2003 Daytona 500

2003 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 1 of 36 in the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Daytona International Speedway
Date	February 16, 2003 (2003-02-16)
Location	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.02336 km)
Distance	109 laps, 272.5 mi (438.546 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather	Warm with temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds approaching 22.9 miles per hour (36.9 km/h)
Average speed	133.870 miles per hour (215.443 km/h)
Attendance	200,000
Pole position
Driver	Jeff Green	Richard Childress Racing
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Robby Gordon	Richard Childress Racing
Duel 2 Winner	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Most laps led
Driver	Michael Waltrip	Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Laps	68
Winner
No. 15	Michael Waltrip	Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
Nielsen Ratings	16.8 (9.8/21 million viewers)

The 2003 Daytona 500, the 45th running of the event, was the first race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season, having been held on February 16 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. 2000 NASCAR Busch Series champion Jeff Green won his second career Winston Cup pole.

Prior to the race, the drivers paid tribute by having decals on their cars in honor of the astronauts who were killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster two weeks earlier, similar to the 1986 Daytona 500, in which they paid tribute to the fallen crew members of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

The race ended after 109 laps when rain had begun pouring on the track. Michael Waltrip won the race for the second time in three years, giving him his third NASCAR Winston Cup win; all of his wins to that point had been in races held at Daytona. It was the first of Waltrip's two wins in 2003, both coming in restrictor plate races (he later won the EA Sports 500 at Talladega in October for his fourth and last Cup win). For the first time since 1966, the race was stopped due to rain; at 272.5 miles, this was the shortest Daytona 500 ever.

In the race, Ryan Newman had a wild accident in the tri-oval, where his #12 Dodge tumbled end-over-end. Fortunately, he was not injured in the crash. Following the incident, both Penske Racing and new manufacturer Dodge were investigated because of the quality of the car.

Race summary

The green flag came nearly half an hour earlier than planned, due to the impending rain showers which officials feared would lead to the race having to be completed on another day. Jeff Green was out in front at the start of the race, but he was quickly passed by Michael Waltrip, who led the first 34 laps. On lap 42, the race's first caution came out after Bobby Labonte spun out entering the backstretch. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took the lead from Tony Stewart as the field raced back to the caution. The first round of green flag pit stops came on lap 50.

The most significant incident of the race came on lap 58: Ryan Newman was running solidly in the Top 15, but defending Daytona 500 champion Ward Burton hit Ken Schrader and both he and Newman hit the wall. The rear tire fixture underneath Newman's car detached from the car as he went sliding into the infield grass, and the No.12 went airborne and when it landed, its right-rear wheel dug into the dirt, causing Newman to flip several times before landing on its roof. Most of the car came apart in the infield, but Newman was uninjured and was able to walk away from the crash under his own power. Following Newman's flip, there were 6 caution laps, during which a light rain began to fall, so the race was red-flagged when the rain became heavier.

Following a rain delay which lasted over an hour, the race restarted with Michael Waltrip back in front. The race remained under the green flag until lap 95, when Jeff Green and Jimmy Spencer collided entering turn 4, bringing out a 3rd caution. Spencer ended up hitting the frontstretch retaining wall and coming to rest just past the start-finish line. Spencer had a very similar crash in the 2000 race. A caution came on lap 103 for debris, and then Ward Burton hit the turn 4 wall on lap 106, bringing out another. There were 3 yellow flag laps after Burton's crash, and then the race was once red-flagged again due to more rain. Although it briefly looked as if the race would get back underway, the race was eventually called off due to the forecast of more rain and Michael Waltrip was declared as the winner. It was his 3rd career Winston Cup win both overall and at Daytona, and his 2nd career Daytona 500 win. Coincidentally, Waltrip's first three wins came in the first 3 Daytona races broadcast by Fox.

This was the 3rd Daytona 500 to have been shortened by rain, following the races held in 1965 and 1966. This race was also the shortest Daytona 500 ever.

Results

Pos	Grid	Car No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Laps Led	Status
1	4	15	Michael Waltrip (W)	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	109	68	Running
2	36	97	Kurt Busch	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
3	10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
4	31	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
5	26	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
6	3	31	Robby Gordon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
7	8	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	109	6	Running
8	20	19	Jeremy Mayfield	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	109	0	Running
9	18	09	Mike Wallace	Phoenix Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
10	11	88	Dale Jarrett (W)	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
11	9	99	Jeff Burton	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
12	13	24	Jeff Gordon (W)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
13	30	45	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	109	0	Engine
14	24	0	Jack Sprague (R)	Haas CNC Racing	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
15	5	21	Ricky Rudd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
16	21	23	Kenny Wallace	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
17	7	40	Sterling Marlin (W)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
18	6	54	Todd Bodine	BelCar Motorsports	Ford	109	1	Running
19	40	10	Johnny Benson	MBV Motorsports	Pontiac	109	0	Running
20	35	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	109	2	Running
21	27	16	Greg Biffle (R)	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
22	15	25	Joe Nemechek	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
23	16	38	Elliott Sadler	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
24	39	77	Dave Blaney	Jasper Motorsports	Ford	109	0	Flagged
25	38	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
26	25	32	Ricky Craven	PPI Motorsports	Pontiac	109	1	Running
27	29	41	Casey Mears (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	109	1	Running
28	42	01	Jerry Nadeau	MBV Motorsports	Pontiac	109	0	Running
29	32	1	Steve Park	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
30	41	5	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
31	19	42	Jamie McMurray (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
32	14	9	Bill Elliott (W)	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	109	0	Running
33	33	74	Tony Raines (R)	BACE Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
34	12	43	John Andretti	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	108	0	Flagged
35	34	33	Christian Fittipaldi (R)	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet	108	0	Flagged
36	2	8	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	108	22	Flagged
37	43	4	Mike Skinner	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	108	0	Flagged
38	17	22	Ward Burton (W)	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	105	0	Contact T4
39	1	30	Jeff Green	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	94	0	Contact T4
40	23	7	Jimmy Spencer	Ultra Motorsports	Dodge	94	0	Contact T4
41	22	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	81	0	Flagged
42	28	49	Ken Schrader	BAM Racing	Dodge	57	0	Contact TO
43	37	12	Ryan Newman	Penske Racing	Dodge	56	0	Contact TO
Failed to Qualify
		14	Larry Foyt (R)	A. J. Foyt Racing	Dodge
		11	Brett Bodine	Brett Bodine Racing	Ford
		02	Hermie Sadler (R)	SCORE Motorsports	Pontiac
		60	David Green (R)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
		90	Kirk Shelmerdine (R)	Donlavey Racing	Ford
		37	Derrike Cope (W)	Qwest Motor Racing	Chevrolet
		78	Mike Harmon (R)	BC Motorsports	Chevrolet
Source:

Withdrew: #84-Norm Benning.

References

Previous race: 2002 Ford 400

NASCAR Winston Cup Series 2003 season

Next race: 2003 Subway 400