Daytona 500 has started its journey in 1959.
In the past 61 years, many drivers have shown their performance in the speedway.
Many of them built records and broke records. Some of them made footprints as a legend and some of the great riders who are good but never won a daytona 500. Only 12 drivers won the Daytona 500 titles at least 2 times.
Below is the elite list daytona 500 drivers who wins more than once.
Best Riders in The History of Daytona 500
Richard Petty
If anyone as that, who has won Daytona 500 most?
The answer will be Richard Petty, seven (7) times.
He won the title for the first time in 1964. The second cup for Petty came in 1966. Then he got again in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1979 and 1981. His car number was 43 and played under Petty Enterprises. In his career, he raced with Plymouth most of the time and Dodge for two times.
Petty started his career in 1958 and finished in 1992 with a lot of achievements. During his career, he won 200 races and NASCAR Cup Championship seven times. He was one of the five drivers to get in the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2010.
Cale Yarborough
After Richard, Yarborough is named as a successful driver in Daytona 500 history. Cale won the title four times in 1968, 1977, 1983 and 1984.
He used different car numbers throughout his career. He won Daytona with car numbers 21, 11 and 28 (2 times). Yarborough also played for different teams with different manufactures.
He started his 28 years long career in 1960 and retired in 1988. He is considered as the ninth-best of all-time racers with a 14.82% winning percentage. In 1998, Yarborough was named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and inductee in NASCAR Hall of fame in 2012.
Bobby Allison
Robert Arthur Allison was a professional stock car racing driver. Allison won the Daytona 500 three times in times in 1978, 1982, and 1988. His winning car numbers were 15, 88 and 12.
In his career, Bobby won 84 Cup Series races officially, which put him fourth on the all-time winning list. Allison was included in the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011. He won his career’s last race at the age of 45 in 1983 and becomes the oldest driver to win a tournament. In 1985, he made his team Bobby Allison Racing.
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett is known for winning the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series and Daytona 500 3 times. Jarrett won first Daytona in 1993, the second one is 1996 and the final one in 2000.
His family is considered as racer family. Dale’s father, son, younger brother and cousin were also a driver.
In his 24 years of career Jarrett won 32 races. The winning of Coca-Cola 600 1996 and many other achievements put him NASCAR hall of fame in 2014. After retirement in 2008, he started commentary with ESPN and currently working as NBC Sports Broadcasting Crew for NASCAR events
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon won Daytona 500 three times in 1997, 1999 and 2005. Jeff started his career at the age of 16 and run for NASCAR in 1990.
Gordon won the NASCAR Cup Series for 4 times over the 25 years. 805 races in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and 73 races in NASCAR Xfinity Series brought his Hall of Fame award in 2019. Right now he is working with Hendrick Motorsports. He is also working with FOX NASCAR as an announcer.
Bill Elliott
Two times Daytona 500 winner William Clyde Elliott is known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville. He won his first Daytona in 1985 and the last one in 1987. Bill won both races for the Melling Racing team with the car number 9.
Elliott was the champion of the 1988 NASCAR Cup. He ran for NASCAR from 1976 to 2012 and 1983-2018 from NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 1998 Bill was named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers eventually listed in Hall of Fame in 2015.
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Burton Marlin was a stock car racing driver, won Daytona 500 title in 1994 and 1995. His car number was 4 and drove Chevrolet both times. Marlin drove for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, got 10 wins and NASCAR Xfinity Series, 2 wins.
Sterling started his NASCAR career in 1976 and finished in 2009. He also competed for Nationwide Series and International Race of Champions
Michael Waltrip
Michael Curtis Waltrip won Daytona 500 in 2001 and 2003. He won both times with Chevrolet with car number 15. In his 33 years of career, he ran for 1072 races with 16 wins and secured the top ten positions in 242 games.
Waltrip is a New York Times best-selling author for the book In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything. He is working with Fox as a pre racing commentator. Michael also has some television appearance.
Matt Kenseth
Two times Daytona 500 tittle winner Matthew Roy Kenseth ran for NASCAR for more than 21 years.
He won the Daytona Championship in 2009 and 2012. Kenseth ran for Roush Fenway Racing teams with Ford.
Matt Kenseth’s best finish came out in 2003 after winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He retired from full time racing in 2017
Jimmie Johnson
American stock car racer Jimmie Kenneth Johnson won the Daytona 500 two times in 2006 and 2013.
He is not retired yet, so he still has chances to win more titles. Jimmie won the title both times under the Hendrick Motorsports team.
Johnson won Driver of the Year award 5 times in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2013. In 2009 he was selected as Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. Besides these, he has a lot of achievements in his 19 years of career.
Dale Earnhardt Jr
Dale got the NASCAR title in 2004 and 2014. He retired from full time racing in 2017 with 26 wins. He is ranked as top 40 in NASCAR racing history.
Earnhardt Jr is an analyst in NASCAR on NBC. He owns two teams JR Motorsports and Chance 2 Motorsports. Besides racing, he has several businesses running parallel. Has seen in numerous music videos. Dale also has a huge interest in politics.
Denny Hamlin
Denny has started his career about 16 years ago and won Daytona 2 times already in 2016 and 2019. He is a promising driver with the possibility to win more races.
Hamlin’s best finish came out in 2010. He became second in NASCAR Cup Series. Till now he has 54 wins in total.
Who Won the Daytona 500?
Who won the 2020 Daytona 500?
Denny Hamlin from Joe Gibbs Racing Team has won the Daytona 500 Race in 2020. This is his 3rd championship in “The Great American Race”. He also won the title in 2019 and 2016.
Who won the 2021 Daytona 500?
Michael McDowell won the 2021 Daytona 500. It was his first NASCAR Cup in 14 years of career and fourth for the Front Row Motorsports. However, it was one of the longest Daytona 500 which had a multi-car crashes after 15 laps that lead to a red flag, then stopped for rain. There were a small crash too before ending the game which changed the result and made Michael McDowell a winner.
Top Teams
Considering the team success Petty Enterprises comes first in the list by its 9 wins in Daytona 500. After that Hendrick Motorsports ranked second by 8 wins. Wood Brothers Racing won five titles. 6 teams won Daytona 500 three times. They are Ranier-Lundy, Morgan-McClure Motorsports, Robert Yates Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Read More: Top 10 NASCAR Racing Teams of All Times
Top Manufacturer
Chevrolet collects most wins in their basket with 23 wins. Ford comes next by winning 15 times. Plymouth and Dodge tied in 3rd position with 4 wins each. Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Buick have got 3 Daytona 500 titles. Finally, Toyota is doing well in recent years. They won 2 times in 2019 and 2019.
Some More Facts About Daytona 500 Winners
Oldest Winner
Bobby Allison has the record of oldest winner daytona 500 race. He has won the 1988 Daytona 500 at his age of 50.
Youngest Winner
Trevor Bayne is the youngest racer till now who has won the 2011 daytona 500 at the age of 20.
Longest Winning Streak: Back To Back Winner’s Club
This a tie between 4 racers. Denny Hamlin(2019,2020), Richard Petty(1973,1974), Cale Yarborough(1983,1984) and Sterling Marlin(1994,1995) have won the daytona 500 in consecutive years.
Fastest and Slowest Average Speed of a Winner
Buddy Baker in 1980 Won the Great American race by with average speed of 177.602 mph.
And In 1960, Junior Johnson won it with the average speed of 124.740 mph only. Which is the slowest average speed of a winner till now.
1987 Daytona 500 winner Bill Elliott has the record of fastest speed in qualifying lap with 210.364 mph speed.
Most Career Starts
Dave Marcis has started 33 races. Both Richard Petty and Terry Labonte started 32 races.
Most Times Completing All 500 Miles
By completing 16 times Bill Elliott has the record of most times completing all 500 miles.
Driver Leading Most Laps and Winning
Richard Petty has won 1964 Daytona 500 race with lead of 184 laps.
Driver Leading Fewest Laps and Winning
In 2017, Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500 just by leading a single lap.
Most Miles Completed
Terry Labonte has the record with 14892.5 miles with 5957 laps.
Lowest Starting Position by a Winner
In 2009, Matt Kenseth has won the race while his starting position was 39.
Read More: 10 Most Hated NASCAR Drivers: Dirtiest Drivers of NASCAR
ALL TIME NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNER LIST (AS OF 2020)
| Rank | Driver | Wins | Titles | Title Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petty, Richard (HOF) | 200 | 7 | 1964,1967,1971,1972,1974,1975,1979 |
| 2 | Pearson, David (HOF) | 105 | 3 | 1966,1968,1969 |
| 3 | Gordon, Jeff (HOF) | 93 | 4 | 1995,1997,1998,2001 |
| 4 | Waltrip, Darrell (HOF) | 84 | 3 | 1981,1982,1985 |
| 5 | Allison, Bobby (HOF) | 84 | 1 | 1983 |
| 6 | Johnson, Jimmie | 83 | 7 | 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2013,2016 |
| 7 | Yarborough, Cale (HOF) | 83 | 3 | 1976,1977,1978 |
| 8 | Earnhardt, Dale (HOF) | 76 | 7 | 1980,1986,1987,1990,1991,1993,1994 |
| 9 | Harvick, Kevin | 58 | 1 | 2014 |
| 10 | Busch, Kyle | 57 | 2 | 2015, 2019 |
| 11 | Wallace, Rusty (HOF) | 55 | 1 | 1989 |
| 12 | Petty, Lee (HOF) | 54 | 3 | 1954,1958,1959 |
| 13 | Jarrett, Ned (HOF) | 50 | 2 | 1961,1965 |
| 14 | Johnson, Junior (HOF) | 50 | ||
| 15 | Stewart, Tony (HOF) | 49 | 3 | 2002, 2005, 2011 |
| 15 | Thomas, Herb (HOF) | 48 | 2 | 1951,1953 |
| 17 | Baker, Buck (HOF) | 46 | 2 | 1956,1957 |
| 18 | Elliott, Bill (HOF) | 44 | 1 | 1988 |
| 19 | Hamlin, Denny | 44 | ||
| 20 | Martin, Mark (HOF) | 40 | ||
| 21 | Flock, Tim (HOF) | 39 | 2 | 1952,1955 |
| 22 | Kenseth, Matt | 39 | 1 | 2003 |
| 23 | Isaac, Bobby (HOF) | 37 | 1 | 1970 |
| 24 | Keselowski, Brad | 34 | 1 | 2012 |
| 25 | Roberts, Fireball (HOF) | 33 | ||
| 26 | Jarrett, Dale (HOF) | 32 | 1 | 1999 |
| 27 | Busch, Kurt | 32 | 1 | 2004 |
| 28 | Edwards, Carl | 28 | ||
| 29 | White, Rex (HOF) | 28 | 1 | 1960 |
| 30 | Truex Jr., Martin | 27 | 1 | 2017 |
| 31 | Earnhardt, Dale Jr. (HOF) | 26 | ||
| 32 | Lorenzen, Fred (HOF) | 26 | ||
| 33 | Logano, Joey | 26 | 1 | 2018 |
| 34 | Paschal, Jim | 25 | ||
| 35 | Weatherly, Joe (HOF) | 25 | 2 | 1962,1963 |
| 36 | Rudd, Ricky | 23 | ||
| 37 | Labonte, Terry (HOF) | 22 | 2 | 1984,1996 |
| 38 | Burton, Jeff | 21 | ||
| 39 | Labonte, Bobby (HOF) | 21 | 1 | 2000 |
| 40 | Parsons, Benny (HOF) | 21 | 1 | 1973 |
| 41 | Smith, Jack | 21 | ||
| 42 | Thompson, Speedy | 20 | ||
| 43 | Allison, Davey (HOF) | 19 | ||
| 44 | Baker, Buddy (HOF) | 19 | ||
| 45 | Biffle, Greg | 19 | ||
| 46 | Flock, Fonty | 19 | ||
| 47 | Bodine, Geoffrey | 18 | ||
| 48 | Bonnett, Neil | 18 | ||
| 49 | Gant, Harry | 18 | ||
| 50 | Newman, Ryan | 18 | ||
| 51 | Kahne, Kasey | 18 | ||
| 52 | Panch, Marvin | 17 | ||
| 53 | Turner, Curtis (HOF) | 17 | ||
| 54 | Irvan, Ernie | 15 | ||
| 55 | Hutcherson, Dick | 14 | ||
| 56 | Yarborough, Leeroy | 14 | ||
| 57 | Rathmann, Dick | 13 | ||
| 58 | Richmond, Tim | 13 | ||
| 59 | Elliott, Chase | 11 | 1 | 2020 |
| 60 | Allison, Donnie | 10 | ||
| 61 | Bowyer, Clint | 10 | ||
| 62 | Marlin, Sterling | 10 | ||
| 63 | Goldsmith, Paul | 9 | ||
| 64 | Owens, Cotton (HOF) | 9 | ||
| 65 | Welborn, Bob | 9 | ||
| 66 | Petty, Kyle | 8 | ||
| 67 | Dieringer, Darel | 7 | ||
| 68 | Foyt, A. J. | 7 | ||
| 69 | McMurray, Jamie | 7 | ||
| 70 | Reed, Jim | 7 | ||
| 71 | Teague, Marshall | 7 | ||
| 72 | Larson, Kyle | 6 | ||
| 73 | Burton, Ward | 5 | ||
| 74 | Gurney, Dan | 5 | ||
| 75 | Kulwicki, Alan (HOF) | 5 | 1 | 1992 |
| 76 | Lund, Tiny | 5 | ||
| 77 | Marcis, Dave | 5 | ||
| 78 | Mayfield, Jeremy | 5 | ||
| 79 | Moody, Ralph | 5 | ||
| 80 | Blaney, Ryan | 4 | ||
| 81 | Dane, Lloyd | 4 | ||
| 82 | Flock, Bob | 4 | ||
| 83 | Glotzbach, Charlie | 4 | ||
| 84 | Gray, Eddie | 4 | ||
| 85 | Hamilton, Bobby | 4 | ||
| 86 | Hamilton, Pete | 4 | ||
| 87 | Jones, Parnelli | 4 | ||
| 88 | McGriff, Hershel | 4 | ||
| 89 | Nemechek, Joe | 4 | ||
| 90 | Pagan, Eddie | 4 | ||
| 91 | Schrader, Ken | 4 | ||
| 92 | Shepherd, Morgan | 4 | ||
| 93 | Stacy, Nelson | 4 | ||
| 94 | Wade, Billy | 4 | ||
| 95 | Waltrip, Michael | 4 | ||
| 96 | Wood, Glen (HOF) | 4 | ||
| 97 | Blair, Bill | 3 | ||
| 98 | Dillon, Austin | 3 | ||
| 99 | Gordon, Robby | 3 | ||
| 100 | Linder, Dick | 3 | ||
| 101 | Mundy, Frank | 3 | ||
| 102 | Sadler, Elliott | 3 | ||
| 103 | Staley, Gwyn | 3 | ||
| 104 | Vickers, Brian | 3 | ||
| 105 | Almirola, Aric | 2 | ||
| 106 | Ambrose, Marcos | 2 | ||
| 107 | Andretti, John | 2 | ||
| 108 | Beauchamp, Johnny | 2 | ||
| 109 | Bowman, Alex | 2 | ||
| 110 | Byron, Red (HOF) | 2 | 1 | 1949 |
| 111 | Cope, Derrike | 2 | ||
| 112 | Craven, Ricky | 2 | ||
| 113 | Elder, Ray | 2 | ||
| 114 | Hylton, James | 2 | ||
| 115 | Johns, Bobby | 2 | ||
| 116 | Johnson, Joe Lee | 2 | ||
| 117 | Jones, Erik | 2 | ||
| 118 | Keller, Al | 2 | ||
| 119 | Langley, Elmo | 2 | ||
| 120 | Letner, Danny | 2 | ||
| 121 | Montoya, Juan Pablo | 2 | ||
| 122 | Myers, Billy | 2 | ||
| 123 | Pardue, Jimmy | 2 | ||
| 124 | Park, Steve | 2 | ||
| 125 | Pistone, Tom | 2 | ||
| 126 | Porter, Marvin | 2 | ||
| 127 | Ragan, David | 2 | ||
| 128 | Reutimann, David | 2 | ||
| 129 | Sosebee, Gober | 2 | ||
| 130 | Spencer, Jimmy | 2 | ||
| 131 | Stenhouse Jr., Ricky | 2 | ||
| 132 | Zervakis, Emanuel | 2 | ||
| 133 | Allen, Johnny | 1 | ||
| 134 | Allmendinger, AJ | 1 | ||
| 135 | Amick, Bill | 1 | ||
| 136 | Andretti, Mario | 1 | ||
| 137 | Balmer, Earl | 1 | ||
| 138 | Bayne, Trevor | 1 | ||
| 139 | Benson, Johnny | 1 | ||
| 140 | Bodine, Brett | 1 | ||
| 141 | Bouchard, Ron | 1 | ||
| 142 | Brickhouse, Richard | 1 | ||
| 143 | Brooks, Dick | 1 | ||
| 144 | Buescher, Chris | 1 | ||
| 145 | Burdick, Bob | 1 | ||
| 146 | Burke, Marvin | 1 | ||
| 147 | Byron, William | 1 | ||
| 148 | Cole, Neil | 1 | ||
| 149 | Cook, Jim | 1 | ||
| 150 | Custer, Cole | 1 | ||
| 151 | Donohue, Mark | 1 | ||
| 152 | Eubanks, Joe | 1 | ||
| 153 | Figaro, Lou | 1 | ||
| 154 | Florian, Jimmy | 1 | ||
| 155 | Frank, Larry | 1 | ||
| 156 | Graves, Danny | 1 | ||
| 157 | Hagerty, Royce | 1 | ||
| 158 | Hillin, Bobby | 1 | ||
| 159 | Haley, Justin | 1 | ||
| 160 | Hurtubise, Jim | 1 | ||
| 161 | Kieper, John | 1 | ||
| 162 | Kite, Harold | 1 | ||
| 163 | Lewis, Paul | 1 | ||
| 164 | Mantz, Johnny | 1 | ||
| 165 | McQuagg, Sam | 1 | ||
| 166 | Mears, Casey | 1 | ||
| 167 | Menard, Paul | 1 | ||
| 168 | Moore, Lloyd | 1 | ||
| 169 | Nadeau, Jerry | 1 | ||
| 170 | Nelson, Norm | 1 | ||
| 171 | Norton, Bill | 1 | ||
| 172 | Parsons, Phil | 1 | ||
| 173 | Passwater, Dick | 1 | ||
| 174 | Pond, Lennie | 1 | ||
| 175 | Rexford, Bill | 1 | 1 | 1950 |
| 176 | Ridley, Jody | 1 | ||
| 177 | Rollins, Shorty | 1 | ||
| 178 | Roper, Jim | 1 | ||
| 179 | Ross, Earl | 1 | ||
| 180 | Rostek, John | 1 | ||
| 181 | Rutherford, Johnny | 1 | ||
| 182 | Sacks, Greg | 1 | ||
| 183 | Sales, Leon | 1 | ||
| 184 | Schneider, Frankie | 1 | ||
| 185 | Scott, Wendell (HOF) | 1 | ||
| 186 | Shuman, Buddy | 1 | ||
| 187 | Smith, Regan | 1 | ||
| 188 | Soares, John | 1 | ||
| 189 | Speed, Lake | 1 | ||
| 190 | Stevenson, Chuck | 1 | ||
| 191 | Thomas, Donald | 1 | ||
| 192 | Thompson, Tommy | 1 | ||
| 193 | Watts, Art | 1 | ||
| 194 | Weinberg, Danny | 1 | ||
| 195 | White, Jack | 1 | ||
| (HOF) = in NASCAR Hall of Fame |
Conclusion
There is 27 more driver out there in Daytona 500 history who won the title once. Among them, some of the drivers still have the opportunities to win more titles.
Winning a Daytona 500 is a pride for the Drivers. It is one of the most competitive NASCAR races where each driver tries to give their best.