How Tony Stewart has gone 0-17 in the Daytona 500

If Tony Stewart never drives in another Daytona 500, he’s the only driver to finish his career with three or more Sprint Cup Series titles and no Daytona 500 victories.

2016 was set to be Stewart’s last shot at an elusive Daytona 500 win. The three-time Cup champion (2002, 2005, 2011) entered his final season 0-17 in the 500. And he’ll continue to be 0-17 after the news Thursday afternoon that Stewart would miss the start of the 2016 season with a spinal fracture.

NBC analyst and 2000 Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Jarrett said later Thursday afternoon on NASCAR America that people at Stewart-Haas Racing expected Stewart to likely miss 3 months or more.

It’s not like Daytona success has eluded Stewart. He’s won the Sprint Unlimited exhibition race held annually before the Daytona 500, the qualifying races for the 500 and is a four-time champion of the 400-mile summer race at the 2.5-mile track.

He’s not the only great driver the 500 has teased. Dale Earnhardt was famously 0-19 before he won the race in 1998. And while Stewart is the only driver with three or more titles to never win the 500, all six of NASCAR’s two-time Sprint Cup champions (Herb Thomas, Tim Flock, Buck Baker, Joe Weatherly, Ned Jarrett and Terry Labonte) have never won the race.

The lack of a Daytona 500 win – a race that can be incredibly flukey, just ask Derrike Cope – doesn’t detract from Stewart’s legacy as a NASCAR driver. He’s still one of the best drivers the sport has ever had and a surefire NASCAR Hall of Famer. And besides, three more drivers (Labonte, Mark Martin and Joe Nemechek) have made more starts in the 500 than Stewart has without a win.

Stewart’s first Daytona 500 came in 1999. Here’s a brief look at how he fared in all 17 attempts (so far). Will there be an 18th?

1999: Stewart started on the front row with then-teammate Bobby Labonte for his first 500. But the two Joe Gibbs Racing cars started having engine issues and were out of contention. Stewart finished 28th, 19 laps down.

2000: Stewart completed all the laps in 2000 and finished 17th after starting 7th.

2001: Stewart was involved in a violent crash on the backstretch, a crash that was soon overshadowed by the death of Earnhardt on the last lap. Stewart’s crash flipped multiple times, though he was OK. He finished 36th.

2002: It was a rough beginning to the season that got Stewart his first title. The 2002 champion’s engine expired two laps into the race. Yes, two. He started sixth and finished last.

2003: Stewart led six laps of the rain-shortened event and finished seventh. The race was called after 109 laps.

2004: This is the closest Stewart has come to winning the 500, at least in terms of finishing position. He finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. after leading 98 laps. The race ended on a long green flag run and Stewart simply didn’t have the drafting help to get by Junior, who won his first 500.

2005: The race went into extra laps and Stewart came up short again after having the race’s dominant car. He led 107 laps and finished seventh. Stewart led lap 196 but was passed by Junior on lap 197. Jeff Gordon led the final six laps for the win.

2006: Stewart led 20 laps and finished fifth. All of those laps led came early in the race as he suffered some right-side damage while having an on-track issue with Matt Kenseth. After leading on lap 47, he never led again.

2007: This is possibly the second-biggest heartbreak for Stewart in the 500. He was leading the race when an ill-timed bump draft from second-place Kurt Busch caused both cars to crash. Stewart ended up 43rd after leading 35 of the 152 laps he ran.

2008: And here’s the biggest heartbreak. Stewart was the leader of the race when the white flag flew. As the field thundered down the backstretch he moved low for drafting help from new teammate Kyle Busch. By doing so, the door was left open on the high side for a huge run by Ryan Newman (with help from Kurt Busch). Stewart finished third.

2009: In his first race for his new team, Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart finished eighth after starting fifth. He led 15 of the rain-shortened race’s 152 laps.

2010: Here’s where Stewart’s 500 finishes start to go south. He finished 22nd after starting sixth.

2011: Stewart was in position to avenge his 2008 race on a late-race restart. But in a race dominated by tandem drafting (and won by Trevor Bayne) Stewart and Mark Martin could not get hooked together. He fell from having a shot to win the race to finishing 13th.

2012: Stewart led two laps and finished 16th.

2013: Stewart’s car started having fuel intake issues early in the race. He spent considerable time behind the wall for repairs and finished 41st, 82 laps down.

2014: Stewart was caught up in an early race crash with teammate Kevin Harvick and others. His team was able to fix the car and get him back on track, but he finished 35th, 26 laps down.

2015: Stewart’s possibly final Daytona 500 ended unceremoniously. After starting seventh, his car pushed high off turn four on lap 42 and started an accident that collected seven cars. He finished 42nd.