13 of the Worst Crashes in Daytona 500 History

One of the early “Big Ones”- major crashes in auto races – the Daytona Modified Sportsman Race had 73 cars lined up at the start of the race. Less than two minutes into the race, with future legends Johnson, Earnhardt, and Roberts in the field, the famed wreck occurred on the fourth turn of the first lap. It’s been called the worst wreck in NASCAR history, but amazingly there were no fatalities, just some minor injuries.

A terrible accident ended the career of Lee Petty, the father of NASCAR legend Richard Petty. At the Daytona International Speedway, the field was running qualifying races used to determine the starting order for the 500. While leading the field, Banjo Matthews spun out, which started a chain reaction of accidents. Johnny Beauchamp clipped the back of Petty’s vehicle, sending both cars up the track. They hit a guardrail, went through it, and both cars left the track. The two cars became fiery wrecks. Both drivers survived, but Petty was in a coma for four days and in the hospital for four months.

After only nine laps, Maynard Troyer lost control of his car on the second turn in what has been dubbed “the wildest one-car crash in NASCAR history.”. His Ford flipped 15 times before it came to rest right side up. He suffered a concussion and minor injuries and continued to race for several years afterward.

In the 1988 running of the Daytona 500, Richard Petty was involved in a dangerous wreck. Auto racing’s “king” was coming out of a turn on lap 106, when he was bumped from behind by Phil Barkdoll. That sent him sliding sideways down the track where his car caught air underneath the vehicle, causing it to stand up on its nose. It then slid into the fence where it began rolling along the track. When what was left of Petty’s car finally landed, it was slammed by Brett Bodine, which sent it spinning out of control. Petty suffered temporary blindness from the incident, but was unharmed otherwise.

Rusty Wallace was bumped from behind by two cars that had gotten tangled and were in the midst of spinning. The nudge was enough to send Wallace sideways. At that point, air got beneath his car and lifted him. He began flipping and rolling down the track. Wallace’s safety cage prevented him from sustaining serious injuries.

At the 1997 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt was in a six-way fight for the lead with 12 laps to go when disaster struck. His Chevrolet scraped the backstretch wall by itself, Dale Jarrett’s car hit his, sending Ernhardt’s vehicle over on its roof. While he was in that position, Ernie Irvan slammed into him, causing the hood of Irvan’s Ford to separate and sail into the backstretch grandstand, injuring a few onlookers. Sitting in an ambulance, Earnhardt saw his car being prepared to get towed away, but he noticed that it still looked drivable – so he hopped out of the ambulance and into the car, drove it to the repair area, got it fixed, and returned to the race – finishing five laps behind.

Tragedy struck the Daytona 500 in 2001. On the final lap, as Dale Earnhardt was attempting to block the rest of the field from catching his son, who was contending for the win. Sterling Marlin hit Earnhardt on the driver’s side rear bumper, enough to send him up the track and right into the wall. The crash claimed his life. The same year, Tony Stewart’s Pontiac got batted around, leading to a 19-car accident.

Ryan Newman entered the 2003 season as the reigning NASCAR Rookie of the Year. However, an accident in the Daytona 500, the first race of the 2003 season, started the year off on the wrong foot. Newman was involved in a crash 56 laps into the race when his car was pushed into the wall by Ken Schrader. Both cars hit the wall and ended up in the infield, with Newman’s car becoming airborne and flipping several times before settling on its roof. The car was destroyed, but Newman walked away without any major injuries.

As Kevin Harvick overtook Mark Martin in a photo finish to win the race in 2007, a series of accidents behind them led to Clint Bowyer’s Chevrolet skidding on its roof on fire as it crossed the finish line.

Joey Logano, then only 18 years old, smashed into a newly added safety barrier on the inside of the track at a high rate of speed and then spun into the infield. The announcers were at a loss to explain how the accident occurred.

Kyle Larson was jockeying for position during the final laps at Daytona in 2013 when he was bumped from behind, sending his car into the catch fence around the track. The impact caused his car to disintegrate, and sent his engine block into the grandstands. Fortunately, the engine block missed spectators, but other debris injured race fans.

While driving at 195 mph and in fourth place at the 2016 running of the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved down from the top of the track and nudged the car in front of him. It was enough to send him off the track and into a wall and eventually settled in the infield. In the same race, Danica Patrick, the premier female race car driver, was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet that went airborne, though she did not crash.

Just one turn separated Ryan Newman from winning his second Daytona 500 in 2020 – a race that turned into a major car wreck. Ryan Blaney’s surge at the end of the race led to a collision with Newman, who spun back up the track and started flipping. As this was happening, Corey LaJoie slammed into him on his driver’s side and launched him farther down the track. Newman was hospitalized. In all, 19 drivers were involved in the crack-up.