1994 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
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| Date | February 20, 1994 | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.02336 km) |
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| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Mild with temperatures reaching up to 77 °F (25 °C); wind speeds approaching 14 miles per hour (23 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 156.931 miles per hour (252.556 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | TriStar Motorsports | ||
| Qualifying race winners | |||
| Duel 1 Winner | Ernie Irvan | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Duel 2 Winner | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Ernie Irvan | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Laps | 84 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 4 | Sterling Marlin | Morgan-McClure Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Chris Economaki and Ned Jarrett | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 9.6/26 (13.6 million viewers) |
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The 1994 Daytona 500, the 36th running of the event, was held February 20 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Loy Allen Jr., ARCA graduate and Winston Cup rookie, driving the No. 19 for Tri-Star Motorsports, won the pole. Speedweeks 1994 was marked by tragedy when two drivers, Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr, were killed in separate practice accidents for this race. Sterling Marlin in the Morgan-McClure Motorsports No. 4 won the race, the first career win of his NASCAR career.
During Speedweeks, on the first day of practice for the Daytona 500, legendary driver Neil Bonnett crashed in turn four. Bonnett died at the hospital from massive head injuries. Three days later, reigning Goody's Dash Series (NASCAR's four-cylinder class) champion, Rodney Orr, making his Cup debut, lost control and spun in turn two. His car flipped and hit the catch fence with the roof above the driver's seat. Orr was killed instantly. Following these tragedies, a worried Rusty Wallace gave a lecture calling out the drivers for over-aggression on the track, during the pre-race Drivers Meeting. He was given a round of applause from the drivers and teams after his lecture.
In the middle of the Goodyear-Hoosier tire war, Hoosier released teams from their contracts three days following Orr's death. Hoosier received blame from some observers as the tires were the only linking factor between the two deaths. However, the criticism was purely speculative and NASCAR never blamed the tires for the deaths and never offered an official cause of accident for either fatalities.
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