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60 free Daytona 500 trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Daytona 500 is the race NASCAR starts its season with, and the one every driver wants most. This quiz covers it from the beginning: Bill France Sr.'s superspeedway rising out of the Florida sand in 1959, Lee Petty's photo finish that took three days to decide, Junior Johnson discovering the draft, Richard Petty's seven wins, the 1979 last-lap crash and infield fistfight that put stock car racing on live national television, and Cale Yarborough's 200 mph lap. It also covers the modern era: Dale Earnhardt's win at the twentieth attempt and his death on the final lap three years later, Michael Waltrip's first victory after 462 winless starts, Trevor Bayne winning the day after his 20th birthday, the jet-dryer fire of 2012, Danica Patrick's pole, Denny Hamlin's 0.010-second finish, and the trophy named for the man who designed the Corvette. There are questions on the track's 31-degree banking, Lake Lloyd, the qualifying Duels, the green-white-checkered rule and the record books. If you want the whole sport, our NASCAR quiz covers the championship, the other tracks and the drivers. About a third of the questions are easy for anyone who watches every February, a third are medium and the rest are for people who know who won in 1972 by two laps. Every answer is checked against the race and driver reference pages, and each question carries its source.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which US state is Daytona International Speedway?
Florida
The 500 is one of three Cup races in the state, alongside the summer race at Daytona and the Homestead round near Miami.
Q 02In which year was the first Daytona 500 run, coinciding with the opening of the speedway?
1959
It was only NASCAR's second 500-mile race, after the Southern 500, and was not commonly called the Daytona 500 until 1961.
Q 03How long is the Daytona tri-oval, meaning a 500-mile race takes 200 laps?
2.5 miles
The turns are banked at 31 degrees and the start-finish line at 18.
Q 04The lake in the Daytona infield, dug out to build the banking, is named after which man?
Sax Lloyd
Joseph 'Sax' Lloyd was one of the six original members of the Daytona Beach Speedway Authority; the 29-acre lake has hosted powerboat racing.
Q 05Which NASCAR founder built the speedway to replace racing on the Daytona Beach Road Course?
Bill France Sr.
He had founded NASCAR itself in talks at the Streamline Hotel's Ebony Bar in December 1947 and proposed the superspeedway in 1953.
Q 06Who won the inaugural 1959 race, in a photo finish that took three days to decide?
Lee Petty
Beauchamp was flagged the unofficial winner and drove to victory lane; photographs and newsreel footage reversed it the following Wednesday.
Q 07The 1960 race had how many starters, the most in Daytona 500 history?
68
Junior Johnson won in a slower year-old car by exploiting the draft, then a little-understood phenomenon.
Q 08Who has won the Daytona 500 a record seven times?
Richard Petty
His wins spanned 1964 to 1981, the longest gap between first and last, and three different decades.
Q 09Which open-wheel great led 112 laps to win the 1967 Daytona 500, his only NASCAR Cup victory?
Mario Andretti
He would win the Indianapolis 500 two years later.
Q 10Who lapped the entire field to win the 1972 race by almost two laps?
A. J. Foyt
Third-placed Jim Vandiver finished six laps down.
Q 11The 1974 race was cut to 450 miles for what reason?
The oil crisis
Many 1974 races were cut ten per cent; the race symbolically 'started' on lap 21.
Q 12Which rival collided with the King on the last lap in 1976, then limped across the line first?
David Pearson
Petty's car would not restart; Pearson kept his running and crawled to the flag from the infield grass.
Q 13Which network carried the 1979 Daytona 500, the first shown live flag-to-flag on network TV?
CBS
A blizzard in the Northeast swelled the audience, which then watched a last-lap crash and an infield fistfight.
Q 21Who won the 1990 race in a huge upset after Dale Earnhardt cut a tyre on the last lap?
Derrike Cope
Earnhardt had run over a bell housing from a blown engine in turn three; Cope's best previous finish was sixth.
Q 22What did Dale Earnhardt strike early in the 1991 race, contributing to his car temperature problems?
A seagull
Ernie Irvan passed him with six laps left and won under caution after Earnhardt spun.
Q 23The 1993 finish, when Jarrett beat Earnhardt with a lap to go, became known as what?
The Dale and Dale Show
It was the fourth time Earnhardt had led with fewer than ten laps left and lost; Jarrett won again in 1996 and 2000.
Q 14Who crashed together on the last lap in 1979 before fighting in the infield?
Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison
Bobby Allison stopped to defend his brother and joined in; Richard Petty, half a lap back, drove past to win.
Q 15Who won the fastest pre-stages Daytona 500 in 1980 at 177.602 mph?
Buddy Baker
The slowest winning average was Junior Johnson's 124.740 mph in 1960.
Q 16Since which year has the Daytona 500 been the opening race of the NASCAR season?
1982
Holding the biggest event first is almost unique in sport; Bobby Allison won that year amid the 'Bumpergate' controversy.
Q 17Bobby Allison's 1982 win was controversial because which part of his car broke off on lap 3?
The rear bumper
The bumper had been deliberately tacked on with a wire welder; without it the car gained an aerodynamic edge and won by 22 seconds.
Q 18Who officially broke the 200 mph barrier at Daytona with a 201.848 mph lap in 1984?
Cale Yarborough
He had run over 200 in 1983 only to crash on his second lap and win in a backup Pontiac fetched from a Hardee's display.
Q 19Bill Elliott's 1987 pole speed of 210.364 mph remains the track record. What did NASCAR mandate the next year?
Restrictor plates
The plates stayed at Daytona through 2019 and were also used at Talladega.
Q 20Bobby Allison became the oldest Daytona 500 winner in 1988 at 50. Who finished second?
His son Davey
Father and son celebrated together in Victory Lane; the same race saw Richard Petty roll about eight times in the tri-oval.
Q 24Who won in 1994 and 1995, the first back-to-back winner in eleven years?
Sterling Marlin
His 1994 win was his first career Cup victory, achieved by stretching his last tank of fuel over 59 laps.
Q 25Jeff Gordon became the youngest winner to that point in 1997, at what age?
25
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven followed him home for a one-two-three.
Q 26On which attempt did Dale Earnhardt finally win the Daytona 500, in 1998?
20th
Crews from every team lined pit road to shake his hand on the way to Victory Lane.
Q 27Who won the 2001 race, his first Cup victory in 463 starts, on the day Dale Earnhardt was killed?
Michael Waltrip
He was driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc.; Earnhardt Jr. was second and Earnhardt himself was running third when he crashed in turn four.
Q 28What injury killed Dale Earnhardt in the last-lap crash of the 2001 Daytona 500?
A basilar skull fracture
The death accelerated NASCAR's adoption of head-and-neck restraints and SAFER barriers.
Q 29The shortest Daytona 500 ever, cut to 109 laps by rain in 2003, was won by whom?
Michael Waltrip
It was his second win in three years; rain has shortened the race in 1965, 1966, 2003 and 2009.
Q 30By what margin did Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin to the line in 2007?
0.02 seconds
He was fifth with half a lap to go; the Big One erupted behind them as they crossed the line.