1995 Daytona 500

Auto race held at Daytona International Speedway in 1995 February 2025 March 2026 CUST Race 1 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season 1995 2 19 1995 1 31 1995_Daytona_500_program_cover_and_logo.jpg 1995 Daytona 500 program cover Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida 2.5 4.02336 200 500 804.672 Temperatures reaching as high as 66.9 F C; wind speeds approaching 12 mph km/hhttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/FL/Daytona%20Beach/1995-02-19 Weather of the 1995 Daytona 500 The Old Farmers' Almanac 2013-06-25 https://archive.today/20240526175722/https://www.webcitation.org/6HntSnWrF?url=http://m.almanac.com/weather/history/FL/Daytona%20Beach/1995-02-19 2024-05-26 live 141.710 mi/h Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Sterling Marlin Morgan-McClure Motorsports Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Sterling Marlin Morgan-McClure Motorsports 105 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan-McClure Motorsports CBS Ken Squier, Richard Petty and Ned Jarrett 7.8/20 (11.4 million viewers) thumb|Logo for the 1995 Daytona 500. The 1995 Daytona 500, the 37th running of the event, was held on February 19 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Dale Jarrett won his first career Winston Cup pole. Sterling Marlin won the race for the second straight year, his second Daytona 500 win, after leading 105 laps, including the final 20. Race summary Opening laps Outside polesitter Dale Earnhardt led the opening lap for the first time in his Daytona 500 career. Lap 3 saw Sterling Marlin in the Morgan–McClure Motorsports No. 4 car take the lead. The first yellow flag came out on lap 9 when Joe Nemechek (in his first race for his own team) crashed and collected Brett Bodine. Two laps after the restart, IMSA and IndyCar veteran Davy Jones touched with fellow rookie Randy LaJoie exiting turn 4, clipping the wall and spinning the Jasper Motorsports No. 77 car into the pits. Before 30 laps were put on the board, sprint car king Steve Kinser crashed with Phil Parsons. Jeff Gordon took the lead from Marlin during the yellow flag pit stops. After the restart, Mark Martin and 1985 and 1987 winner Bill Elliott stopped for flat tires. On lap 43, John Andretti and 1990 winner Derrike Cope collided exiting turn 2. Both drivers continued with minimal damage, but as Cope came through the tri-oval to catch up to the field, both rear tires suddenly blew out, sending him into a harmless spin but rendering his car disabled as he could get no traction with both rear tires flat. On lap 58, Mike Wallace got loose in turn 2 and tagged Jeff Purvis, sending both cars into the wall and the 1994 and 1993 ARCA 200 winners respectively were finished for the day. Caution flag pit stops resulted in Dave Marcis staying out to lead one lap (a regular practice for Dave), and Mark Martin's Roush Racing crew placed his car in front. On lap 68, Gordon retook the lead. Mid-race events On lap 70, rain interrupted the race for 2 hours. Jeff Gordon led Marlin, Todd Bodine, Earnhardt and Ken Schrader when the red flag was withdrawn. On lap 97, Todd Bodine spun exiting turn 4 (whether or not contact with Robert Pressley caused it was unclear), and engine failure soon took him out after the restart. He joined Purvis, Mike Wallace, Kinser Parsons, and Nemechek as the 6 cars out of the race. During the pit stops, Gordon dropped from the lead to 20th after a very long pit stop. Earnhardt was the new leader, and at halfway he led Michael Waltrip, Morgan Shepherd, Marlin and Ken Schrader to the restart. With help from Marlin, the younger Waltrip took the lead from Earnhardt for 2 laps before the defending 500 winner retook the lead. Meanwhile, Gordon was reclaiming lost ground quickly and passed Michael Waltrip in turn 2 on lap 109 to re-enter the top 10. On lap 131, Dave Marcis hit the turn 3 wall and slowed to a stop in the middle of turns 3 and 4. After the restart, a small dispute developed in his pits centering on the status of his unused tires. The Penske team showed up to make an offer for the tires, but Marcis wanted the tires to go to Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt, for whom Marcis and his team had done many miles of testing and from whom he had received an engine for the race. "I may not have been in the Daytona 500 if it wasn't for Richard Childress," said Marcis of the former owner-driver. Going through all of this, Marlin retained the lead until, with 40 laps to go, rookie Randy LaJoie spun on the backstretch and lost his windshield. As the yellow flag was being waved, Bobby Hamilton made contact with Rusty Wallace, resulting in Wallace's fifth straight Daytona 500 crash (4 of which resulted in a DNF, with the 1992 running as the exception). Rick Mast led a lap during the caution. 1989 winner Darrell Waltrip had a transmission failure that would cost him 20 laps to repair. Meanwhile, Gordon suffered an aerodynamic setback that would cost him the race. The jack was let down too soon on the driver's side during the tire change, and the fender was bent by the left front tire. Earnhardt would lead the field to the restart, and afterward, Gordon would brush the wall in his now ill-handling car. He brought the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 car in for a correctional pit stop and lost a lap. Finish With 20 laps to go, Marlin passed Earnhardt for the lead on the back straightaway. With 15 laps to go, Bobby Labonte (in his first race for Joe Gibbs Racing) crashed in turn 1, nearly collecting his older brother Terry. Earnhardt came in for 4 new tires, gambling that maneuverability would be more valuable than track position. Just before the restart, rookie Robert Pressley spun in the short chute before turn 1 after contact from Dick Trickle. When the green was waved Earnhardt quickly re-entered the top 10, and with 10 to go, he was side by side with Ricky Rudd for 9th. He passed Mark Martin for the second position with 4 laps to go, but Sterling Marlin's Chevrolet was not to be denied. This was Sterling Marlin's second Winston Cup win, both of which were in the Daytona 500. Marlin also joined Richard Petty (in the 1974 race) and Cale Yarborough (in 1984 race) as the only drivers who have won back-to-back Daytona 500's; this feat was not repeated until the 2020 race when Denny Hamlin joined the ranks of back-to-back winners and then again with William Byron in 2024 – 2025. Martin went to third while his teammate Ted Musgrave finished fourth and 1993 winner Dale Jarrett (who started on the Pole) finished 5th. This was Richard Petty's only Daytona 500 as a broadcaster, and the first Daytona 500 to be broadcast with a reduction in availability. As a result of the Fox affiliate switches of 1994, many markets where CBS lost major affiliates and were relegated to minor affiliates could not receive the race, including three markets where a NASCAR-sanctioned national series races were held -- Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Detroit. The Atlanta market losses affected North Georgia, where Bill Elliott is based, as mountainous areas of northern Georgia could not receive the race because WGCL had a much weaker signal than the station that defected (WAGA). That situation was resolved in 1996 when WSPA in Spartanburg launched WNEG as a CBS affiliate in September 1995. Results Pos Grid No. Car number Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Number of laps completed Status Laps led Number of laps led Points 1 3 4 Sterling Marlin (W) Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 200 Running 105 185 2 2 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 200 Running 23 175 3 6 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 200 Running 7 170 4 12 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 200 Running 0 160 5 1 28 Dale Jarrett (W) Robert Yates Racing Ford 200 Running 0 155 6 15 30 Michael Waltrip Bahari Racing Pontiac 200 Running 2 155 7 35 29 Steve Grissom Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 200 Running 0 146 8 11 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 200 Running 0 142 9 9 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 200 Running 0 138 10 30 21 Morgan Shepherd Wood Brothers Racing Ford 200 Running 0 134 11 17 15 Dick Trickle Bud Moore Engineering Ford 200 Running 0 130 12 13 42 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac 200 Running 0 127 13 18 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 200 Running 0 124 14 16 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 200 Running 0 121 15 21 31 Ward Burton Dilliard Racing Ford 200 Running 0 118 16 14 41 Ricky Craven # Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 200 Running 0 115 17 37 27 Loy Allen Jr. Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 200 Running 0 112 18 25 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 200 Running 0 109 19 27 80 Joe Ruttman Hover Motorsports Ford 200 Running 0 106 20 40 7 Geoff Bodine (W) Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 200 Running 0 103 21 41 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Ford 200 Running 1 105 22 4 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 199 Running 61 102 23 10 94 Bill Elliott (W) Elliott-Hardy Racing Ford 199 Running 0 94 24 28 8 Jeff Burton Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 199 Running 0 91 25 39 11 Brett Bodine Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 199 Running 0 88 26 31 33 Robert Pressley # Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 199 Running 0 85 27 38 37 John Andretti Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 197 Running 0 82 28 26 66 Ben Hess RaDiUs Motorsports Ford 196 Running 0 79 29 24 22 Randy LaJoie # Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 195 Running 0 76 30 20 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 185 Accident 0 73 31 22 12 Derrike Cope (W) Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 184 Running 0 70 32 5 17 Darrell Waltrip (W) Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 180 Running 0 67 33 33 77 Davy Jones # Jasper Motorsports Ford 166 Running 0 64 34 7 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 158 Accident 0 61 35 29 98 Jeremy Mayfield Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 155 Engine 0 58 36 19 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 129 Engine 1 60 37 8 75 Todd Bodine RahMoc Enterprises Ford 105 Engine 0 52 38 34 44 Jeff Purvis Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 57 Accident 0 49 39 36 90 Mike Wallace Donlavey Racing Ford 57 Accident 0 46 40 42 26 Steve Kinser # King Racing Ford 27 Accident 0 43 41 32 19 Phil Parsons TriStar Motorsports Ford 27 Accident 0 40 42 23 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 8 Accident 0 37Failed to qualify 20 Bobby Hillin Jr. Moroso Racing Ford 40 Greg Sacks Dick Brooks Racing Pontiac 14 Randy MacDonald Hagan Racing Pontiac 95 Doug Heveron Sadler Brothers Racing Ford 82 Terry Byers # Byers Racing Ford 52 Gary Bradberry # Means Racing Ford 62 Ronnie Sanders Henley Gray Racing Ford 81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 73 Phil Barkdoll Barkdoll Racing Ford 99 Shawna Robinson CPR Motorsports Ford 72 Jim Sauter Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 51 Kerry Teague Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 97 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Ford 68 Bob Strait Strait Racing Ford 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 0 Delma Cowart H. L. Waters Racing Ford 47 Billy Standridge Johnson Racing Ford 67 Ken Bouchard Cunningham Racing Ford 48 James Hylton Hylton Racing Pontiac 53 Ritchie Petty Petty Brothers Racing Ford 32 Mike Chase # Active Motorsports Chevrolet 65 Steve Seligman O'Neil Racing Ford # Rookie of the Year candidateSource:http://www.racing-reference.info/race?id=1995-01&series=W 1995 Daytona 500 Racing-Reference.info 2014-04-13 References External links Results Daytona 500 Daytona 500 Category:NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway