to reach victory lane again. He finished 17th in the points that year, and hasn’t won a race since. The ’08 season would also be the last straw for Newman at long time home Penske Racing, as he moved on to Stewart-Haas for 2009.
Going back to 2007, Kevin Harvick was the Daytona 500 winner, and he too has not won a points paying race since.
Looking over the stats, I’m not sure we can quite call this a curse just yet, but the numbers don’t lie. Daytona 500 winners have not fared well following their big win.
I also think this brings up an interesting question, and it’s one in which I’d like to get some feedback from you on. If you could only pick one, would you rather win the Daytona 500 or a Sprint Cup Championship? Let that roll around, and let me know your thoughts.
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I think it has a lot to do with the plate races being such crap shoots. Look at all the legends in the sport that have gone decades without winning there, Dale, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart etc. People we know can preform with consistancy, have good equipment, and are proven winners.
Hell of a run on the last lap by JR was all about luck. Luck that Boyer jumped high making an opening, then luck that the 00 went with him in the middle and gave him a few good shots to get him past the Biff. Got to say even as a non JR fan, I was on my feet!!!
Literally anyone can win. So I wouldn’t call it a curse, it more like the under preforming teams and drivers just got lucky.
There is one ostensible reason I can think of why winning Daytona would ruin the rest of the season, and that is that the winning team loses the car to the museum at Daytona. Not only do they not get to use the winning car in the next three superspeedway races, but they don’t get the chance to examine the vehicle to see how it withstood the stresses and strains of the race.
If it was my choice, I’d rather win the Sprint Cup. But if I had already won the Cup, nothing would mean me to me than winning the Daytona 500.
I would have to pick being a sprint cup champion. While the Daytona 500 is like winning the super bowl, being a champion means you’ve had the talent and determination to win it all.
The Daytona 500 (while completely grand if won), is only one race. It’s a tough decision, but I’d still rather be a champion of the sport.
Winning the 500 seems to be like appearing on Sports Illustrated’s cover. I hope this doesn’t carry over to winning Daytona in the truck series….
I think I’d rather win the 500 than a championship. Just look at the 500 winners’ reactions. I think Kenseth & Newman even cracked a smile after winning the 500.
You forgot to congratulate Windowlicker for the big Peters’ win!!Sheesh.
As for your question above, I would hands down rather win a championship. Perks aside (past champion provisional). it’s a way bigger feat.
Just an observation, but the hype around Daytona refers to the Daytona 500 as “the Super Bowl of Motorsports”. In the NFL, the winner of the Super Bowl is in fact the season long champion that has risen through the do-or-die playoffs. Yet in Cup the winner of the Daytona 500 is but the winner of the first game of the season. Go figure? For me, I would want them both!
Kudos to McFlurry and the #1 squad. Nice win!
Great win for Peters in trucks. Hey Windowlicker, your influence is spreading. After the Busch (uh NW) race on Sat we headed back to Atl. While on the road, my buddy got a text that Peters had won and said “Peters who?” I had to educate him on Timothy Peters’ success at the paper clip last year and that he was Windowlickers fav.
BTW: the duels in person were the best ever.
I’m going to have to go with C) none of the above and say I’d much rather have the kind of respect that almost everyone has for Mark Martin. He’s never won either (although he still could!) but that in itself doesn’t define him as a racer.
Remind me again ….. why is this is the Superbowl of racing? They asked JPM about it yesterday, and he said, “duuuuuurrrrr … it is just another race, no big deal”.”
Is it NASACAR and the massaged media who hype this race that make it supposedly the greatest race?
What is the deal? ( I know, but I wanna hear it )
PS
I choose “answer C) also …Mark Martin is something else. I have no man crush on him, but I do give credit where credit is due, and that old man is still showing the youngsters a thing or two….or three….or four..
I look at it this way. Winning the 500 is by no means indicative that your team is going to do well the rest of the season. Rather than thinking it was a curse of some kind. Some have won and been successful, others not so much.
I wouldn’t say Dayton is the Super Bowl of racing. But it sure is a great way to kick off the season. All the race week stuff is so much fun, especially after a winter of no racing.
As far as winning the championship vs. winning Daytona. I think drivers who are capable of winning a championship are few in number, but the chance of winning Daytona is much more likely. So for many drivers, Daytona may be as good as it gets. It’s that moment in the sun.
I figured I didn’t need to say anything about Peters winning because licker would show up at some point bragging
PS
I thought it was a great race yesterday, barring the track patch issue, which did not bother me too much ( we were also watching the Olympics ).
I am also a Harvick#29 fan and I thought he might do it, but at the end it was anyone in the top 10′s race,,,but the bumping and grinding and pushin and shoving and thats racin, it was quite entertaining, and it seemed like drivers here in Kansas City were watching in their cars because during the race / break there was highway racing here …… actually it was highway crashing, several multicar pileups ( one was a 40 car pileup ) in a sudden blizzard snowstorm.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1747660.html
No one died, so it is not too tragic to discuss. In the end, it ALL made for an interesting day of beer, TV and staying at home warm and safe : ) ending with a nice Valentines evening.
HaHa!! Who’s bragging T.C.???? I’m just spreading the word ’cause I think he’s a good guy with some talent. Believe me, I take an almost daily beating from acquaintances over my support of TP.
Thanks Neon for educating your buddy!!!
I do have to say, all 4 races & the duels held my interest this year. No napping at all. I mean, I don’t think there were any start-n-parkers in the Cup race. First one out was Nemechek & he wrecked after 60 something laps. And I watched the Busch race which I never do, (because of Danica). I’m kinda of excited again about NASCAR this year.
I guess it was because of my family hype, but winning the D500 would be a pinnacle deal- easily the race at the top of most NASCAR Cup drivers’ To Do list. It’s the one trophy that I would think everyone would want in their collection. Obviously, everyone isn’t going to get one.
But is it bigger than a Championship? No way. Usually a championship season means everything clicked more right than not, week after week, all the way. Winning the D500 does not a championship season make. Does it impact a season adversely? Again, no. It just looks that way on paper. Opening your season with a win can’t be anything but positive.
This post is right on! I was just thinking about this the other day. Is it that so much prep is put into this single race that teams are able to pull off wins here and then can’t maintain that focus for the remainder of the season to continue winning? Or is it just restrictor plate racing and the fact that luck often has a lot to do with being at the front at the end of the race.
Great read!
A curse??? No. If you believe that, you have to start believing in the conspiracy theories. I hate hearing statistics…they mean nothing. Grover hit it on the head….it’s a crap shoot race and almost any driver could win it.
I would rather win the championship. As much as I enjoyed Jamie’s win and envied the fun he had this week…well, I think the race is a big hype.
Now, on with the season !!