Driver Cale Yarborough | ||
 | ||
Date February 25, 1968 (1968-02-25) Location Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4.023 km) Distance 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) Average speed 147.251 miles per hour (236.978 km/h) | ||
The 1968 Daytona 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) race held on February 25, 1968, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Cale Yarborough won the race from the pole.
Summary
The event was won by Cale Yarborough driving a 1968 Mercury. Yarborough drove his #21 to victory in just over 3 hours and 23 minutes after starting the race on the pole. There were 11 caution flags which slowed the race for 60 laps, a track record at the time that remained so until 2005. Yarborough squeaked out the victory by less than a second over LeeRoy Yarbrough. The win was Yarborough's first victory of the season and his first victory in the "Great American Race".
This was also the only Daytona 500 where the grid was set exclusively by qualifying times. The 125-mile qualifying races were not held due to inclement weather.
The transition to purposely-built racers began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.