Why NASCAR crew chief Mike Kelley couldn't celebrate first Daytona 500 win

Mike Kelley and the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing (now HYAK Motorsports) team were shot into the global spotlight in 2023 after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wheeled the No. 47 Chevrolet to victory in the 65th Daytona 500. 

The victory was the first for Kelley as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, but it wasn't his first win in the Daytona 500 as a team member. 

That came in 2001, when Kelley was the car chief for the No. 15 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet driven by Michael Waltrip. The 2001 Daytona 500 was Waltrip's first race with DEI and the one in which he scored his first Cup Series win as a driver in 463 starts. 

But the biggest story of the day wasn't Waltrip's win. It was the death of his friend and team owner Dale Earnhardt, who died in a last-lap crash while trying to fend off Sterling Marlin as Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled away. 

Earnhardt's death left a black cloud over NASCAR, and for Waltrip, Kelley and the rest of the No. 15 team, their victory in NASCAR's biggest race felt hollow. 

Mike Kelley's thoughts on Daytona

Kelley is entering his fourth Cup Series season as Stenhouse Jr.'s crew chief at HYAK Motorsports in 2026 and his fifth working with Stenhouse overall, as he was also atop the pit box with Stenhouse at RFK Racing in 2014. 

In a Tuesday interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Kelley talked about his history at the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway.

"There's something about driving through that tunnel at Daytona," Kelley said. "When your rental van pops out on the other side, it just sends a tingle through your whole body."

That sensation is only amplified if you win the "Great American Race."

But Kelley couldn't fully celebrate his first Daytona crown for obvious reasons. That made his 2023 victory in the race as a crew chief that much more special. 

"In 2001, I was working for DEI and Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the 15 car," Kelley said. "We all know what happened that day. That's a tough memory. But it's something that, when we won that race in 2001, we never really got a chance to celebrate. I think it took 20-something years when I won it the second time to be able to actually enjoy what it meant to win the Daytona 500."

Kelley will have a chance to win a third Daytona 500 on Sunday as he leads Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 47 team into battle at Daytona.

Quotes provided by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.