On Sunday afternoon in Florida, NASCAR will once again stage The Great American Race with the 68th running of the Daytona 500. But is it as great as ever in 2026?
This iconic event has an enduring appeal, but there are fears that things just are not like they used to be. Remember when crowds of 200,000 regularly rocked up at Daytona International Speedway to see the likes of Dale Earnhardt Sr do battle every February.
With NASCAR struggling to maintain popularity both at tracks and on TV, where Daytona now stacks up as an event is a valid question. And it is one that a number of Cup Series stars were asked ahead of this Sunday’s showdown (2.30pm ET, FOX).
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Daytona 500 today: How great is The Great American Race in 2026?
The verdicts that came back were, as ever, fascinating. Here are the best of them:
Kyle Larson: It’s always gonna be prestigious
It’s always gonna be prestigious and feel prestigious. I’ve never won the race, I’ve never even finished top five, so I don’t know what the feeling, I would imagine the feeling of winning is still gonna be extremely massive if it ever happens.
"But in a way, not that I fully agree with those comments, but it is difficult to get really excited about the winner, or who’s won, when usually there’s a 20-car pileup and the guy towards the back squeaks through and then misses another wreck later and wins.
"But that’s the race, and that’s how it is. I think William Byron winning two in a row is not a fluke - the cream does rise.”
Christopher Bell: We can improve the product
“From outside of the industry, I’d say the answer is probably no [the prestige level has not changed]. From inside the industry, since I’ve been in the sport, I’d say no, but I think as a sport we can make changes to our product - to our rules package - to add more prestige to this event for sure.”
Ryan Blaney: Daytona has not lost its luster
“I don’t know why people say that [the race has lost its luster]. The racing has changed. Denny [Hamlin] has talked about this a little bit with this car, and I agree with him, I feel like it’s a little harder to show your skills as a speedway racer with this car than what it used to be, and that’s just the way this car is, so maybe that has something to do with it, but I don’t think it’s lost any luster - at least to me it hasn’t.
“I don’t know where that perception came from. People started talking about that and I didn’t agree with it because it still means everything if you’re able to win it.”
Bubba Wallace: This is a new game
“It is [as prestigious as ever to win]. I don’t know a way around the strategies we have to do now with fuel savings. I don’t think the sport was smart enough to do it earlier, we could have been doing this for seven or eight years and trying to run people out of fuel. It just evolved over the last five years, this is a new game.
“It’s just totally different and it’s a different way of going about it. I would say yes, it’s our biggest race of the year and the biggest purse we’ve had, which would be super nice to win.”
Chase Briscoe: New playoff format will change some stuff
“I think that in the years past, like, if you were confident that you were going to win a race, yeah, you wanted to win the Daytona 500, but if you crashed out or whatever, you just kind of go on, because you felt like you were still going to make the Playoffs. Where now that defeat is going to be even greater than ever before, just knowing that, you didn’t get those points.
“I think it’ll change some stuff. I think this race is still just as prestigious as it was before. If anything, I think it makes it more prestigious. In the past, so-and-so won the Daytona 500, and they’re locked in the Playoffs. Now, it’s just the Daytona 500.”
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