•
1959:
Lee Petty, patriarch of the racing family, won the inaugural 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona on February 22, 1959, defeating
Johnny Beauchamp. •
1960:
Junior Johnson made use of the
draft, then a little-understood phenomenon, to win while running a slower, year-old car in a field of 68 cars, the most in the history of the Daytona 500. •
1961: First race to be called Daytona 500. •
1965: The first rain-shortened Daytona 500.
Fred Lorenzen was in the lead when the race was called on lap 133 of 200. •
1966: Richard Petty becomes the first two-time winner, having previously won the
1964 race. Through 2024, only 12 drivers have won 2 or more Daytona 500s. •
1967:
Mario Andretti led 112 of the 200 laps including the last 33 to capture his first and only win in the Cup Series. •
1968: For much of this race, both
Cale Yarborough and (unrelated)
LeeRoy Yarbrough traded the lead. With 5 laps to go, Cale made a successful slingshot pass on the third turn to take the lead from LeeRoy and never looked back as he won his first Daytona 500 by 1.3 seconds. •
1969: Having learned from the previous year, LeeRoy Yarbrough would use the same slingshot treatment out of turn 3 on
Charlie Glotzbach, to score the victory on the final lap. •
1971: Richard Petty becomes the first three-time winner, including the
1964 and
1966 races. Through 2015, only 5 drivers have won 3 or more Daytona 500s. •
1972: A. J. Foyt cruised into the lead on lap 80 and stayed there through the 200 lap race, lapping the entire field. Foyt beat second-place Charlie Glotzbach by nearly two laps, with Jim Vandiver finishing 6 laps down in third. •
1973: Richard Petty becomes the first four-time winner, including the
1964,
1966, and
1971 races. Through 2015, only Petty (7 total) and Cale Yarborough have won at least 4 Daytona 500s. •
1974: During the start of the 1974 NASCAR season, many races had their distance cut ten percent in response to the
1973 oil crisis. As a result, the 1974 Daytona 500 was shortened to 180 laps (450 miles), as symbolically, the race "started" on lap 21. Richard Petty became the first of only 4 drivers (as of 2021) to win consecutive Daytona 500s, while also setting a mark of 5 total wins. •
1976: In the 1976 race, Richard Petty was leading on the last lap when he was passed on the backstretch by David Pearson. Petty tried to turn under Pearson coming off the final corner but didn't clear Pearson. The contact caused the drivers to spin into the grass in the infield just short of the finish line. Petty's car didn't start, but Pearson was able to keep his car running and limp over the finish line for the win. •
1979: The 1979 race was the first Daytona 500 to be broadcast live on national television, airing on
CBS, whose audience was increased in much of the Eastern and Midwestern USA due to a blizzard. (The
Indianapolis 500 was only broadcast on tape delay that evening in this era; most races were broadcast only through the final quarter to half of the race, as was the procedure for ABC's Championship Auto Racing broadcasts; with the new CBS contract, the network and NASCAR agreed to a full live broadcast.) That telecast introduced in-car and low-level track-side cameras, which has now become standard in all sorts of automotive racing broadcasts. A final lap crash and subsequent fight between leaders Cale Yarborough and
Donnie Allison (along with Donnie's brother
Bobby) brought national (if unwelcome) publicity to NASCAR, with the added emphasis of a snowstorm that bogged down much of the northeastern part of the United States. Donnie Allison was leading the race on the final lap with Yarborough drafting him tightly. As Yarborough attempted a slingshot pass at the end of the backstretch, Allison attempted to block him. Yarborough refused to give ground and as he pulled alongside Allison, his left side tires left the pavement and went into the wet and muddy infield grass. Yarborough lost control of his car and contacted Allison's car halfway down the backstretch. As both drivers tried to regain control, their cars made contact several more times before finally locking together and crashing into the outside wall in turn three. After the cars settled in the grass, Donnie Allison and Yarborough began to argue. After they had talked it out, Bobby Allison, who was lapped at that point, pulled over, began defending his brother, and a fight broke out. Richard Petty, who was over half a lap behind at the time, went on to win; with the brawl in the infield, the television audience scarcely noticed. The story was the talk of the water cooler the next day, even making the front page of
The New York Times Sports section. •
1980:
Buddy Baker won the fastest Daytona 500 in history before the introduction of mandatory stage cautions in 2017, at 177.602 mph (285.809 km/h). •
1981: Richard Petty becomes the first seven-time winner, three wins more than the second-highest multiple winner, Cale Yarborough. With wins in
1964,
1966,
1971,
1973,
1974, and
1979, Petty is the only driver to win in three different decades. •
1982: The Daytona 500 becomes the opening race in the NASCAR season, a position held since. Bobby Allison wins his second Daytona 500 but many people consider this a controversial win because on lap 3 Bobby Allison's rear bumper broke away from the car (later it was discovered that it was welded on purpose by a wire welder) and caused a pileup further behind the leaders. Without a rear bumper, Allison's car gained an aerodynamic advantage and won the race by just over twenty-two seconds. •
1983: Cale Yarborough was the first driver to run a qualifying lap over in his
Chevrolet Monte Carlo; only to crash out during the second qualifying lap. Yarborough raced in a backup
Pontiac LeMans displayed at a nearby
Hardee's (Yarborough's sponsor) and took the backup car to his 3rd Daytona 500 victory. This would also be the final time a driver won a Daytona 500 in a Pontiac. •
1984: Cale Yarborough completed a lap of , officially breaking the barrier at Daytona. He joined Richard Petty as the only drivers to win the race in consecutive years and to win the race four times overall. •
1985:
Bill Elliott dominated the race, and by lap 140, was close to lapping the entire field. During a pit stop, NASCAR officials held him in the pit area in order to repair a supposed broken headlight assembly. The two-minute pit stop dropped him to third, barely clinging to the lead lap. Elliott made up the deficit and survived a late-race caution and a final lap restart to win his first Daytona 500. Elliott would go on to win the first
Winston Million. •
1986: The race that came down to a two-car duel between
Dale Earnhardt and
Geoff Bodine. With 3 laps to go, Earnhardt was forced to make a pit stop for a "splash 'n go". However, as Earnhardt left the pits, he burned a piston, allowing Bodine to cruise to victory. •
1987: Winner Bill Elliott qualified for the pole position at an all-time Daytona record of 210.364 mph (338.532 km/h). Bill Elliott dominated much of the race, leading 104 of the 200 laps. During two different points in the race, he pulled away from the other leaders and was all by himself on the track, leading the first 35 laps, 29 in a row at another point, and the last three. •
1988:
Restrictor plates were mandated to reduce dangerously high speeds at Daytona. This race was remembered for two things. First, Richard Petty's rollover crash in the tri-oval on lap 106, initiated when he was tagged from behind by Phil Barkdoll. Petty rolled over about eight times and was then hit by
Brett Bodine. The wreck also collected 1972 race winner A. J. Foyt, Eddie Bierschwale, and
Alan Kulwicki. All of the drivers, including Petty, walked away. Second,
Bobby Allison and his son
Davey finished one-two and celebrated together in Victory Lane, making Bobby Allison the oldest driver to win the Daytona 500. •
1989:
Darrell Waltrip stretches his final tank of fuel for 53 laps to win in his 17th try. •
1990: Dale Earnhardt appeared headed for certain victory until the closing laps. On lap 193, Geoff Bodine spun in the first turn, causing the third and final caution of the race. All of the leaders pitted except
Derrike Cope, who stayed out to gain track position. On the lap 195 restart, Earnhardt re-took the lead. On the final lap, going into turn three, he ran over a
bell housing from the blown engine of
Rick Wilson's car. He blew a tire, allowing the relatively unknown Cope to slip by and take his first career win in a major upset. •
1991: Dale Earnhardt's Daytona 500 frustrations continued as
Ernie Irvan passed Earnhardt with six laps to go to. Ultimately, Earnhardt - who was battling issues with the car temperature after striking a seagull early in the race - spun with two laps remaining and collected
Davey Allison and
Kyle Petty. Irvan took the win as the race ended under the caution flag. The race was dominated by complex pit stop rules, implemented to improve safety in the pit area. •
1992: Davey Allison dominated the second half en route to his lone Daytona 500 victory. He avoided a major wreck on lap 92 and went on to lead the final 102 laps. •
1993: In a frightening wreck on lap 170,
Rusty Wallace flipped over multiple times on the back straightaway. With two laps to go,
Dale Earnhardt was leading Jeff Gordon and
Dale Jarrett. Jarrett battled into the lead with one lap to go. It was the fourth time Earnhardt had been leading the Daytona 500 with less than ten laps to go but failed to win. •
1994:
Sterling Marlin gambled on fuel and was able to complete the final 59 laps without stopping, to win his first career Cup victory. During Speedweeks, two drivers, Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr, died during separate practice accidents. Also,
Loy Allen became the first rookie to start the Daytona 500 on the pole. •
1995: Sterling Marlin became the first driver since Cale Yarborough, and only third overall, to win back-to-back Daytona 500s. It was the third win in five years for
Morgan–McClure Motorsports (1991, 1994, 1995). •
1996: Dale Jarrett won his second Daytona 500 in four years, again holding off Dale Earnhardt, who finished second for the third time in four years. •
1997:
Jeff Gordon became the youngest winner of the event to that point at the age of 25 in a three-way finish under caution with
Hendrick Motorsports teammates
Terry Labonte and
Ricky Craven finishing second and third. Dale Earnhardt's Daytona "curse" continued as, while contending for the lead with 12 laps to go, he was involved in a rollover crash on the backstretch, though after observing from an ambulance that his car was still relatively intact, got back in and finished the race in 31st. •
1998: Dale Earnhardt finally won the Daytona 500 after "20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration." Though Earnhardt had usually been a strong competitor in the Daytona 500, mechanical problems, crashes, or other misfortunes had prevented him from winning. •
1999: Jeff Gordon accomplished the feat of winning the pole and the race marking the first time since
1987 when
Bill Elliott did this. •
2000: Dale Jarrett avenged his previous year's rollover accident by winning the 1999 season championship & 2000 500 which was the final 500 broadcast for CBS. •
2001: Also known as
"Black Sunday" or the "darkest day in NASCAR", as Dale Earnhardt
died in a crash on the final lap.
Michael Waltrip and
Dale Earnhardt Jr. were running first and second on the final lap, while Earnhardt Sr. was third. In turn 4, Earnhardt lost control after making contact from Sterling Marlin and crashed into the outside wall, taking
Ken Schrader with him. Earnhardt suffered a fatal
basilar skull fracture. The death overshadowed Waltrip's first win, which came in his 463rd Cup Series race. •
2003: Michael Waltrip became a two-time winner in the shortest ever Daytona 500 after the race was shortened to 109 laps due to rain. •
2004: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first Daytona 500 in his fifth attempt, six years after his father accomplished the feat after 20 attempts. Defending winner Michael Waltrip was eliminated early when his car flipped over during the Big One. •
2005: The start time was changed, allowing the race to finish under the lights at dusk. In the first use of the green-white-checkered finish rule in the Daytona 500, Gordon held off Kurt Busch, and Earnhardt Jr. to win his third Daytona 500. The race went 203 laps/507.5 miles. •
2007: Running fifth with half a lap to go,
Kevin Harvick picked up a push and surged to the front to nip
Mark Martin by 0.02 seconds at the line. Most of the rest of the field crashed across the line as
The Big One erupted behind them. •
2008: The celebrated 50th running of the Daytona 500 was the first using NASCAR's
Car of Tomorrow. It also marked the first race under the "Sprint Cup Series" banner, following the merger of Sprint with
Nextel in 2006. •
2010: The longest Daytona 500 distance until the 2020 event, 208 laps (), due to requiring two green-white-checker efforts to finish the race. Jamie McMurray came home with the 2010 Daytona 500 victory. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second. , driving the No. 21
Ford for
Wood Brothers Racing, won the
2011 Daytona 500. •
2011: Since this race marked the tenth anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt, the third lap was a "silent lap", meaning the TV and radio announcers were silent during the entire lap, and fans held up three fingers in reference to Earnhardt's car number.
Trevor Bayne, at 20 years and one day old, became the youngest Daytona 500 winner ever. •
2012: While 2010 was the longest distance, 2012 was the longest time to complete the race. Scheduled for a 12 noon EST start on Sunday, rain delayed the race to Monday, then further delayed it to a 7 PM start that Monday night, resulting in the first primetime Daytona 500 start (but the third to reach primetime). On lap 160,
Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer in turn 3, sparking a lengthy red flag as crews put out the resulting fire and repaired the damage. The race finally ended at approximately 1 AM EST Tuesday morning, 37 hours after the originally scheduled start, with
Matt Kenseth becoming the first repeat winner since
Jeff Gordon who won the
2005 race. •
2013: There were a number of firsts. This was the first race with NASCAR's new redesigned Generation 6 body. Rookie
Danica Patrick won the pole, becoming the first woman on pole in the Daytona 500 and also the first woman to finish among the Top 10.
Jimmie Johnson earned his second Daytona 500 victory. •
2014: For the second year in a row, a rookie won the pole position, in this case,
Austin Dillon in his first ride in the newly renumbered #3 Chevy SS for Richard Childress Racing, the first time the #3 had been used in a NASCAR Cup Series race since Dale Earnhardt's death. Dale Earnhardt Jr., won his second Daytona 500, the third straight won by a past winner, after Kenseth in 2012 and Johnson in 2013. The race was delayed 6 hours, 22 minutes, and ended at 11:18 p.m. ET Sunday night. •
2015:
Jeff Gordon won the pole for the final time. There were two
big wrecks during the race, one with 19 laps to go for
Justin Allgaier and
Ty Dillon, brought out a red flag to ensue cleanup on the track, and one on lap 202 at a scheduled
Green–white–checkered finish,
Joey Logano won his first Daytona 500. •
2016: Rookie
Chase Elliott started the race from the pole position. Driver
Denny Hamlin led 95 laps during the race, and on the last lap, Hamlin passed leader Matt Kenseth. Hamlin would then beat
Martin Truex Jr. by 0.010 seconds, which would become the closest finish in the Daytona 500. •
2017: The very first race in the era of stage caution breaks.
Chase Elliott started the race from the pole for the second year in a row. Several big wrecks decimated the field but a long green run to the finish put everyone in fuel trouble.
Kurt Busch won as Elliott,
Martin Truex Jr., and
Kyle Larson all ran out of fuel in the last four laps. •
2018: 20 years after
Dale Earnhardt earned his
iconic victory at Daytona,
Austin Dillon brought Richard Childress's #3 Chevrolet back to Victory Lane. Dillon, Childress's grandson, who was photographed next to Earnhardt as a child after the earlier win, led only the final lap, bumping leader
Aric Almirola out of the way, sending the latter's Ford into the wall. Also of note, rookie
Bubba Wallace finished in the runner-up spot, barely edging out 2016 winner
Denny Hamlin, the highest finish for an African-American driver in the event's history. It was also the final NASCAR race for
Danica Patrick, who was collected in a multi-car wreck near the end of the second stage that also ended the days of
Chase Elliott,
Brad Keselowski,
Kevin Harvick, among others. This race was also the fastest Daytona 500 in the stages era. •
2019: The last race to use traditional restrictor plates in NASCAR since 1988.
William Byron started on the pole alongside
Alex Bowman, making it the youngest front-row starters in Daytona 500 history.
Kurt Busch was caught up in an early wreck after contact with
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., collecting
Jamie McMurray,
Austin Dillon, and
Bubba Wallace.
Kyle Busch would win stage 1 and
Ryan Blaney would win stage 2.
Matt DiBenedetto, driving for
Leavine Family Racing, would lead a race-high of 49 laps until he was caught up in "
The Big One" with nine laps to go after contact with
Paul Menard going into turn 3, collecting 18 cars in all. Two more wrecks occurring in the final 5 laps forced the race into overtime.
Denny Hamlin escaped through all the late crashes and would go on to win his second Daytona 500 race in his career.
Joe Gibbs earned his third Daytona 500 victory. Gibbs-owned Toyotas swept the top three spots, as
Kyle Busch finished second and
Erik Jones third. It was the second time in event history that one team took home the first three spots, and the first time since
Hendrick Motorsports achieved the feat in 1997. •
2020:
Donald Trump is the second
President of the United States to serve as Daytona 500 Grand Marshal (after George W. Bush in 2004), and the opening lap is paced by the official
Presidential state car. Shortly after this, continuing rain showers caused the race to be postponed for one day, for the first time in eight years. Denny Hamlin won his third Daytona 500 the next day in the second-closest finish in race history, though the win was overshadowed by a horrific accident for
Ryan Newman on the final lap, being sent to a nearby hospital. •
2021: Much like 2011, this race also had a "silent lap" on lap 3. Ironically, Derrike Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 winner making his final start, blew a tire on this lap headed into turn 3, much like how Dale Earnhardt blew a tire on the final lap of the aforementioned 500. On lap 14, a 16-car wreck occurred before the race was red-flagged due to rain. After a 5-hour 40 minute stoppage, at 9:07pm the race resumed with
Denny Hamlin eventually winning both stages. On the last lap, which occurred after midnight, a big wreck occurred in turn 3 and
Michael McDowell scored his first career Cup win. •
2022: The first race with the Generation 7 "Next-Gen" car. On Lap 63, an eight-car wreck caused by Brad Keselowski, who now was a part owner at
RFK Racing, would lead to rookie
Harrison Burton flipping his car. Keselowski later turned Stenhouse Jr. with six laps to go in the race.
Austin Cindric would hold off
Bubba Wallace at the finish line to win the 500 in only his 8th Cup start, while also becoming the second youngest driver to win (behind Trevor Bayne). •
2023: The 2023 Daytona 500 saw
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. claim victory after a dramatic double-overtime finish. This win marked Stenhouse's first Daytona 500 victory and his third career Cup Series win. The race featured numerous lead changes and several multi-car wrecks, including a massive crash on Lap 118 and another big wreck in the final laps. These incidents led to the race going into double overtime.
Joey Logano finished second, followed by
Christopher Bell in third.
Kyle Busch and
Brad Keselowski also had strong runs but were involved in late-race incidents that impacted the final standings. Despite the chaos, Stenhouse managed to navigate through the wreckage and hold off Joey Logano to secure the win in a thrilling conclusion. ==Qualifying procedure==