2001 Daytona 500

*For just the results, and not the expanded article, Click Here*

The **2001 Daytona 500** was a NASCAR Winston Cup (now Monster Energy Cup) race held on February 18, 2001, at Daytona International Speedway during the 2001 Winston Cup Series. After 462 starts, Michael Waltrip was finally able to capture his first career points-paying Winston Cup win. The race would be marred by tragedy as Waltrip's car owner, Dale Earnhardt, crashed on the last lap and died from the injuries he suffered.

## Qualifying notes

In his first race in which he drove for someone else besides himself since 1993, Bill Elliott captured the pole for the Daytona 500. Stacy Compton qualified second for his first career front-row qualification while defending points champion Bobby Labonte started 37th. Sterling Marlin and Mike Skinner won the Gatorade 125 qualifying races.

The following drivers failed to qualify for the race: Dave Marcis (#71), Todd Bodine (#66), Hut Stricklin (#90), Rick Mast (#50), Derrike Cope (#37), Norm Benning (#84), Carl Long (#85), Morgan Shepherd (#80), Dwayne Leik (#72)

## Additional race data

* **Leaders:** 14

* **Time of race:** 3:05:26

* **Average Speed:** 161.783 mph

* **Margin of Victory:** 0.124 sec

* **Most Spots Improved:** Jeremy Mayfield (+29)

* Dodge made its return to Winston Cup for the first since the 1980s in this race.

* Jason Leffler made his Winston Cup debut in this race.

* Jeff Purvis and Phoenix Racing made their returns to Winston Cup in this race. This was the first time they ran a Cup race since the late 90s.

* Earnhardt was blocking a group of cars when he was tapped by Sterling Marlin on the last lap. His car jerked to the right and collected Ken Schrader before crashing head-on into the Turn 4 wall. The two cars slid down onto the racetrack. Earnhardt was pronounced dead within minutes of his arrival at Halifax Medical Center. His death was the advent for several safety modifications in NASCAR, among them the HANS device.

## Results

* **(R)** - Denotes rookie drivers
* **(W)** - Denotes past winner of the race

## Points

1. Michael Waltrip 180 -0
2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 175 -5
3. Rusty Wallace 165 -15
4. Ricky Rudd 160 -20
5. Bill Elliott 160 -20
6. Sterling Marlin 151 -29
7. Mike Wallace 150 -30
8. Bobby Hamilton 142 -38
9. Jeremy Mayfield 138 -42
10. Stacy Compton 134 -46
11. Dale Earnhardt 132 -48
12. Joe Nemechek 130 -50
13. Ken Schrader 129 -51
14. Brett Bodine 123 -57
15. Robert Pressley 121 -59
16. Kyle Petty 115 -65
17. Ron Hornaday, Jr. 112 -68
18. Elliott Sadler 109 -71
19. Jeff Burton 106 -74
20. Casey Atwood 103 -77
21. Dale Jarrett 102 -78
22. Matt Kenseth 100 -80
23. Ricky Craven 94 -86
24. Terry Labonte 91 -89
25. Mike Skinner 90 -90
26. Kenny Wallace 88 -92
27. Jimmy Spencer 82 -98
28. Johnny Benson, Jr. 79 -101
29. Jeff Gordon 78 -102
30. Buckshot Jones 76 -104
31. Steve Park 75 -105
32. Mark Martin 69 -111
33. Ward Burton 68 -112
34. Jerry Nadeau 67 -113
35. Jason Leffler 61 -119
36. Tony Stewart 55 -125
37. Robby Gordon 52 -128
38. Andy Houston 49 -131
39. Bobby Labonte 48 -132
40. John Andretti 46 -134
41. Kurt Busch 40 -140
42. Dave Blaney 37 -143
43. Jeff Purvis 34 -146

## External links

* Stats at Racing-Reference.info
* Video of last lap