DAYTONA, Fla. (WGHP) — As Kyle Busch heads into his 20th Daytona 500 with hopes of claiming his first victory in the race, he’s looking to the legend Dale Earnhardt for inspiration.

Busch, of Las Vegas, Nevada, drives the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. He has 20 full seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series behind him, including championship wins in 2015, despite missing the first 11 races after breaking his right leg and left foot in an Xfinity Series race in Daytona, and in 2019.

Busch has more career starts without a Daytona 500 victory than any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2024, he finished in 8th place.

He says the Daytona 500 is the last missing feather in his cap.

“Winning championships and Brickyards and Coke 600s, All-Star races, and the Southern 500, having all that checked off, there’s only one left, so it would certainly be cool to get this one,” Busch said.

But there’s one more reason that victory this year would be all the more sweet.

“[Winning the Daytona 500] would certainly be huge, not just for me but all of RCR, getting back to victory lane and doing it in my 20 years of trying, let alone someone else who drove for RCR did in his 20th try, so it’d be great to be able to match that with Dale Earnhardt.”

That’s right, Dale Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500 on his 20th try, which means, if Kyle Busch wins on Sunday, he and Earnhardt would have that in common.

DraftKings puts his odds of winning the 2025 Daytona 500 at +1100.

FOX8’s Kevin Connolly and Danny Harnden and WFLA’s JB Biunno spent Wednesday afternoon catching up with drivers as they get ready to hit the speedway this Sunday for the Daytona 500. You can check out their full interview with Kyle Busch in the video player above.