2001 Daytona 500

The 2001 Daytona 500 was the first race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule. The event took place on February 18, 2001 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida over 200 laps on the 2.5 mile (4 km) asphalt tri-oval. Bill Elliott won the pole. This was the first official Winston Cup telecast shown by the Fox network, which had received broadcasting rights along with NBC at the end of the previous season, replacing the two former NASCAR broadcasters, CBS and ESPN. Michael Waltrip, in his first race in the #15 car for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., won the race. It was the first victory of his career, coming in his 463rd start.

The race will be forever remembered for the final lap. Seven-time Winston Cup winner and 1998 Daytona champion Dale Earnhardt was in third behind two of his drivers, Waltrip and his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. As he was going through turns 3 and 4, Earnhardt lost control of his car and collected Ken Schrader in a head-on collision with the wall. Earnhardt was killed instantly by a basilar skull fracture.^[2] The race was also marred by an 18-car crash on lap 173 when Robby Gordon and Ward Burton got together, sending Tony Stewart's car flipping down the backstretch.

Race summary

Bill Elliott led the field to the green flag, but he only led one lap before Sterling Marlin passed him for the lead. Jeff Purvis hit the wall between turns 3 and 4 on lap 49, bringing out the race's first caution. This was followed by a green flag period that lasted 105 laps. Ward Burton led most of these laps. On Lap 85, Dale Earnhardt and rookie Kurt Busch made door to door contact coming out of turn four battling for 5th place. Earnhardt promptly gave Busch the bird at 185 mph or - as described by Mike Joy - Earnhardt was simply saying: "Kurt, you're number one".^[3]

The second caution came on lap 157, when Kurt Busch hit the Turn 3 wall trying to pass Joe Nemechek, and then slid across the track, through the infield and into pit lane. On lap 167, Steve Park took the lead, but he was passed by teammate Michael Waltrip on the next lap.

The Big One

On lap 173, as the lead pack was coming out of turn 2 onto the back straightaway, Robby Gordon and Ward Burton, the latter of which led the most laps in the race, collided. In the process, Tony Stewart was collected, turned against the wall, and was pushed airborne over Robby Gordon. Stewart's car then flipped over twice, while being battered by other cars behind him, and then Stewart momentarily stood on his hood before coasting to a stop in the infield. Although some drivers, like Earnhardt, Sr. and Ken Schrader, were able to make it around the wrecking cars, eighteen cars were eliminated in spectacular fashion. Bobby Labonte's engine caught fire, and Mark Martin collided first with the outside wall, then was hit by at least two other cars, destroying the rear end of his car. Martin managed to limp his car back to pit road, where he abandoned it. The race was red-flagged to allow for an extensive cleanup.

The following cars (in numerical order) were involved: Jason Leffler, Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, Robby Gordon, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Ward Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, Buckshot Jones, Dale Jarrett, Andy Houston and Jeff Burton.

The race restarted on lap 180, with Michael Waltrip still out in front. Sterling Marlin led the next three laps before Waltrip took the lead again. As the white flag waved at the start of the final lap, both Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Sr. were behind Waltrip, with Junior in front of his father. With less than two laps remaining, Darrell Waltrip in the booth commented that "Sterling has beat the front end off of that old Dodge trying to get around Dale [Earnhardt]".

Earnhardt's fatal accident

Heading into Turn 3 on the last lap, Earnhardt held third and was running in the middle lane of traffic. Marlin was behind him and running the bottom lane, while Rusty Wallace's navy blue #2 Miller Lite Ford was directly behind Earnhardt and Ken Schrader was above Earnhardt riding the high lane in his yellow #36 M&M's Pontiac.

On Turn 4, Marlin came into contact with the left rear on Earnhardt's vehicle. Earnhardt slid off the track's steep banking, onto the flat apron. Trying to correct at speed, he turned sharply up the track toward the outside retaining wall. Although it briefly looked as though Earnhardt was going to avoid hitting the wall, his car went right into Schrader's path. Schrader rammed into Earnhardt just behind the passenger door, causing Earnhardt's car to snap, rapidly changing the angle of his car toward the wall. When Schrader made contact, Earnhardt hit the wall nose-first at an estimated speed of 155 to 160 mph and was pushed down the track by Schrader. A subsequent investigation revealed that Earnhardt's car struck the concrete retaining wall at a heading angle of between 55 and 59 degrees, combined with a trajectory angle of 13.6°. Earnhardt's car experienced a crash pulse of approximately 80 milliseconds in duration. These factors combined yielded a Δ V of approximately 42-44 mph. In other words, the car's velocity changed by 42-44 mph as a result of the wall impact and the impact from Schrader's car. The force exerted was equivalent to a vertical drop from a height of 61.8 feet. Subsequent sled testing of an exemplar vehicle yielded G forces ranging from -68 g's to -48 g's, variation dependent on method of measurement. Earnhardt was killed instantly.^[4][5]

Earnhardt's right-rear wheel assembly broke off the car after the collision with Schrader, and the passenger window broke out of the car. The hood pins severed and the hood opened, slamming back violently against the windshield. As Earnhardt was nose first on the wall, Schrader was pushing him along the wall. No other drivers ran into Earnhardt after he hit the wall, as Schrader was the only driver in the vicinity and all of the cars behind them made it through without contacting either.

Despite heavy damage to both cars, to the casual observer, the crash (both in force and size) looked relatively minor compared to Tony Stewart's double flip in the lap 173 crash.

While Michael Waltrip raced toward the checkered flag to claim his first victory, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. trailing him, Earnhardt, Sr.'s and Schrader's cars slid off the track's asphalt banking toward the infield grass just inside of turn four. Once the cars came to a stop, Schrader climbed out of his car, with minor injuries. He peered into Earnhardt's car, only to immediately jump back and signal for paramedics.

Rusty Wallace finished third while Sterling Marlin came across seventh, and Earnhardt and Schrader were credited with twelfth and thirteenth places despite not finishing the race.^[6] After crossing the finish line, Earnhardt, Jr. got out of his car and rushed to his father.

Earnhardt had to be extricated from the vehicle and was rushed by ambulance to Halifax Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, reportedly surrounded by his wife Teresa Earnhardt, his team owner/friend Richard Childress, and Earnhardt, Jr. NASCAR rules state that any driver who is unable to drive the car all the way back to the pits, or who must be extricated from his car after an accident, must report to the infield care center. However, exceptions can be made in severe cases, where the driver may be sent directly to the emergency trauma room at the major hospital near the circuit.

About two hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced, "This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements I've ever personally had to make. But after the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."^[7]

Race results

1. 15-Michael Waltrip, Led 27 of 200 Laps
2. 8-Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Led 13 Laps
3. 2-Rusty Wallace
4. 28-Ricky Rudd
5. 9-Bill Elliott, Led 1 Lap
6. 7-Mike Wallace
7. 40-Sterling Marlin, Led 39 Laps
8. 55-Bobby Hamilton
9. 12-Jeremy Mayfield
10. 92-Stacy Compton
11. 33-Joe Nemechek
12. 3-Dale Earnhardt, 199 Laps Completed (Fatal Accident); Led 17 Laps
13. 36-Ken Schrader, 199 Laps (Accident); Led 7 Laps
14. 77-Robert Pressley, 1 Lap down
15. 11-Brett Bodine, 1 Lap down; Led 1 Lap
16. 45-Kyle Petty, 1 Lap down
17. 14-Ron Hornaday*, 1 Lap down
18. 21-Elliott Sadler, 1 Lap down
19. 99-Jeff Burton, 1 Lap down
20. 19-Casey Atwood*, 2 Laps down
21. 17-Matt Kenseth, 4 Laps down
22. 88-Dale Jarrett, 186 Laps (Accident Damage); Led 1 Lap
23. 32-Ricky Craven, 15 Laps down
24. 5-Terry Labonte, 184 Laps (Accident Damage)
25. 27-Kenny Wallace, 184 Laps (Accident Damage)
26. 31-Mike Skinner, 17 Laps down; Led 24 Laps
27. 26-Jimmy Spencer, 17 Laps down
28. 10-Johnny Benson, 181 Laps (Engine Failure)
29. 44-Buckshot Jones, 181 Laps (Accident Damage)
30. 24-Jeff Gordon, 178 Laps (Accident Damage); Led 11 Laps
31. 1-Steve Park, 23 Laps down; Led 2 Laps
32. 25-Jerry Nadeau, 176 Laps (Accident)
33. 6-Mark Martin, 175 Laps (Accident), Led 1 Lap
34. 01-Jason Leffler*, 174 Laps (Accident)
35. 22-Ward Burton, 173 Laps (Accident); Led 53 Laps
36. 20-Tony Stewart, 173 Laps (Accident)
37. 4-Robby Gordon, 173 Laps (Accident)
38. 96-Andy Houston*, 173 Laps (Accident)
39. 43-John Andretti, 173 Laps (Accident)
40. 18-Bobby Labonte, 173 Laps (Accident)
41. 97-Kurt Busch*, 31 Laps down
42. 93-Dave Blaney, 135 Laps (Engine Failure)
43. 51-Jeff Purvis, 47 Laps (Accident).

Notes

• For the remainder of the season, the next Daytona 500, and the 2011 Daytona 500, racing fans, television and radio broadcasters would fall silent during lap 3 of every Winston Cup race in Earnhardt's honor.

Failed to qualify

• 71-Dave Marcis
• 66-Todd Bodine
• 90-Hut Stricklin
• 50-Rick Mast
• 37-Derrike Cope
• 84-Norm Benning
• 85-Carl Long
• 80-Morgan Shepherd
• 72-Dwayne Leik

References

1. ^ "Sprint Cup Series Schedule". ESPN. http://espn.go.com/racing/schedule/_/year/2001. Retrieved May 10, 2012. 
2. ^ CNNSI.com: Earnhardt autopsy report answers, leaves questions
3. ^ Lap114
4. ^ Transcript of NASCAR's report on Earnhardt crash, August 21, 2001; USA Today, Retrieved November 19, 2007
5. ^ Earnhardt dies instantly of head injuries, ESPN.com
6. ^ Official results of 2001 Daytona 500 on NASCAR.com
7. ^ "Earnhardt dies following Daytona 500 accident"; Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive, February 21, 2001; NASCAR.com; Retrieved September 6, 2007