 |  | | Richard Petty was king of the Daytona 500 and would like to return to his throne as an owner. Credit: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images |
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
February 18, 2006
04:21 PM EST (21:21 GMT)
Sunday will mark the 48th running of the Daytona 500, and in nearly half a century of racing at the 2.5-mile superspeedway by the beach, there's been quite a few fond memories made. From the photo finish in the inaugural race in 1959 to "The Fight" in 1979 to The Intimidator finally claiming victory in 1998 -- they've all been etched into the race's historical highlight reel. But did you know that of the race's 29 winners, the same family has produced both the largest and smallest margin of victory? The numbers also say this season's 500 winner will likely come from a top starting position, no matter how much (or little) bump drafting occurs. The bigger question may be whether it'll be a yellow-striped youngster or a former winner that puts the rest of the field in his rearview mirror. Both have about the same shot.
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0 -- Rookies who have won the Daytona 500. With seven
rookie of the year candidates on the starting grid, there's a 16.3 percent chance that number will increase. |
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.158 -- Seconds; the margin of victory Jeff Gordon won
last year's race against Kurt Busch. |
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1 -- Daytona 500 victory by a Petty Enterprises car
not driven by a member of the Petty family (Pete Hamilton, 1970). The team has nine
Daytona 500 victories: seven by Richard Petty, one by Lee Petty and one by Hamilton. Bobby Labonte will pilot the No. 43 car for Petty this
season and starts eighth Sunday. |
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2 -- Feet; the closest margin of victory, which
occurred in the inaugural race in 1959 with Lee Petty being declared the winner three days after officials studied
photos. Richard Petty holds the race's largest margin of victory -- two laps. |
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2 -- Times the Daytona 500 winner started the race
20th or worse. In 1975, Benny Parsons motored his Chevrolet from 32nd to take his only Daytona 500 victory, and in 1978,
Bobby Allison brought his Ford from the 33rd starting spot to win. |
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3 -- Times in the last five Daytona 500s that the
winner started the race from 15th position or worse. Jeff Gordon started 15th last year, while winners Michael Waltrip (2001) and
Ward Burton (2002) both started 19th. |
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3 -- Victories at Daytona by Richard Childress Racing, all by Dale Earnhardt, including the 1998 Daytona 500. RCR driver Jeff Burton starts on the pole for the Daytona 500. |
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4 -- Drivers who can become the youngest to win the Daytona 500: Kyle Busch (20), Reed Sorenson (20), Brian Vickers (22) and Denny Hamlin (25). Jeff Gordon became the youngest driver to win the race in 1997 at 25 years, six months and 12
days. |
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5 -- Times the Daytona 500 has been held on Feb. 19: 1978 (Bobby Allison), 1984 (Cale Yarborough), 1989 (Darrell Waltrip), 1991 (Ernie Irvan) and 1995 (Sterling Marlin). |
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6 -- Former Daytona 500 winners who will be in the
field: Jeff Gordon (1997, '98, 2005), Dale Jarrett (1993, '96, 2000), Michael Waltrip (2001, '03), Bill Elliott (1985, '87),
Sterling Marlin (1994, 1995) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2004). |
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7.1 -- Average starting position of previous Daytona
500 winners. The lowest starting position by a winner was 33rd when Bobby Allison charged to victory in 1978. |
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8 -- Years since the Daytona 500 winner won the Cup
championship in the same season. Jeff Gordon was the last to accomplish the feat in 1997. Only three other drivers have won
both in the same season: Lee Petty (1959), Richard Petty (1964, '71, '74, '79) and Cale Yarborough (1977). |
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11 -- Years since a driver won consecutive Daytona
500s. Only three drivers have won the event back-to-back: Richard Petty (1973-74), Cale Yarborough (1983-84) and Sterling
Marlin (1994-95). |
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13 -- Daytona 500s in the last 17 years that have been
won by a Chevrolet. |
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18 -- Full-time drivers who come to Daytona in a new
car, including seven rookies. |
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24 -- Consecutive years the Daytona 500 has been the
season-opening event. As recently as 1981, the schedule had the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway to
kick off the season in mid-January. |
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33 -- Lowest ranking in the final points standings
that a Daytona 500 winner has finished. In 1988, Bobby Allison's final year of racing, he entered just 13 of the 29 races but
beat his son, Davey, to the checkered flag to kick off the season. It was the last of Allison's 85 career victories. |
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91 -- Days between the checkered flag at Homestead
last season and the drop of the green flag for Sunday's Daytona 500. |
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189 -- Races since Jeff Burton started from the pole.
Burton won his third career pole with a lap of 189.151 mph. The last time he started up front was Sept. 9, 2000, at Richmond,
driving Jack Roush's No. 99. His other pole came at Michigan (1996). |
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2001 -- Last time the Daytona 500 was won from the pole (Dale Jarrett). The race has been won from the top starting spot nine times. |
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$17,977,002 -- Increase in purse from the first
Daytona 500 and this year's Daytona 500. The purse for the 1959 race was $52,050 that was split between 59 drivers. This
year, 43 drivers will share a portion of $18,029,052. |
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This year's Daytona 500 will have a different look to it -- literally. Nearly half of the 43-car field will consist of new drivers, new sponsors or new teams. More importantly, at least 33 drivers are sporting a new number to start 2006 -- either at Daytona or when they make their season debut.
| Inside the Numbers |
| 2006 drivers who will have new car numbers |
| No. |
Driver |
No. |
Driver |
| 00 |
Hermie Sadler |
41 |
Reed Sorenson* |
| 07 |
Clint Bowyer* |
42 |
Casey Mears |
| 09 |
Mike Wallace |
43 |
Bobby Labonte |
| 1 |
Martin Truex Jr.* |
49 |
Brent Sherman* |
| 2 |
Kurt Busch |
50 |
Larry Foyt |
| 4 |
Scott Wimmer |
52 |
Larry Gunselman |
| 11 |
Denny Hamlin* |
55 |
Michael Waltrip |
| 14 |
Sterling Marlin |
59 |
Andy Belmont |
| 15 |
Paul Menard* |
61 |
Kevin Lepage |
| 18 |
J.J. Yeley* |
64 |
Eric McClure |
| 21 |
Ken Schrader |
66 |
Jeff Green |
| 22 |
Dave Blaney |
74 |
Derrike Cope |
| 26 |
Jamie McMurray |
78 |
Kenny Wallace |
| 32 |
Travis Kvapil |
92 |
Chad Chaffin* |
| 36 |
Bill Elliott |
96 |
Terry Labonte |
| 37 |
Chad Blount |
96 |
Tony Raines |
| 40 |
David Stremme* |
|
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