Daytona Facts

compiled by Mike Forde
NASCAR media services

At Daytona International Speedway

History
• Groundbreaking for Daytona International Speedway was on Nov. 25, 1957. The soil underneath the banked corners was dug from the infield of the track and the hole filled with water. It is now known as Lake Lloyd.
• The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona was a 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20, 1959.
• The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona was held on Feb. 13, 1982.
• Richard Petty won his 200th career race on July 4, 1984 at Daytona.
• Lights were installed in the spring of 1998. However, the race was delayed until October that year due to thick smoke from wildfires. The second Daytona race has been held under the lights ever since.
• The first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona was held on Feb. 18, 2000.

Notebook
• There have been 124 NASCAR Sprint Cup points races at Daytona International Speedway since the track hosted its first race in 1959: 51 have been 500 miles, 46 were 400 miles and four 250 miles. There were also 23 qualifier races that were points races (one in 1959; two from 1960-1971).
• Fireball Roberts won the inaugural pole at Daytona.
• Bob Welborn won the first race at Daytona, a 100-mile qualifying race for Daytona International Speedway.
• Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 on Feb. 22, 1959.
• Fireball Roberts won the first 400-mile race at Daytona, the 1963 Firecracker 400.
• 52 drivers have posted poles at Daytona; 19 have more than one.
• Cale Yarborough leads all drivers with 12 poles at Daytona.
• Bill Elliott leads all active drivers with five poles at Daytona.
• 54 drivers have won at Daytona; 24 have won more than once.
• Richard Petty leads all drivers in victories at Daytona, with 10.
• Jeff Gordon has six victories at Daytona, more than any other active driver.
• The Wood Brothers have won 14 races at Daytona, more than any other car owner.
• Fifteen full-length races at Daytona have been won from the pole. Thirteen have been won from the second starting position – a total of 28 race winners from the front row.
• A driver has swept both races at Daytona only four times, most recently by Bobby Allison in 1982.
• Matt Kenseth won this season’s Daytona 500 from 39th, the deepest in the field that a Daytona race winner has started.
• Other than qualifying races, there have been four Daytona races run caution-free: 1959 spring, 1959 summer; 1960 summer; 1961 spring; 1961 summer and 1962 spring.

NASCAR in Florida
• There have been 160 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Florida.
• 154 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series (all-time) have their home state recorded as Florida.
• There have been nine race winners from Florida in NASCAR’s three national series: