Unlucky. That’s the only summary of Kyle Busch’s 2024 season. Multiple close finishes but no dice. He just couldn’t win. If you add to that the 50+ races he’s gone without a win as well as his 19-year streak of winning a race in every single season he’s participated in, things start to look bleak for the driver. However, there is some hope. Dale Earnhardt Sr. once went on a similar streak, one that ended in him winning the Daytona 500. Perhaps Kyle Busch could walk the same path. Fans, however, aren’t exactly thrilled about it.

Fans left scathing remarks on social media when NASCAR posted an infographic of Kyle Busch having a chance at repeating the heroics of Dale Sr.

The parallels between both drivers are very clear. Busch is on a 50+ race streak of not scoring wins, similar to Dale Earnhardt Sr. Having won the Atlanta Motor Speedway race back in 1996, the Intimidator went on a massive drought of wins. While fans thought the next win was just around the corner, they went 59 races without seeing a win from the iconic #3 car. Next up was the Daytona 500, a track the Intimidator hadn’t won at in his 19 previous attempts. Yet, he made it happen when things looked bleak.

Kyle Busch has a similar opportunity on his hands now. For starters, he’s not won the Daytona 500. He holds the record for leading the 2022 Daytona 500 for 324 laps and not winning the race! However, this year, he thinks he has a real chance. Speaking about it earlier in the season, Busch said, “We could legit win Daytona. It’s tough because, when you have done as well as you’ve done and the success and the accolades and everything that you’ve had and you get run over, beat down, all that sort of stuff, it’s hard to get yourself back up again and to go back out there. But I’ve been down before, although probably never as long or as low as this has been.”

With his back against the wall, Busch has the opportunity to turn the tide in his favor. He has already started 2025 positively, with wins at the Tulsa Shootout and one second-place finish at the Chili Bowl Nationals so far.

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the odds of the 2025 Daytona 500 favor Rowdy. The only problem is, it does not favor JUST him. There is another driver in the picture. The contender is Brad Keselowski. He has the longest winless streak in the history of NASCAR. Keselowski went winless for 110 races after the GEICO 500 at Talladega in April 2021 and broke the streak after winning the Goodyear 400 at Darlington in 2024. The odds for both Bad Brad and Rowdy are closed at 1200+. And, Brad K has also not won a Daytona 500 ever! Things are waiting to get spicy and in the midst of it, Kyle Busch has come up with a new revelation.

However, fans are clearly not happy with the possibility of Rowdy winning the Daytona 500 like Dale Sr.

Rowdy’s Chili Bowl 2025 Debut

Despite the parallels in the story of two champions so far, some fans think Kyle Busch is not slated for a win at the Daytona 500. ‘The Great American Race’ has a sense of prestige attached to it, and it’s an honor very few legends have. It’s so elusive that even some of the most well-known drivers, such as Tony Stewart and Rusty Wallace have never won the race. Stewart made 17 attempts in the race while Wallace had 23, even coming close to winning a few times. However, both drivers had to give up on the dream. Emphasizing on this aspect, one fan said, “Busch is FINISHED he will soon join the likes of Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart as champions who have NEVER won the Daytona 500.”

With the prestige that surrounds the race, drivers from all over the country flock to the Daytona Speedway. In addition to the 36 chartered entries, drivers may enter the race as open-entries, increasing the total crowd on the track. Add to that the fact that racing at Daytona involves a lot of drafting, fans are likely to see a lot of crashes. 2022 saw 27 cars involved in a crash, which was the lowest count since 2016. If we go back to 2019, there were a total of 51 cars involved. It’s why this fan felt, “The DNF is gonna go HARD.”

It’s not like Kyle Busch hasn’t tried to win the race before. He’s participated in the Daytona 500 19 times, with the 2025 race being his 20th attempt at winning it. However, things have not gone his way. At the Daytona 500 last year, he finished in 12th place. Later in the year at the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400, it was Harrison Burton who snatched the win from right under Rowdy’s nose with an epic last lap overtake. This unlucky streak has led one fan to believe, “He’s not going to win this race. No matter how hard he tries, he will never achieve it,” while another seems tired of the repeated disappointment, saying, “Hopefully not.”