NASCAR champions Larson and Blaney issue verdict on winless Daytona 500 records

Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney have three NASCAR Cup Series championships between them, but their CVs have a glaring gap - the Daytona 500.

Both the Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske stars head into Sunday's Great American Race (1:30pm ET, FOX) looking to take their first-ever victory in the event, but both insist they are not feeling the pressure.

Given they are two of the biggest names active in the sport without having tasted Daytona 500 success, it was naturally a topic of discussion on media day this week.

Larson lines up 8th for the green flag on Sunday, with Blaney up in fifth.

NASCAR RACE TODAY: Daytona 500 start times, schedule, how to watch live on TV and stream

Kyle Larson: I didn't think I was good enough

During media day, Larson was quizzed on whether there would come a point of urgency for him to win the event before he started to become the subject of statistics on social media with 'X starts and looking for his first'.

His reply was surprising. He is in no rush, but admits that in the past, he didn't feel he was good enough to win the race on merit.

“No, I don’t really care about all that," Larson explained. "It's a tough race to win and a lot of circumstances go into it, and honestly, in the past, up until the last few years, I just didn’t think that I was good enough to win.

"But now I feel like I could see it happening and [it] not be complete luck. So that gets me excited, but that doesn’t guarantee anything.

"So, obviously we all would love to win this race in our careers, but if it doesn’t happen it’s not going to make my career feel any less to me.”

Ryan Blaney: Winless Daytona record doesn't hang over my head

Blaney echoed a similar sentiment to Larson with regard to there being no urgency to add a Daytona 500 victory to his achievements.

Instead, his focus is on showing up and doing the best job he can and seeing where it takes him.

"I try not to think that way. I just try to go my best every year, whether we come up just short or you don’t even get to compete in it at all," Blaney said.

"I’ve come in second in this race a couple times and down to the wire, and I’ve made 20 laps a couple times and got wrecked and go home early. It’s just a bummer, but it’s not a lingering thing over my head that I haven’t won this one.

"You just try your best every year and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. All you can do is continue to try and it might not ever happen, but I don’t really think about that. I just go try to do the best job I can every single year and try to put yourself in a spot to do it.”