1975 NASCAR Week 2- Daytona 500

In the grandest race of the NASCAR schedule, the King, Richard Petty, wins. Petty took the flag of a Daytona 500 that saw only 10 cars finish the race. The pole sitter was Bobby Allison, but he blew his engine on the first segment and finished 40th. The first segment was led by Buddy Baker. After that, A.J. Foyt took over, leadign the next six segments before falling back into the pack, his engine would eventually go, taking him out of contention. On segment eight, Petty would take the lead for two segments befor Baker took it back for segments 10-13. However, Baker's car slowed after 13, letting Petty grab the lead and run away with the win as only he, Baker (2nd), and 3rd place finisher Tom Williams finished on the lead lap. Final results are below.

Also, 3 full-time drivers: Ed Negre, Carl Adams, and Walter Ballard failed to qualify for the race.

Bonus Total
POS DRIVER Points Points Points
1 Richard Petty 175 10 185 Running
2 Buddy Baker 170 5 175 Running
3 Tom Williams 165 165 Running
4 Dick May 160 160 Running
5 Dave Marcis 155 155 Running
6 Harry Jefferson 150 150 Running
7 Richard Childress 146 146 Running
8 Skip Manning 142 142 Running
9 James Hylton 138 138 Running
10 Billy Joe Hagan 134 134 Running
11 David Pearson 130 130 Ignition
12 Frank Warren 127 127 Engine
13 Joe Frasson 124 124 Engine
14 Dick Brooks 121 121 Overheating
15 Cale Yarborough 118 5 123 Engine
16 A. J. Foyt 115 5 120 Engine
17 Joe Mihalic 112 112 Engine
18 Neil Bonnett 109 109 Engine
19 Red Farmer 106 106 Engine
20 Tiny Lund 103 103 Engine
21 Elmo Langley 100 100 Engine
22 Darel Dieringer 97 97 Engine
23 Benny Parsons 94 94 Overheating
24 Jim Vandiver 91 91 Engine
25 Jabe Thomas 88 88 Engine
26 Gordon Johncock 85 85 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
27 Cecil Gordon 82 82 Oil Pump
28 Dan Daughtry 79 79 Engine
29 Donnie Allison 76 76 Engine
30 John Ray 73 73 Engine
31 Johnny Rutherford 70 70 Engine
32 J. D. McDuffie 67 67 Transmission
33 Darrell Waltrip 64 64 Engine
34 Red Farner 61 61 Engine
35 Grant Adcox 58 58 Engine
36 Dean Dalton 55 55 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
37 Marty Robbins 52 52 Engine
38 Hershel McGriff 49 49 Overheating
39 Salt Walther 46 46 Transmission
40 Bobby Allison 43 43 Engine
41 Lennie Pond 40 40 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
42 Richie Panch 37 37 Oil Pump
43 Dick Trickle 34 34 Engine


With the win, Richard Petty jumped to the top of the standings, especially with last week's winner, Jim Boyd, not scheduled to run again until the season finale at Ontario. The top 20 in the standigns are below, as Dave Marcis, with back to back 5th place finishes, trails Petty by just 50 points.

360 Richard Petty 1
310 Dave Marcis 2
276 David Pearson 3
276 Richard Childress 4
265 Elmo Langley 5
259 James Hylton 6
256 Harry Jefferson 7
239 Frank Warren 8
217 J. D. McDuffie 9
206 Cecil Gordon 10
180 Jim Boyd 11
175 Buddy Baker 12
170 Bobby Allison 13
170 Ray Elder 14
167 Benny Parsons 15
165 Tom Williams 16
161 Darrell Waltrip 17
160 Dick May 18
142 Ed Negre 19
142 Skip Manning 20

Next week the Cup Series goes to its first shrot track on the schedule, Richmond. Tomorrow will be week 2 of the MLB.