Daytona International Speedway has hosted 146 NASCAR Cup Series races since the inaugural race in 1959:  62 have been 500 miles, 57 were 400 miles and four were 250 miles. There were also 23 qualifier races that were point races. But this weekend marks the first time the summer race will be the regular season finale.

 

NASCAR Cup Series
Active Daytona Summer Race Winners
Race Winners (7)	Wins
Erik Jones	Saturday, July 7, 2018
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Saturday, July 1, 2017
Brad Keselowski	Saturday, July 2, 2016
Aric Almirola	Sunday, July 6, 2014
Jimmie Johnson	Saturday, July 6, 2013
Kevin Harvick	Saturday, July 3, 2010
Kyle Busch	Saturday, July 5, 2008

The 146 NASCAR Cup Series races at Daytona have produced 62 different pole winners and 65 different race winners, 29 drivers have multiple Cup Series wins at Daytona. NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty leads the series in wins at Daytona with 10 victories (Feb. 1964, Feb. 1966, Feb. 1971, Feb. 1973, Feb. 1974, July 1975, July 1977, Feb. 1979, Feb. 1981, July 1984). Jimmie Johnson (Feb. 2006 and 2013 sweep) and Denny Hamlin (Feb. 2016, Feb. 2019, Feb. 2020) lead all active series drivers in Daytona wins with three each. Of the 65 Cup Series Daytona winners, 39 of them have won the summer race and seven are entered in this weekend’s event – Erik Jones (2018), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2017), Brad Keselowski (2016), Aric Almirola (2014), Jimmie Johnson (2013), Kevin Harvick (2010) and Kyle Busch (2008).

 

NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson leads the series in summer race victories at Daytona with five wins (1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978).

 

Five drivers have posted consecutive summer race wins at Daytona International Speedway: Fireball Roberts (1962-1963), A.J. Foyt (1964-1965), Cale Yarborough (1967-1968) David Pearson (1972 – 1974) and Tony Stewart (2005-2006).

 

The youngest Daytona summer race winner is Justin Haley (07/07/2019 – 20 years, 2 months, 9 days); all-time track record – Trevor Bayne (02/20/2011 – 20 years, 0 months, 1 day). The oldest Daytona summer race winner is Bobby Allison (07/04/1987 – 49 years, 7 months, 1 day); all-time track record – Bobby Allison (02/14/1988 – 50 years, 5 months, 23 days).

 

A total of 20 drivers have posted their first NASCAR Cup Series win at Daytona; 10 of the 20 drivers posted their first win in the summer race – the most recent was last season’s July race with winner Justin Haley and Spire Motorsports.

 

	NASCAR Cup Series Summer Daytona Race First-Time Winners
	First-Time Race Winners	Date	Driver’s Age
1	Justin Haley	Sunday, July 7, 2019	20
2	Erik Jones	Saturday, July 7, 2018	22
3	Aric Almirola	Sunday, July 6, 2014	30
4	David Ragan	Saturday, July 2, 2011	25
5	Greg Biffle	Saturday, July 5, 2003	33
6	John Andretti	Saturday, July 5, 1997	34
7	Jimmy Spencer	Saturday, July 2, 1994	37
8	Greg Sacks	Thursday, July 4, 1985	32
9	Sam McQuagg	Monday, July 4, 1966	28
10	A.J. Foyt	Saturday, July 4, 1964	29

Winning at one of NASCAR’s most prestigious tracks, Daytona International Speedway, is a major accomplishment too. So, it is not all that surprising that the top 10 series winningest drivers at Daytona are all also in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

	NASCAR Cup Series
	Top 10 Winningest Drivers at Daytona
	Daytona Winners	Total	Daytona 500	Summer Race
1	Richard Petty	10	7	3
2	Cale Yarborough	9	5	4
3	David Pearson	8	3	5
4	Fireball Roberts	7	4	3
5	Bobby Allison	6	3	3
	Jeff Gordon	6	3	3
7	Bill Elliott	4	2	2
	Dale Earnhardt Jr	4	2	2
	Dale Jarrett	4	3	1
	Junior Johnson	4	4	0
	Tony Stewart	4	0	4

 

Active Daytona Winners	Wins
Denny Hamlin	3
Jimmie Johnson	3
Kevin Harvick	2
Matt Kenseth	2
Aric Almirola	1
Austin Dillon	1
Brad Keselowski	1
Erik Jones	1
Joey Logano	1
Kurt Busch	1
Kyle Busch	1
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	1
Ryan Newman	1

 This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series field will have 13 former Daytona International Speedway winners entered, led by Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin with three wins each.

The most recent winner at Daytona that is entered this weekend is Denny Hamlin who won the last two Daytona 500s (2019, 2020). Spire Motorsports Justin Haley won the rain shortened summer race last season but is not entered in the Cup race this weekend.

 

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is not only tied for the lead in wins at Daytona among active drivers, he has also spent the most time out front of the field at the 2.5-mile superspeedway among active drivers, leading  521 laps of 4,981 laps completed (10.4%) in 30 starts.

 

Since the ‘Win and Your In’ format to the Playoffs was initiated in 2016, Erik Jones’ 2018 summer race win is the only summer race at Daytona to catapult a driver into the postseason – the other three winners were either not eligible for the Playoffs due to not competing for a championship in the series (Haley in 2019) or the drivers had already previously won in the same season (Keselowski in 2016 and Stenhouse in 2017). 

 

But optimism is still permeating throughout the garage for the drivers on the outside of the Playoff cutoff as several have run quite well in the summer months at Daytona. Below is the top-10 in average finish in the summer race at Daytona:

 

Rank	Active Drivers	Avg Finish	Races
1	Ty Dillon	8.667	4
2	Erik Jones	11.000	4
3	Bubba Wallace	14.667	4
4	Corey Lajoie	16.000	4
5	Ryan Newman	16.000	19
6	Austin Dillon	16.167	7
7	Clint Bowyer	16.214	15
8	Kyle Busch	16.333	16
9	Matt Kenseth	16.389	19
10	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	16.857	8