Today in Nascar History February

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Today in Nascar History February 23rd:

Winners on this date: Paul Goldsmith, Richard Petty (2 times), LeeRoy Yarbrough, Kyle Petty, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Jarrett.

February 23rd, 1958: Paul Goldsmith takes the win on the Daytona Beach Road Course driving a Smokey Yunick prepared Pontiac. It is the last Nascar race ever held on the 4.1 mile beach road course.




February 23rd, 1964: Richard Petty absolutely destroys the field in the Daytona 500, leading 184 of the 200 laps en route to a dominating win. It is his first Daytona 500 triumph and Plymouth cars with the new powerful Hemi engine finish 1-2-3 in the race.




February 23rd, 1969: LeeRoy Yarbrough, starting in a back up car after crashing in his qualifying race, passes Charlie Glotzbach on the final lap and wins the Daytona 500.




February 23rd, 1986: Kyle Petty scores an unlikely win at Richmond as the top 4 cars all crash in front of him in the late laps. The wreck is caused by Dale Earnhardt, who hooks rival Darrell Waltrip into the wall in retaliation for Waltrip hitting him earlier in the event.




February 23rd, 2003: Dale Jarrett holds off Matt Kenseth and wins at Rockingham.




February 23rd, 2013: One of the scariest wrecks in Nascar history occurs in the Nationwide event at Daytona as a melee coming to the checkered flag see’s Kyle Larson’s car go airborne and into the catch fencing. Pieces of his car shatter injuring multiple fans, a few seriously. Miraculously all drivers and fans survive the shocking event.



February 23rd, 2017: Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott win the Daytona qualifying races for the Daytona 500-Elliott's win is significant in that he becomes the youngest ever winner of a duel race surpassing Jeff Gordon's age mark. It is also the first ever Nascar Cup sanctioned event win for a #24 car not driven by Jeff Gordon.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History February 24th:

Winners on this date: Fonty Flock, Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Tiny Lund, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Fred Lorenzen, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt (2 times), Matt Kenseth, and Jimmie Johnson.

February 24th, 1946: Red Byron wins a stock car race in Orlando, Florida. It is the first race he has competed since being shot down in World War 2. Byron, a successful pilot, survives but spends 27 months in an Army hospital.




February 24th, 1948: Fonty Flock wins the race in Jacksonville, Florida. Late in the race Flock's steering wheel breaks, but Flock miraculously drives and wins the race by using the one remaining steering spoke!




February 24th, 1961: Fireball Roberts and Joe Weatherly win the 100 mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500, which are marred by bad accidents. In the opening race Richard Petty flies over the guardrail, emerging only with a sprained ankle. In the second race Johnny Beauchamp and Lee Petty both go sailing over the railing on the high banks. The elder Petty is not so lucky, as he is seriously injured in his accident, essentially ending his racing career.

Crash (I don’t know how they even survived).








February 24th, 1963: Filling in for the injured Marvin Panch, DeWayne "Tiny" Lund delivers the race of a lifetime and wins the Daytona 500. Ford captures the first 5 spots in the event.




February 24th, 2012: Danica Patrick qualifies on pole for the NNS 300 miler at Daytona, becoming the 1st female pole sitter in Nascar since Shawna Robinson at Atlanta in 1994 and the first ever female pole sitter in Nascar at Daytona International Speedway in history.




February 24th, 2013: Jimmie Johnson holds off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin to claim his 2nd career Daytona 500 victory in his 400th Cup Series start. The race is the debut of Nascar's Gen 6 racecar and sees polesitter Danica Patrick make history by becoming the first female to lead under green in a Cup race, lead in the Daytona 500, become the first female to lead in both the Indy 500 and Daytona 500, and have the best finish of a female in the Daytona 500 (8th).

February 24th, 2016: In a surprising move, Stewart Haas Racing announces 2 weeks into the season that next year they will race Fords. The team had been with Chevrolet for their whole existence previously.

February 24th, 2017: 18 year old Kaz Grala wins a wild affair at Daytona in the Truck Series and makes a bit of history in the process. Grala becomes the youngest winner at the famed speedway in any of the sport's top 3 touring series and also is the winner of the first ever race run under Nascar's new 3 segment format.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History February 25th:

Winners on this date: Joe Weatherly, Paul Goldsmith, Earl Balmer, Richard Petty, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt, Steve Park, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards.

February 25th, 1959: Lee Petty is finally declared the official winner of the inaugural Daytona 500, 61 hours after the race had completed. Petty's victory is decided after Nascar's higher ups view photos of the finish of the event, and indeed, Petty had won.




February 25th, 1968: Cale Yarborough beats LeeRoy Yarbrough to win the Daytona 500.




February 25th, 1990: Mark Martin takes the win at Richmond. After the race it is discovered that the carburetor was illegal on Martin's car. He is docked 46 points and crew chief Robin Pemberton is fined 40,000 bucks.




February 25th, 1996: Dale Earnhardt knocks Bobby Hamilton out of the way with 50 laps to go and goes onto win at Rockingham.




February 25th, 2001: In the first race run since the death of Dale Earnhardt, DEI driver Steve Park scores an emotional win for the team and for Nascar.




February 25th, 2007: For the second straight year, Matt Kenseth has the field covered at California Speedway in the Spring, easily winning the event.




February 25th, 2008: In a rain delayed race run on Monday, Carl Edwards passes Jimmie Johnson in the late going and goes on to win the Auto Club 500.

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Today in Nascar History February 26th:

Winners on this date: Tim Flock, Marvin Panch, Mario Andretti, Benny Parsons, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and Kurt Busch.

February 26th, 1956: Tim Flock wins the race at Daytona Beach for the 2nd straight year. He outruns a huge field of 76 cars for the victory.




February 26th, 1961: Fireball Roberts dominates and his on his way to victory in the Daytona 500 when his engine blows up with 13 laps to go, gifting the win to his teammate Marvin Panch who is running 2nd behind Roberts.




February 26th, 1967: Open Wheel ace Mario Andretti leads the final 33 laps to win the Daytona 500, his first career Nascar victory.




February 26th, 1984: Ricky Rudd beats Darrell Waltrip to the line to score a popular hometown victory at Richmond. Rudd is still battered and bruised from his horrific wreck at Daytona, but manages to win the race anyways.




February 26th, 2006: Matt Kenseth holds off Jimmie Johnson and teammate Carl Edwards to win at California Speedway.




February 26th, 2012: For the first time in the 54 year history of the Great American Race, bad weather forces the postponement of the Daytona 500 to Monday.



February 26th, 2017: Kurt Busch in his 16th attempt takes victory in a wild and wreck-filled Daytona 500. The lead of the race changes hands 3 times over the final 3 laps as Busch holds off young guns Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson for the win. The victory is Busch's first ever restrictor plate win, and car owner Tony Stewart and Gene Haas'1st Daytona 500 win. The race also holds the distinction of having the winner of the race only lead the last lap-the first time this has happened in Daytona 500 history.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History February 27th:

Winners on this date: Tim Flock, Ned Jarrett, Richard Petty (2 times), Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, and Matt Kenseth.

February 27th, 1949: Three events are staged at Broward Speedway, with one being a late added Strictly Stock late model race. Benny Georgeson wins the experimental event while Bob Flock wins the main attraction, the roadster race.

February 27th, 1955: Fireball Roberts is disqualified after crossing the line first, giving the win at Daytona Beach to Tim Flock and car owner Carl Kiekhaefer-the first for his newly formed team.

February 27th, 1965: Ned Jarrett demolishes the field in the 100 mile race at Spartanburg, SC, winning by an astonishing 22 laps. Only 16 cars start the race, giving Jarrett an obvious advantage over some rather weak competition.




February 27th, 1966: Richard Petty relies on a lightning fast car to recover from over 2 laps down and cruises to an easy win over Cale Yarborough in the Daytona 500. The race also doesn’t run the whole way, as a Thunderstorm ends the event after 198 laps of the 200.




February 27th, 1994: Rusty Wallace wins at Rockingham in a Ford. Team owner Roger Penske had switched from Pontiac to Ford in the off-season, and Wallace wins for the captain the 2nd time out in the Blue Oval.




February 27th, 2005: Greg Biffle holds off his Roush Racing teammates and takes the win at California.




February 27th, 2011: Jeff Gordon roughs up leader Kyle Busch and passes him late in the going to score the victory at Phoenix, ending the longest winless streak of his illustrious career and tying him on the all-time Cup Series wins list with Cale Yarborough. The race is uncharacteristically wild for a Phoenix event. The last race on the pavement before a repave and reconfiguration of the track sees a record number of lead changes and a massive 13-car accident on the backstretch early in the race.






February 27th, 2012: The first ever rain delayed Daytona 500 is run in Primetime on a Monday night for the first time and produces a wild race which sees perhaps one of the weirdest and wildest moments in Nascar history. Under yellow Juan Pablo Montoya loses control of his car and slams into a Jet Dryer on the track, creating a massive inferno and leading to a long delay to clean up the track. When the race resumes it runs into Tuesday night, in which it sees 2009 champion Matt Kenseth hold off Dale Jr. and teammate Greg Biffle to score his 2nd career Daytona 500 win.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History February 28th:

Winners on this date: Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett, AJ Foyt, Rusty Wallace, and Jimmie Johnson (2 times).

February 28th, 1960: Young Richard Petty takes the first win of his career at age 22 by winning the 100 mile event at Charlotte Fairgrounds Speedway. Petty gets 800 dollars for the win.




February 28th, 1965: Richard Petty, on boycott from Nascar as a part of the Plymouth boycott, loses control of his 1965 drag car at a drag race in Dallas, GA. The car goes into a group of spectators, killing an 8 year-old boy :(




February 28th, 1971: AJ Foyt drives the Wood Brothers #21 to the win at the brand new Ontario Motor Speedway. It is the 1000th race in Nascar history.



February 28th, 2010: Jimmie Johnson passes teammate Jeff Gordon late in the going to win at Las Vegas. It is Johnson's 4th Vegas victory in the last 6 events there, his 49th career win overall, his 2nd in a row in 2010, and his 15th on a 1 and a half mile track, the most all-time.

February 28th, 2016: Jimmie Johnson uses some smart strategy from crew chief Chad Knaus and holds off the field on a late race restart to take the win at Atlanta-his 5th at the track and 2nd in as many years. The race is a throwback of sorts which sees only 1 caution through its first 300 plus laps with cars sliding around the slick Georgia track. The win is career #76 for Johnson, which ties him with Nascar Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt on the all time wins list.

BTW-for those wondering 1 race has been held on leap day, February 29th. Richard Petty won it.