1968 Daytona 500

1968 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 4 of 49 in the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
Date	February 25, 1968 (1968-02-25)
Location	Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Average speed	143.251 miles per hour (230.540 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing
Laps	76
Winner
No. 21	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers Racing

The 1968 Daytona 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) race held on February 25, 1968 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Cale Yarborough won the race from the pole.

Summary

The event was won by Cale Yarborough driving a 1968 Mercury. Yarborough drove his #21 to victory in just over 3 hours and 23 minutes after starting the race on the pole. There were 11 caution flags which slowed the race for 60 laps, a track record at the time that remained so until 2005. Yarborough squeaked out the victory by less than a second over LeeRoy Yarbrough. The win was Yarborough's first victory of the season and his first victory in the "Great American Race".

This was also the only Daytona 500 where the grid was set exclusively by qualifying times. The 125-mile qualifying races were not held due to inclement weather.

The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.

References

Preceded by 1968 Motor Trend 500

NASCAR Grand National Season 1968

Succeeded by 1968 Southeastern 500