1991 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
|
|||
| Date | February 17, 1991 | ||
| Official name | Daytona 500 by STP | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.02336 km) |
||
| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching as high as 63 °F (17 °C); wind speeds approaching 13 miles per hour (21 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 148.148 miles per hour (238.421 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Robert Yates Racing | ||
| Qualifying race winners | |||
| Duel 1 Winner | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Duel 2 Winner | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | |
| Laps | 51 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 4 | Ernie Irvan | Morgan-McClure Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, David Hobbs and Ned Jarrett | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 7.6/20 (10.9 million viewers) |
||
The 1991 Daytona 500, the 33rd running of the event, was held February 17 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Davey Allison won the pole. In the first Gatorade 125 on Thursday, Richard Petty edged Hut Stricklin for second place, placing The King 3rd on the grid.
A notable absentee was 1972 Daytona 500 winner A. J. Foyt. Foyt was badly injured in the Texaco-Havoline 200 IndyCar race at Road America in the fall of 1990. He suffered severe injuries to his feet and legs, and spent several months out of a racecar before returning to action at Indianapolis in May 1991. Foyt missed his first Daytona 500 since 1965.
This race began a series of changes to pit road procedure after the death of a Melling Racing rear tire changer in a pit road accident at Atlanta the previous November.
The new pit procedures changed the complexity the race. Teams considered it too time consuming to change four tires since it had to be done under green (at the time, a four-tire pit stop would take roughly 20–25 seconds). For an example of how the rules adversely affected the racing, Kyle Petty ran the entire 500 miles on the same left side tires. Bill Elliott suffered a flat tire early on, and was forced to limp around the track at a reduced pace for two laps before he was allowed to pit, effectively eliminating him from competition.
...
Wikipedia