1979 Daytona 500

1979 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 2 of 31 in the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1979 Daytona 500 program cover
Date	February 18, 1979 (1979-02-18)
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)
Weather	Temperatures of 70 °F (21 °C); wind speeds of 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)[1]
Average speed	143.977 miles per hour (231.709 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Buddy Baker	Ranier-Lundy
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Buddy Baker	Ranier-Lundy
Duel 2 Winner	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver	Donnie Allison	Ellington Racing
Laps	93
Winner
No. 43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Ken Squier and David Hobbs (main booth), Brock Yates and Ned Jarrett (pit road), Marianne Bunch-Phelps (garage area)
Nielsen Ratings	10.5/29 (15.1 million viewers)
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Barney Hall and Jack Arute
Turn Announcers	Mike Joy (1 & 2) Gary Gerould (Backstretch) Eli Gold (3 & 4)

The 1979 Daytona 500, the 21st annual running of the event, was the second race of the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. It was held on February 18, 1979 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. It has been called the most important race in stock car history.^[2]

The race was televised live "flag-to-flag", a rarity in the era, and the first for a 500-mile race in the United States. Camera angles such as the "in-car" view were introduced to viewers from all over the United States.

On the final lap, race leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison collided with each other on the backstretch. Both drivers' races ended in the grass infield. The wreck allowed Richard Petty, at the time of the crash over one-half lap behind the leaders, to claim his sixth Daytona 500 win.

As Petty made his way to Victory Lane to celebrate, a fight erupted between Yarborough, Donnie Allison and his brother, Bobby, at the site of the backstretch wreck. Both events were caught by television cameras and broadcast live.

The race brought national publicity to NASCAR. Due to a large winter storm, parts of the Midwest and most of the Northeastern United States were snowed in, leaving a very sizable audience to watch the race who were not traditionally part of NASCAR's demographic, which largely drew from Southeastern states. Motorsports announcer and editor Dick Berggren said, "Nobody knew it then, but that was the race that got everything going. It was the first 'water cooler' race, the first time people had stood around water coolers on Monday and talked about seeing a race on TV the day before. It took a while – years, maybe – to realize how important it was."^[2] Chip Warren was Chief Starter, according to CBS's Ken Squier.