1984: A sweet repeat

DAYTONA BEACH -- With one lap to go, Darrell Waltrip was leading the Daytona 500. But he knew, as did everybody in the lead draft and most of the fans in the stands, that Cale Yarborough's No. 28 Chevrolet was a cinch to win.

How could it not be? Yarborough had qualified at better than 201 mph, dominated his qualifying race and had led nearly half of the laps in this race. There wasn't going to be anybody short of Superman stopping this speeding bullet.

KNOW YOUR NASCAR  1984 Season Recap  50 Greatest Drivers: Cale Yarborough  More NASCAR History

"I knew what was going to happen," Waltrip said. "There wasn't any use in getting upset about it."

Yarborough motored by with the greatest of ease, becoming the first driver to win back-to-back 500s since Richard Petty in 1973-74. It was a carbon copy of his 1983 performance, except this time he didn't destroy his primary car before the big race.

"I knew I had a sure thing," Yarborough said. "I didn't run up on a car out there all day that I couldn't pass when I wanted to."

1984 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Cale Yarborough  2. Dale Earnhardt  3. Darrell Waltrip  4. Neil Bonnett  5. Bill Elliott  6. Harry Gant  7. Ricky Rudd  8. Geoff Bodine  9. David Pearson  10. Jody Ridley

In fact, the hardest thing for Yarborough to do was not try to run away from the rest of the field, considering how stout the motor in his Chevy had run all week.

Dale Earnhardt was also able to slip past Waltrip on the final lap, but finished a distant eight car-lengths to Yarborough. Neil Bonnett, Bill Elliott and Harry Gant were also on the lead lap at the end.

A late-race gamble by Elliott to pit for fresh tires turned out to be the wrong call.

"The car just wouldn't handle," he said. "We fiddled with it all day and never did get it right. Then the last set of tires we put on ... made the car even looser."

Richard Petty thrilled the crowd by charging through the field from his 39th starting position, holding the lead four times for 24 laps. But the engine in his Pontiac gave up on lap 92, ending his chances for an eighth victory.

"Everything was working perfectly until it went," Petty said. "I don't know if we had everybody else covered, but we could run with them, and that was what was important."

Chevrolets took 13 of the top 15 places.

Rusty Wallace, competing in his first Daytona 500, started 27th and finished 30th.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.