Winning at Daytona presents long odds. But so does making it as a NASCAR driver.

Never has Pollard run in NASCAR, the pinnacle of stock car racing in America.

The fact he’s never raced in NASCAR full-time is a reality he’s made peace with now, Pollard says. But still, as the Snowball Derby’s weekend begins, you’re left to wonder:

Why not?

Figuring out the blueprint for breaking into NASCAR

On Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX), the motorsports world will focus its attention on Daytona International Speedway for the 63rd running of the Daytona 500.

Part of what gives the Great American Race its unique magic is the fact that it’s equal parts elusive and there-for-the-taking: For some drivers, the Daytona 500 is the only Cup race they’ll ever win; for a few Hall of Famers, it’s one they never do.

But just like winning at Daytona presents long odds — so, too, does running in a NASCAR race at all.

“I don’t feel like I would be here if I didn’t have a lot of people do a lot of things for me,” NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain said at his end-of-season press conference in November 2022, a punctuation mark to one of the more special Cinderella runs through the NASCAR playoffs in recent memory. “I didn’t just win races at a local short track and get here on my own. I had so many people put funds toward me, put rides, put their name out there to get me a ride, go to a team owner and vouch for me.”

Chastain’s rise from eighth generation watermelon farmer to Cup Series contender is well documented. After working on a tight budget in the short tracks in Florida, he broke into NASCAR in 2011, driving on a part-time basis. His first win was in 2018 in the Xfinity Series. He only got his first shot in Cup in 2021 when a driver was unexpectedly fired and he was next in line.

“We didn’t own a team, we didn’t know what we were doing,” Chastain said of he and his family, in that same press conference. “We spent a lot of our own money to get here. And it’s not talked about enough in this sport because it’s kind of the ugly truth — that you have to sacrifice a lot.”

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