"I wanted to change out the seat insert, but they said no, because it had confetti on it. You have to leave it just as it is," Gordon said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of last weekend’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
Since 1996, when Daytona USA officially opened, winning Daytona 500 entries have been put on display there for one year. Teams are financially compensated for the loss of use of the car.
According to most crew chiefs interviewed, the cars evolve to such a degree that they have aged out by the time teams regain possession of them a year later.
"I would say by that point … it’s probably not going to be current to what we’ve got going on," Gordon said. "When we get the car back, we’ll look at where we are chassis-wise. We possibly could re-use the chassis, but (not) body-wise.
"I’d say that thing’s going to be a museum piece (when we get it back). It did win the Daytona 500."
While evolutionary changes often lessen the likelihood that a winning Daytona 500 entry could see more on-track action, opportunities have also been impacted by changes in body styles, the arrival of the Car of Tomorrow – which made it’s Daytona debut in 2008 – and the 2013 arrival of the Generation-6 Sprint Cup Series car.
A few of the stories behind Daytona 500 race-winning cars:
• 1996/2000 – Dale Jarrett, Robert Yates Racing
Jarrett, inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2014, won his first of three Daytona 500 titles in 1993 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. But Daytona officials didn’t begin the process of displaying race-winning entries until three years later. By then, Jarrett was back in Victory Lane, this time with the No. 88 Ford Thunderbird fielded by Robert Yates Racing.
Today, Todd Parrott is competition director for Richard Childress Racing’s XFINITY Series program. He was Jarrett’s crew chief for both of his Daytona 500 victories at RYR.
"That was the car that was in the NASCAR Hall of Fame when DJ was inducted," Parrott told NASCAR.com at AMS this past weekend. "It had gone to Talladega (where it was on display in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame) and then it was brought up for his induction."
"I just remember it was very special for the car to be put in Daytona USA in ’96."
According to NASCAR Hall of Fame officials, the car remains at the Hall and is expected to be returned to its owners soon.
Parrott said the team "talked about" refurbishing the car once they got it back and considered running it the following season at Talladega.
"But I don’t believe we did; I believe that was the only time we ran that car."
Jarrett said he took photos of the car after a going-away dinner for driver Marcos Ambrose at the Hall. "I went up there and visited the car," he said, "talked to it. We had a moment of silence. It was cool."
Four years later, the Jarrett/Parrott/Yates group was winning the Daytona 500 again. And that 2000 car, Parrott said, was "extraordinarily special."
"A lot of time was spent on it," he said. "It sat on the pole for the 500; I think we finished second in the (qualifying) race, and then won the 500 with it.
"And that was after we had an accident on Saturday afternoon in Happy Hour; we went back and worked on it. To see it win there was extra special, knowing all the work that went into it prior to that."
The most notable difference between Jarrett’s ’96 and ’00 entries – the ’96 was a Thunderbird; his ’00 win came in a Taurus.
• 1998 – Dale Earnhardt, Richard Childress Racing
The penny is still there, team owner Richard Childress said.
In 1998, seven-time NASCAR premier series champion Dale Earnhardt ended 19 years of frustration by finally winning the one major race that had managed to avoid his grasp, winning the Daytona 500 in his 20th attempt.
Taped to the dash of his Chevrolet Monte Carlo was a penny given to Earnhardt by Wessa Miller, a young girl suffering from spina bifida. Miller had met Earnhardt during Speedweeks thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
"It’s in my museum right now, and still has the original penny on the dash," Childress said of the car. "Kevin Harvick‘s 2007 Daytona 500 winning car is in the museum as well.
"I think I left (Kevin’s car) scratched and beat up just like it came out … from when he got in the wall on the backstretch."
• 2009 – Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing
Kenseth has a pair of Daytona 500 titles, the first in ’09 with crew chief Drew Blickensderfer and the second in ’12 with Jimmy Fennig.
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"The car is usable again," Blickensderfer, now crew chief for Richard Petty Motorsports driver Sam Hornish Jr., said. "But obviously most of the time … someone wants that car for a museum so you usually lose that car for that.
"The things that you lose, which is pretty costly, are the components on the car. At the time when we won (the 500), the bump stops, the shocks the springs, brake calipers, things like that, basically all of that evolves enough to where you’re not using that stuff for the next Daytona 500. But you lost that whole year’s worth of run on brake parts and steering pumps and things you could have used throughout a year. That part is pretty costly.
"Body and chassis – anytime I’ve ever been involved in a big race win, somebody wants that car enough that you’re not going to get to use it anyway."
Kenseth’s ’09 winning entry did go on display inside the Roush Fenway Racing complex, as did the winning entry from ’12.
"Yeah, you could (re-use) the car once you got it back," Fennig, now research and development coordinator for RFR, said. "Provided they didn’t change the rules over the year."
But, he said, "You should be able to build a better car (by then)."
• 2011 – Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing
There’s still a Dasani water bottle under the seat of the No. 21 Ford Fusion, and there are signatures across the back of the car.
The water bottle was left behind at some point during the race, or perhaps in the wild celebration afterward.
The signatures came later – a year later in fact.
When Bayne captured the ’11 Daytona 500, he became the youngest winner ever of the series’ biggest race. It came in only his second start in the Sprint Cup Series. And it came with Wood Brothers Racing, one of the legendary NASCAR teams still competing.
"When we got it back the next year – that Sunday … we had 20 or more people sign it that night at the Daytona Experience (formerly Daytona USA), basically the back end of the car," Len Wood, co-owner of the team, said.
The car was returned to the team’s headquarters long enough for employees in the shop that had worked on the car to place their signatures on the piece as well. It then went to the team’s museum in Stuart, Virginia, where members of the Wood family autographed the car during a brief, two-day stay.
By week’s end, it had been delivered to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where it remains today.
"That car was No. 600 in terms of Ford wins," Wood said, "plus the significance of everything else."
Could it have been used the following season after it was returned to the team from Daytona?
"It was a COT car, so it could have been used," said Wood. "We got it back in February of ’12, the Gen-6 car didn’t come around until ’13 … so it could have been used at Talladega (in the spring) or in the Fourth of July (Daytona) race or Talladega in the fall. But we didn’t."
The car hasn’t been touched, although Bayne has been back behind the wheel for photos, just so the team can correctly state that the Daytona 500 winner was the last to sit behind its wheel.
Unlike most Daytona 500 winning cars, the No. 21 was covered in a combination of confetti and Coca-Cola.
"They didn’t break open the champagne," Wood said, "because (Trevor) was only 20. So everything stuck to it."
• 2004/2014 – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Inc./Hendrick Motorsports
Team owner Rick Hendrick has eight victories in the Daytona 500, six of which came after ’96. Geoffrey Bodine (’86) and Darrell Waltrip (’89) won before the speedway began putting the cars on display. Jeff Gordon (’97, ’99, ’05), Jimmie Johnson (’06, ’13) and Earnhardt Jr. (’14) lost the use of their winning cars for a year.
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HMS just took possession of Earnhardt Jr.’s winning entry from last year and fans can now see the car in the Hendrick Motorsports museum. According to Hendrick officials, all Daytona 500 winning cars are put on display in the museum, a decision made by the team owner.
Earnhardt Jr.’s ’04 winning entry, however, came when the series’ most popular driver was competing for Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team founded by his father.
"I reckon it’s over at DEI in the showroom, but I haven’t been to DEI in six to a dozen years," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I can’t even remember the last time I was in there. There’s a lot of stuff over there I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on."
Earnhardt Jr. said his "old Late Model car" is still there, and said it’s likely the Street Stock car that was raced by all three Earnhardt siblings – Dale, Kerry and sister Kelley – is as well.
"Just a lot of stuff sitting over there that I’m sure is being well taken care of," he said. "I imagine the Daytona 500 car is in a warehouse somewhere. Certainly we still have the title to it."
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