1973 Daytona 500

[@johnlewis7710]

Nice seeing some of the qualifying races!

[@cjs83172]

As it turned out, the qualifying races were more competitive than the 500 itself was that year, especially the second qualifying race, which had a Cinderella winner and numerous dark horses, including 1970 Daytona 500 winner and surprise front row qualifier Pete Hamilton, trading the lead. The first qualifier was a preview of the Daytona 500 itself, which was a Baker/Yarborough show for the first 150 laps, but as it turned out, both had run their cars so hard that neither of them finished, leaving the door open for King Richard to grab his fourth Daytona 500 victory. A 9-second stop with 10 laps remaining for fuel and, for some reason, a cleaning of the windshield, didn't help Buddy Baker's cause, as that put him far enough behind Petty that he was never likely to catch up, even if his engine hadn't failed.

[@cjs83172]

The starting points for the three parts of this video on the 1973 Daytona 500 are as follows: 0:00 1st 125-mile qualifying race 8:13 2nd 125-mile qualifying race 16:17 1973 Daytona 500 itself