Daytona International Speedway

Daytona International Speedway   2/17/2014

History

·        Groundbreaking for Daytona International Speedway was 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.

·        Richard Petty won his 200th career race on July 4, 1984 at Daytona.

·        Lights were installed in the spring of 1998. However, the July 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 track underwent a repave in 2010.

 

Notebook

·        There have been 133 NASCAR Sprint Cup races since the track hosted its first race in 1959: 55 have been 500 miles, 51 were 400 miles and four 250 miles. There were also 23 qualifier races that were point races.

·        Fireball Roberts won the inaugural pole at Daytona.

·        Bob Welborn won the first race at Daytona, the 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500.

·        Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 on Feb. 22, 1959; he led 38 laps and won by 2 feet.

·        Fireball Roberts won the first 400-mile race at Daytona, the 1963 Firecracker 400.

·        57 drivers have posted poles at Daytona.

·        Cale Yarborough leads all drivers with 12 poles at Daytona.

·        Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin lead all active drivers with three poles at Daytona.

·        56 drivers have won at Daytona.

·        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 15 races at Daytona, more than any other car owner.

·        17 full-length races at Daytona have been won from the pole; the last to do it was Jimmie Johnson in the 2013 Daytona 500.

·        A driver has swept both the Daytona 500 and the July race only five times at Daytona International Speedway: Jimmie Johnson (2013), Bobby Allison (1982), LeeRoy Yarborough (1969), Cale Yarborough (1968) and Fireball Roberts (1962).

 

NASCAR in Florida

There have been 174 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in Florida.

Track Name	City	NSCS
Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach	133
Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead	15
Daytona Beach & Road Course	Daytona Beach	10
Palm Beach Speedway	W. Palm Beach	7
Speedway Park	Jacksonville	6
Five Flags Speedway	Pensacola	1
Golden Gate Speedway	Tampa	1
Titusville-Cocoa Speedway	Titusville	1

·        171 drivers in NASCAR’s three national series have their home state recorded as Florida.

·        There have been 10 race winners with their home state recorded as Florida in NASCAR’s three national series:

Driver	NSCS	NNS	NCWTS
Fireball Roberts	33	0	0
LeeRoy Yarbrough	14	0	0
Marshall Teague	7	0	0
Joe Nemechek	4	16	0
Bobby Johns	2	0	0
David Reutimann	2	1	1
Shorty Rollins	1	0	0
Rick Wilson	0	2	0
Aric Almirola	0	1	2
Joey Coulter	0	0	1