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Mark Martin has nine top 10 finishes in the Daytona 500, but he's never won the race in 24 tries.

That's what makes winning it so special.

"It's almost hard to put into words exactly how much it means,'' Jarrett said. "We have the most time to get ready for this race, so you know if you can come here and win, you've beaten the best of the best at their best. That's what really makes you feel proud.''

Not everyone would trade it all for a 500 victory.

"To be able to win the 500 puts you in a league that's a unique fraternity,'' Burton said. "It doesn't make a career, but it certainly enhances it and makes it better.

"If you said to me you have to give back two trophies to get one Daytona 500, I wouldn't do it. I think the Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year. I think it's extremely prestigious, and it's the race that everybody wants to win because of what it is. But I don't think you can just stand there and say, 'Hey, I've won the Daytona 500.' That's not enough.''

His brother, Ward, might disagree. Ward Burton won the 2002 Daytona 500, clearly his biggest NASCAR accomplishment. Geoff Bodine (1986), Derrike Cope (1990), Sterling Marlin (1994, '95) and Michael Waltrip (2001, '03) are others who have done little else aside from winning the Daytona 500.

And everyone in the sport remembers Dale Earnhardt winning the big one in 1998, on his 20th try. Although he dominated the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway like no one else in his day, Earnhardt came up short so many times before finally getting that elusive win.

As Earnhardt drove slowly through pit road, crewmembers from just about every team and dozens of NASCAR officials lined up to congratulate him.

Wallace, meanwhile, was fifth — one of his many disappointments at Daytona.

"I'd trade four or five of those wins at Bristol for a Daytona 500 win, that's for sure,'' Wallace said. "It's such a big race.''