1974 Daytona 500

The 1974 Daytona 500, the 16th running of the event, was won by Richard Petty (for the fifth time) after three hours, eleven minutes, and thirty-eight seconds of racing on February 17, 1974, at Daytona International Raceway in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.

1974 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 2 of 30 in the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1974 Daytona 500 program cover
Date	February 17, 1974 (1974-02-17)
Location	Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance	180 laps, 450 mi (724.205 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds approaching 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Average speed	140.894 miles per hour (226.747 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Bobby Isaac	Banjo Matthews
Duel 2 Winner	Cale Yarborough	Richard Howard
Most laps led
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Laps	74
Winner
No. 43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network	ABC's Wide World of Sports
Announcers	Keith Jackson Jackie Stewart Chris Economaki

During the start of the 1974 NASCAR season, many races had their distance cut ten percent in response to the energy crisis of the year. As a result, the 1974 Daytona 500, won by Richard Petty (his second straight, making him the first driver ever to do it), was shortened to 180 laps (450 miles), as symbolically, the race "started" on Lap 21 and the race is often known as the Daytona 450. The Twin 125 qualifying races (won by Bobby Isaac in a Banjo Matthews Chevrolet and Cale Yarborough in the Richard Howard Chevy prepared by Junior Johnson) were also shortened to 45 laps (112.5 miles).

Summary

First Daytona 500 starts for Bob Burcham, Richie Panch, George Follmer, Lennie Pond, Jackie Rogers, Joe Mihalic, and Richard Childress. Only Daytona 500 starts for Jimmy Crawford, L. D. Ottinger, Dick Simon, Tony Bettenhausen Jr., and Dan Daughtry. Last Daytona 500 starts for Bobby Isaac and Gary Bettenhausen.

Coo Coo Marlin would get his only ever lead lap finish at this race.

ABC Sports announced a week before the race that the event's second half would be televised live, opening with a recap of the event's opening laps. Keith Jackson handled play-by-play commentary with Jackie Stewart providing color commentary. Chris Economaki reported from pit road.

The race was the most competitive in Daytona history with 59 official lead changes (a record that stood until the 2011 Daytona 500, which saw 74 lead changes) among 15 leaders (this record was tied in 1989, then broken in 2006 at 18 and 2010 at 21, and 2011 with 22). The number of leaders was nearly 16; on Lap 51 Cale Yarborough passed Johnny Rutherford and George Follmer passed Yarborough in Turn Three; Yarborough repassed Follmer before the start-finish line thus officially leading the lap.

Richard Petty and Donnie Allison combined to lead 29 times for 120 laps while other strong cars included Yarborough, Bobby Allison, A. J. Foyt (who started 35th), Coo Coo Marlin (started 31st), and pole-sitter David Pearson.

The race saw two dramatic changes in outcome in the final twenty laps. Richard Petty cut a tire and had to pit under green with 19 laps to go, putting Donnie Allison into the lead. But with 11 laps to go, Bob Burcham blew an engine in the trioval just in front of Donnie Allison. It caused Allison's Chevy to blow out a tire and spin out near turn one while leading. Allison then lost a lap limping back to pit road to get fresh tires. Petty re-took the lead and won by a margin of 47 seconds. Yarborough was second, followed by Ramo Stott, Marlin, Foyt, and Donnie Allison. Marlin might have finished second, but mistook the white flag for the checkered, since both were being displayed when they crossed the line to get the white flag, as Petty was right behind them. Marlin let off on the back straightaway, and lost second to Yarborough, while Stott, known at the time mostly for his USAC stock car prowess, followed to take third, while Marlin had to settle for fourth.

Race results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Entrant	Manufacturer	Laps	Winnings	Laps led	Time/Status
1	2	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	1974 Dodge	200	$39,650	74	3:11:38
2	4	11	Cale Yarborough	Richard Howard	1974 Chevrolet	200	$21,250	9	+47 Seconds
3	12	83	Ramo Stott	Norris Reed	1974 Chevrolet	200	$11,390	0	Lead lap, under green flag
4	31	14	Coo Coo Marlin	H. B. Cunningham	1973 Chevrolet	200	$8,350	7	Lead lap, under green flag
5	35	50	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	1974 Chevrolet	199	$8,465	6	+1 Lap
6	7	88	Donnie Allison	DiGard Racing	1974 Chevrolet	199	$7,650	41	+1 Lap
7	11	95	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip	1973 Chevrolet	199	$5,900	1	+1 Lap
8	3	27	Bobby Isaac	Banjo Matthews	1974 Chevrolet	198	$6,825	0	+2 Laps
9	23	32	Dick Brooks	Dick Brooks	1974 Dodge	197	$5,050	0	Suspension
10	18	30	Walter Ballard	Vic Ballard	1974 Chevrolet	197	$5,410	2	+3 Laps
11	22	52	Earl Ross	Allan Brooke	1972 Chevrolet	197	$4,560	0	+3 Laps
12	34	16	Gary Bettenhausen	Penske Racing	1974 Matador	196	$4,225	0	+4 Laps
13	32	24	Cecil Gordon	Cecil Gordon	1972 Chevrolet	196	$4,750	1	+4 Laps
14	40	2	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	1973 Dodge	196	$4,435	0	+4 Laps
15	38	05	David Sisco	David Sisco	1974 Chevrolet	195	$4,275	2	+5 Laps
16	19	48	James Hylton	James Hylton	1973 Chevrolet	193	$4,325	9	+7 Laps
17	16	57	Bob Burcham	Jack White	1974 Chevrolet	185	$3,820	0	Engine
18	29	98	Richie Panch	Roy Thornley	1972 Ford	180	$3,770	1	+20 Laps
19	33	22	Jimmy Crawford	Crawford Brothers	1972 Plymouth	176	$3,775	0	+24 Laps
20	5	15	George Follmer	Bud Moore Engineering	1973 Ford	165	$7,400	0	Engine
21	15	90	Bill Dennis	Donlavey Racing	1972 Ford	161	$4,220	0	Engine
22	10	72	Benny Parsons	L. G. DeWitt	1974 Chevrolet	141	$7,700	1	Ignition
23	21	54	Lennie Pond	Ronnie Elder	1974 Chevrolet	135	$4,135	0	Suspension
24	17	61	Johnny Rutherford	Don Bierschwale	1974 Chevrolet	116	$3,735	2	Clutch
25	20	56	Jim Hurtubise	Dan Bray	1972 Chevrolet	112	$3,600	0	Crash
26	24	18	Joe Frasson	Joe Frasson	1973 Dodge	111	$3,550	0	Engine
27	6	31	Jim Vandiver	O. L. Nixon	1972 Dodge	108	$4,225	0	Radiator
28	30	70	J. D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing	1972 Chevrolet	108	$4,850	0	Engine
29	39	02	L. D. Ottinger	Russell Large	1974 Chevrolet	100	$3,390	0	Hood pin
30	9	12	Bobby Allison	Bobby Allison Motorsports	1974 Chevrolet	97	$6,800	19	Engine
31	37	5	Dick Simon	Doc Faustina	1973 Dodge	96	$3,410	0	Engine
32	14	93	Jackie Rogers	Ray Frederick	1974 Chevrolet	89	$3,500	0	Driver injury
33	26	9	Tony Bettenhausen Jr.	Gordon Van Liew	1972 Chevrolet	75	$3,365	0	Engine
34	28	79	Frank Warren	Frank Warren	1974 Dodge	63	$3,830	0	Engine
35	1	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	1973 Mercury	61	$9,035	5	Exhaust
36	13	28	Charlie Glotzbach	Hoss Ellington	1974 Chevrolet	48	$4,150	0	Windshield
37	25	60	Joe Mihalic	Lou Viglione	1974 Chevrolet	37	$3,365	0	Crash
38	27	35	Dan Daughtry	Morris Davis	1972 Ford	28	$3,230	0	Crash
39	8	04	Hershel McGriff	Petty Enterprises	1974 Dodge	23	$3,375	0	Crash
40	36	96	Richard Childress	Tom Garn	1973 Chevrolet	22	$3,700	0	Engine
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