1974 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 2 of 30 in the1974 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)[1]
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

The1974 Daytona 500, the 16th running of theevent, was won byRichard Petty (for the fifth time) after three hours, eleven minutes, and thirty-eight seconds of racing on February 17, 1974, atDaytona International Raceway inDaytona Beach,Florida,USA.

During the start of the 1974 NASCAR season, many races had their distance cut ten percent in response to theenergy crisis of the year. As a result, the 1974 Daytona 500,^[2][3] won byRichard 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 theDaytona 450. The Twin 125 qualifying races (won byBobby Isaac in aBanjo Matthews Chevrolet andCale Yarborough in theRichard Howard Chevy prepared byJunior Johnson) were also shortened to 45 laps (112.5 miles).^[4]

First Daytona 500 starts forBob Burcham,Richie Panch,George Follmer,Lennie Pond,Jackie Rogers, Joe Mihalic, andRichard Childress. Only Daytona 500 starts forJimmy Crawford,L. D. Ottinger,Dick Simon,Tony Bettenhausen Jr., and Dan Daughtry. Last Daytona 500 starts forBobby Isaac andGary Bettenhausen.^[5]

Coo Coo Marlin would get his only ever lead lap finish at this race.^[5]

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 withJackie 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).^[5] The number of leaders was nearly 16; on Lap 51 Cale Yarborough passedJohnny Rutherford andGeorge Follmer passed Yarborough in Turn Three; Yarborough repassed Follmer before the start-finish line thus officially leading the lap.

Richard Petty andDonnie 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-sitterDavid Pearson.^[5]

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.^[5] 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.^[5] Yarborough was second, followed byRamo Stott, Marlin, Foyt, and Donnie Allison.^[5] 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.^[5]

• 1974 in sports in Florida
• 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
• February 1974 sports events in the United States
• NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2025