By Yahoo! Sports Staff
February 10, 2008
 The Daytona 500 is turning 50 this year, so Yahoo! Sports has asked you: Which running of the Great American Race is the most memorable so far?
From our list of 10, we asked you to vote on the most notable five. More than 37,000 of you voted. All this week, we're counting down your picks … from No. 5 all the way to No. 1.
For more information on each race, read below.
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| 1959: Photo finish No. 1 – It took three days for NASCAR to declare Lee Petty the winner of the very first Daytona 500. Originally, Johnny Beauchamp was credited with the win, but 61 hours later news-reel footage showed that Petty, in fact, crossed the finish line first. |
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1976: Slowly, but surely – With the finish line in site, Richard Petty made a deft pass of David Pearson. But as he moved by Pearson, Petty spun, taking out both drivers. The two sat motionless in the Daytona grass before Pearson managed to limp his car across the finish line in the slowest finish ever under green-flag conditions. |
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| 1979: Fight at the finish – On the first-ever live flag-to-flag broadcast of a NASCAR race, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison bump and bang for the lead on the final lap. The two eventually wreck, Richard Petty inherits the win and Yarborough and Donnie's brother, Bobby, brawl on the infield. |
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1981: Lucky No. 7 – Bobby Allison was the class of the field until Richard Petty made a gutsy move, grabbing the lead after a fuel-only pit stop with 25 laps to go. The move paid off as Petty went on to win his unprecedented seventh Daytona 500. |
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| 1990: The underdog – The 1990 Daytona 500 was Dale Earnhardt's. No doubt about it. He led 155 of 200 laps and had the lead on the final lap when he suddenly slowed. He'd run over a piece of debris on the backstretch, cutting a tire. Earnhardt's bad luck was Derrike Cope's good fortune. Cope, who had never won a Cup race, blew by a slowing Earnhardt for the win. |
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1993: Proud papa – Ned Jarrett, in the broadcast booth for the 1993 Daytona 500, had a tough time composing himself. And who could blame him? Jarrett's call of his son Dale's victory was priceless. |
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| 1998: Earnhardt Sr. finally wins – After 20 years and almost as many disappointments, Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally gets to victory lane in the one race that had eluded him. On his way, he high-fives just about every crew member of every team, who are lined up on pit road. |
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2001: Earnhardt Sr. loses his life – Running third on the final lap, behind a car he owns (Michael Waltrip) and his son (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), Dale Earnhardt Sr. crashes nose-first into the wall between Turns 3 and 4. Waltrip goes on to win his first ever Cup race, but it comes in the shadow of the biggest tragedy the sport has ever endured. Earnhardt Sr. is dead. |
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| 2004: Junior achievement – What it took his father 20 tries to do, Dale Earnhardt Jr. accomplished in just five. With 19 laps to go, Junior made a deft pass of Tony Stewart before cruising to victory. |
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2007: Photo finish No. 2 – Mark Martin seemingly had it won, but Kevin Harvick pushed his nose in front just before the two crossed the finish line, winning by two-hundredths of a second – the closest finish since the advent of electronic timing. |
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Updated on Sunday, Feb 10, 2008 1:39 pm, EST Email to a Friend | View Popular
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