The Daytona 500 has been around for 67-years and continues to be NASCAR’s marquee race and holding it as the season opener further enhances the attention surrounding it.
Following on from shorter events held on the Daytona Beach Road Course using a circuit partially on sand and the highway close by at a 200-mile length.
The Daytona International Speedway was constructed in 1958 by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr and held its first 500-mile race the next year. Its banked design enables a great view for spectators and higher speeds, lights were installed in 1998, while it seats 125,000 fans.
Held on Presidents Day on the same day as the NBA All-Star Game and one week after the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500 is the most prestigious on the NASCAR calendar, with the winner receiving the Harley J. Earl Trophy in Victory Lane since 1997.
The Trophy is named after Harry Earl, who was an influential automobile designer and inventor of the Corvette. Featured on the trophy is the Firebird I concept, which is one of Earl’s creations.
Highlights during the course of the race’s 67-year history include Lee Petty’s first victory in 1959, Richard Petty became the first multiple winner in 1966, the next year Mario Andretti won his one and only Cup Series race, A.J. Foyt dominated the event by nearly two laps in 1972 and during the fuel crisis in 1974, the Daytona 500 was shortened to 450-miles.
A significant shift came in 1979 when CBS first broadcast the race live across the US and three years after it slotted in as the opening race on the NASCAR schedule.
Cale Yarborough set the first to run a 200mph qualifying lap in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo in 1983 and the next year formally broke the barrier the next year.
Fast forward to the 1990s as Jeff Gordon became the youngest to win in 1997 at the age of 25, while legend Dale Earnhardt finally added a Daytona 500 crown in 1998, but was killed in the event in 2001.
Dale Earnhardt Jr emulated his father’s own in 2004 as in 2011 Trevor Bayne bettered Gordon’s youngest winner record at 20-years-old.
Danica Patrick became the first woman to win the pole in 2013, while Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr were split by 0.010s at the end in what was the closest margin back in 2016.
There have also been plenty of ‘Big Ones’, which is a pile-up involving much of the field at most Daytona 500s. These tend to switch the result and enable an unfancied driver to take victory.
Daytona is like NASCAR’s Bathurst and continues to be the prized jewel in what is a 36-race schedule.