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In looking at the list of winning Daytona 500 car owners, the team that tops the list is Petty Enterprises.
In the near 50-year history of the Daytona 500, 22 different owners have been able to put their racing cars inside the hallowed ground of Gatorade Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway as winners of “The Great American Race” and Petty Enterprises has done it a record nine times.
Here’s a quick look at the winning Daytona 500 car owners:
Petty Enterprises, nine Daytona 500 wins
From Lee Petty’s inaugural Daytona 500 photo-finish win to the David-Pearson-Richard Petty 1976 thrilling finish to being the benefactor of the fight between the Allisons and Cale Yarborough in the 1979 race, Petty Enterprises is a major player in the history of the Daytona 500.
Petty Enterprises has been the most dominating team in the history of the Daytona 500 engineering nine Daytona 500 victories from their shop in Level Cross, N.C., with Lee Petty, son Richard Petty and Pete Hamilton.
Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 back in 1959 and while Richard Petty captured a record seven wins and Pete Hamilton earned his lone win in 1970.
In addition, Richard Petty is one of only three drivers to win the Daytona 500 in back-to-back years, has the longest span between Daytona 500 victories (17 years) and led at least a lap in 20 different Daytona 500s.
Petty Enterprises has also seen some rough times in the Daytona 500. The cars for both Lee and Richard Petty flew out of the race track in horrifying crashes during the 1961 qualifying races and in the 1988 Daytona 500, Richard Petty barreled rolled along the grandstand fence coming off Turn 4.
Hendrick Motorsports, six Daytona 500 wins
Rick Hendrick has always had the hot hand in the Daytona 500.
In only his third year in NASCAR, the former car dealer captured his first Daytona 500 with New Yorker driver Geoff Bodine. In 1989, Hendrick delivered Darrell Waltrip his first and only triumph in the Daytona 500.
Since then, Hendrick has won three Daytona 500s with Jeff Gordon and another one with Jimmie Johnson.
“Everybody knows Daytona,” Hendrick said. “Everybody knows the Daytona 500. I think for sure it’s right behind the championship as the most important thing to win in the sport.”
The victory that is most special to Hendrick’s heart would be the 1997 Daytona 500 victory. Gordon became the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 at the age of 25 years, six months and 12 days and Hendrick’s other two cars – the No. 5 of Terry Labonte and the No. 25 of Ricky Craven – finished second and third.
At the same time, Hendrick was at home in North Carolina battling a serious illness.
“If you talk about what goes on with the team, it had to be me being diagnosed with leukemia at home in 1997 when they ran 1-2-3,” Hendrick said when asked what is his favorite Daytona 500 victory. “They didn’t even know if I was going to live or not. That was a tough time.”
Wood Brothers Racing, four Daytona 500 victories
The Wood Brothers – led by Glen and Leonard Wood – captured four Daytona 500 victories with four different drivers – Tiny Lund, Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt and David Pearson.
The Wood Brothers put Tiny Lund in their No. 21 Ford to fill in for the injured Marvin Panch in the 1963 Daytona 500 and it paid off big dividends
Panch, the 1961 Daytona 500 winner, was unable to drive after being injured in a sports car during a testing session 10 days before the Daytona 500. One of the drivers who helped save Panch from the burning Maserati was Lund.
The 26-year-old Iowa native survived a fierce battle with Fred Lorenzen and Ned Jarrett and had just enough gas to deliver the Woods their first Daytona 500 triumph.
Cale Yarborough won his first of four Daytona 500s with the Wood Brothers in 1968 when he topped LeeRoy Yarbrough in the final laps. A.J. Foyt won the Wood Brothers third Daytona 500 in 1972 by two laps, the widest margin of victory in the history of the race. David Pearson won the Wood Brothers’ fourth Daytona 500 in the famous 1976 Daytona 500 finish with Richard Petty.
Yates, McClure, Ranier and DEI, three Daytona 500 victories each
Robert Yates Racing and Larry McClure dominated the Daytona 500 for much of the 1990s with a combined five victories.
Yates got his first Daytona 500 triumph with Davey Allison in 1992 and his No. 88 Ford with Dale Jarrett behind the wheel outpaced the Richard Childress-owned No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt in 1996 and won the 2000 Daytona 500 holding off a pack of Fords that included Jeff Burton and Bill Elliott.
With the help of Sheldon “Runt” Pittman’s motors, Larry McClure’s No. 4 Chevrolet took back-to-back victories in 1994 and 1995 with Sterling Marlin and had just enough fuel to win the 1991 Daytona 500 with Ernie Irvan.
Other Daytona 500 winners:
Dale Earnhardt Inc. dominated the early 2000s with two victories from Michael Waltrip (2001, 2003) and one from Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2004)
Harry Ranier won back-to-back Daytona 500s in 1983-84 with Cale Yarborough and delivered the first Daytona 500 win to Buddy Baker in 1980 with the famous silver-and-black Oldsmobile nicknamed “The Grey Ghost”
RCR, Melling, Johnson and Holman-Moody, two Daytona 500 victories each
Richard Childress had lost the Daytona 500 14 times with Dale Earnhardt before finally winning it in 1998.
The stars aligned perfectly for Childress and Earnhardt in 1998. It was NASCAR’s 50th anniversary and it was Earnhardt’s 20th attempt at winning the Daytona 500.
For the 50th running of the Daytona 500 in 2008, Richard Childress Racing with driver Kevin Harvick will return as the defending champions of the Daytona 500.
Childress captured his second Daytona 500 win in 2007 with Harvick, who started seventh on the final green-white-checkered restart and nipped Mark Martin at the start/finish line. The margin of victory -- .020 seconds - was the closest Daytona 500 finish since the advent of computer scoring in 1993.
While Harvick beat Martin to the checkers, a multi-car accident broke out with one of Childress’ other cars – Clint Bowyer's No. 07 Chevrolet – flipping upside down and catching fire as he crossed the start/finish line.
“I’ve been coming here since 1965 and it’s the most exciting Daytona 500 finish that I’ve ever seen,” Childress said. “With the cars wrecking and side by side, and Kevin coming from seventh, it was an amazing finish and I’m just glad we were in front.”
Other Daytona 500 winners:
Melling Racing fielded one of the most dominating cars in the history of the Daytona 500 – the No. 9 Ford – and won the 1985 and 1987 Daytona 500.
Junior Johnson, the 1960 Daytona 500 champion, won as an owner as well with LeeRoy Yarbrough (1969) and Cale Yarborough (1977).
Ralph Moody and John Holman teamed to form one of the greastest NASCAR teams of all time – Holman-Moody – and won the 1965 Daytona 500 with Fred Lorenzen and the 1967 Daytona 500 with Mario Andretti.
Joe Gibbs Racing leads a pack of teams with single Daytona 500 victories
Joe Gibbs can brag that he has won two of the biggest sporting events in the world – the National Football League’s Super Bowl and NASCAR’s signature event – the Daytona 500.
Gibbs, who is currently in his second stint as Washington Redskins head coach, won three Super Bowls with the Redskins in 1983, 1988 and 1992. In only his second full season in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, he won the 1993 Daytona 500 with Dale Jarrett.
But Gibbs hasn’t managed to return to Daytona 500 victory lane since and will be fielding three teams in 2008 with drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.
Other Daytona 500 winners:
The Stavola Bros. – Mickey and Bill – oversaw Bobby Allison’s magical 1988 Daytona 500 win over his son Davey.
Bill Davis was the owner of one of the more surprising Daytona 500 wins with Ward Burton in 2002.
DiGard Racing, formed Bill Gardner and Mike DiProspero, won 43 NASCAR Cup wins and the 1982 Daytona 500 with Bobby Allison
Legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick wins the Daytona 500 in 1961 with Marvin Panch
In one of the greatest upsets in NASCAR history, on the last lap of the 1990 Daytona 500, Derrike Cope, driving Bob Whitcomb’s No. 10 Chevrolet, slipped past Dale Earnhardt, who cut down a right rear tire to win the race.
Bud Moore was the owner and crew chief of Bobby Allison’s first Daytona 500 win in 1978.
L.G. DeWitt fielded Benny Parson’s lone Daytona 500 winner in 1975.
John Masoni fielded a Ray Fox-prepared Chevy for 1960 Daytona 500 winner Junior Johnson.
Jim Stephens got local racer Fireball Roberts into Gatorade Victory Lane as a Daytona 500 champion in 1962 with a dominating No. 22 Pontiac.
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