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0 -- Caution flags at the first Daytona 500, run in 1959. Lee Petty took the checkered flag, averaging 135.521 in his Oldsmobile without seeing the yellow flag. |
Jeff Gordon became the sixth
driver to win the Daytona 500
from the pole position AP
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1 -- Daytona 500 wins by Dale Earnhardt. "The Intimidator" has won 33 career races at Daytona International Speedway, including last year's first-ever win in the 500. He has won 10 straight Twin 125 qualifying races and five IROC races. |
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2 -- Rookies in the 1999 field. Tony Stewart started on the outside of Row 1, while Elliott Sadler started 38th. |
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3 -- Number of Wallace brothers in the field. Rusty finished eighth, Mike was 23rd and Kenny placed 42nd. None has ever won the 500.
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4 -- Record for most pole positions at Daytona. Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough each won the pole four times at Daytona. |
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6 -- Drivers who have won the 500 from the pole position. Fireball Roberts (1962), Richard Petty (1966), Yarborough (1968, 1984), Baker (1980), Bill Elliott (1985, 1987) and Jeff Gordon (1999) each accomplished the feat.
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7 -- Daytona 500s won by "The King," the most in history. Richard Petty won in three different decades, the last in 1981. No other driver has won more than four. |
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9 -- Top-10 finishes by Ricky Rudd at the Daytona 500 in his 22 starts, including four in the top five. Rudd's best finish at Daytona is a third-place showing in 1981.
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14 -- Times a Chevrolet has won the 500, the most of any car manufacturer. Fords have won nine times, Plymouths have won four, while Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Buicks and Mercurys have won three times. Dodges have won twice. |
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15 -- Daytona 500s won from the front row. Eight times it has been won from the pole and seven times it has been won from the outside of Row 1.
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19 -- Drivers in the field who have never won a Winston Cup race. Michael Waltrip still has never visited Victory Lane in 396 starts. |
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25 -- Wally Dallenbach's new number. Dallenbach's old number -- 46 -- was a bit unlucky; he still has yet to win a Winston Cup race in 161 starts. Ricky Craven, though, didn't have much luck in No. 25 last year. Craven was winless in 104 career races before moving to No. 58.
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26 -- Drivers who have won the Daytona 500, nine of which were in the field on Sunday.
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28 -- Starts made by Darrell Waltrip in the 500. Waltrip, who finished 21st on Sunday, won the 1989 race, but has not won on the circuit in nearly seven years.
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33 -- Lowest starting spot ever to win the 500. In 1978, Bobby Allison charged through the field to win the first of his two Daytona 500s. |
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37.9 -- Average age of the 43-driver field. Sadler is the youngest at 23, while 57-year-old Dave Marcis is the oldest. Life ends at 40? Twenty drivers in the field are 40 or older.
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43 -- Career races won by pole-sitter Jeff Gordon, two in the Daytona 500 (1997, 1999). Gordon, the youngest driver ever to win at Daytona, started from the pole for the 24th time in his career. He finished 16th last year. |
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93 -- Combined starts of Rudd, Terry Labonte, Kyle Petty, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin at Daytona without ever taking the checkered flag.
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107 -- Laps Earnhardt led in 1998 en route to his first Daytona 500 victory. Earnhardt's average of 172.212 mph is the third-fastest in history. |
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133 -- Laps completed in the 1965 edition of the 500, the fewest in history. Fred Lorenzen won the race shortened by rain -- which turned out to be the Daytona 332.5. It was one of three times the race didn't go the full 200 laps. |
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177.602 -- Fastest average speed of a 500 winner, by Baker in 1980. The slowest average speed was Junior Johnson's 124.740 in 1960. |
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255 -- Races since 1990 Daytona champ Derrike Cope has been to Victory Lane. Cope, who finished 18th on Sunday, has only two career victories -- both in 1990. |
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603 -- Consecutive NASCAR starts made by Terry Labonte. Labonte, who was knocked out of the race in a 12-car wreck, has three runner-up finishes at the Daytona 500, but still is looking for his first win. |
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1,059,105 -- Dollars Earnhardt earned for last year's win. The first Daytona 500, won by Lee Petty, had a total purse of $67,760 for a 59-car field. |
