The 1968 Daytona 500 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

race held on February 25, 1968, at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

. 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 Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($ when inflation is taken into accoun ...

. 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. First Daytona 500 starts for

Andy Hampton Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

Buddy Arrington Buddy Rogers Arrington (July 26, 1938 – August 2, 2022) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. Racing career Arrington has the second-most starts without a win, and finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1 ...

Bill Seifert William John Seifert (born July 2, 1939 - Skyland, North Carolina, Skyland, North Carolina) is a retired NASCAR Sprint Cup Series who raced from 1966 in NASCAR, 1966 to 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1979.

Dave Marcis David Alan Marcis (born March 1, 1941) is an American former professional stock car racing driver on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit whose career spanned five decades. Marcis won five times over this tenure, twice at Richmond, including his final ...

, (Marcis would make every Daytona 500 until 2000),

Earl Brooks Earl Lee Brooks (August 11, 1929 – July 21, 2010) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1962 to 1979. His career came at a time where NASCAR was less organized than it is today and drivers independently owned their v ...

, Dick Johnson, Dr.

Don Tarr Donald James Tarr (11 March 1910 – 4 June 1980) was a Welsh international hooker who played club rugby for Swansea and Cardiff, county rugby for Hampshire and invitational rugby for the Barbarians. Tarr was a career naval officer, reaching t ...

, and Dub Simpson. Only Daytona 500 starts for

Al Unser Alfred Unser (May 29, 1939 – December 9, 2021) was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men ( A. J. Foyt, himself, Rick ...

Bob Senneker Bob Senneker (born December 12, 1944) is an American stock car racing driver from Dorr, Michigan near Grand Rapids. He is best known for racing on the American Speed Association (ASA) National Tour where he was the 1990 champion. Senneker's 85 ...

Butch Hartman Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. He is most known for creating the Nickelodeon series ''The Fairly OddParents'', ''Danny Phantom'', '' T.U.F.F. Puppy'', ...

Larry Manning Larry Niles Manning, Senior (October 4, 1942 – May 23, 2012) was an American stock car racing driver. A native of Salisbury, North Carolina,Rod Eulenfeld Rod, Ror, Ród, Rőd, Rød, Röd, ROD, or R.O.D. may refer to: Devices * Birch rod, made out of twigs from birch or other trees for corporal punishment * Ceremonial rod, used to indicate a position of authority * Connecting rod, main, coupling ...

, Charles Burnett,

Don Biederman Don Biederman (February 20, 1940 – May 31, 1999) was a Canadian stock car racer from Port Credit, Ontario. Racing career Biederman was the first Canadian ever to campaign for a full season in the NASCAR Cup Series formerly known as the NASCAR G ...

Stan Meserve Stan Meserve (born August 23, 1941 in Winslow, Maine) is a retired ''NASCAR Grand National'' driver who competed in one year of NASCAR racing. Career He earned a grand total $7,745 through his entire NASCAR racing career (which did not reach bey ...

, and Bud Moore. Last Daytona 500 starts for

Darel Dieringer Darel Dieringer (June 1, 1926 – October 28, 1989) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He ran 181 NASCAR Grand National Series races during his career, notably racing for Bud Moore Engineering and Junior Johnson & Associates. ...

Clyde Lynn Clyde Lynn (March 3, 1936 – November 1, 1996) was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver from Christiansburg, Virginia and a runner-up for the NASCAR Rookie of the Year award in the year 1965 Events January–February * January 14 – ...

Sam McQuagg Samuel "Sam" McQuagg (November 11, 1937 – January 3, 2009) was an American former NASCAR Rookie of the Year driver. He died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 71. He and his wife Joy had recently celebrated their 54th wedding anni ...

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...

Sonny Hutchins Ernest Lloyd "Sonny" Hutchins (May 17, 1929 – November 21, 2005) was a stock car driver who raced in NASCAR's Grand National/Winston Cup Series from 1955 to 1974. He died in 2005. Motorsports career results NASCAR ( key) (Bold – Pole p ...

, Bob Cooper,

Jerry Grant Gerald Wayne "Jerry" Grant (January 23, 1935 – August 12, 2012) was a driver in the USAC Championship Car series. Born in Seattle, he began racing sports cars in Northern California in the early 1960s. He raced in the 1965-1977 seasons, wi ...

, Paul Lewis,

Roy Tyner William Leroy "Roy" Tyner (January 3, 1934 – February 23, 1989) was a Native American ''NASCAR Grand National'' driver from Red Springs, North Carolina, United States. NASCAR career Driver Tyner participated in the 1968 Fireball 300 in addi ...

, and H. B. Bailey. This was the race in which Junior Johnson cost his own team the race. Cale ran out of gas at some point in the race and overshot his pit as the crew wasn't expecting him. Junior Johnson was standing out waiting for Leeroy to come and he managed to put just enough gas to get Cale back around to his put. Al Unser led a lap in this one; it became the only time that he led a NASCAR race in his career. Dub Simpson earned a dubious distinction by becoming the only driver ever to fail to complete a lap in the race. This was also Bob "The Sneaker" Senneker's best career NASCAR finish, where he finished in 13th place. Richard Petty and his "mysterious" black vinyl roof actually ran pretty good and led the race until James Hylton blew a tire and ended up in the turn 1 wall. A piece of debris from Hylton's car hit Petty's and knocked the roof loose starting a day of troubles for Richard's team because of their experiment. Petty would finish the race two laps behind the drivers on the lead lap. The transition to purpose-built racecars began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s.

References

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway {{Florida-sport-stub