Racing|NASCAR|1998 Daytona 500 — Earnhardt Wins on His Twentieth Attempt

On 15 February 1998, forty-three cars started the 40th Daytona 500 on Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometre) tri-oval. Dale Earnhardt began fourth in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet Monte Carlo, chasing the one major NASCAR prize that had escaped him through nineteen previous attempts.

The seven-time Winston Cup champion controlled the decisive phase. Earnhardt led 107 of the 200 laps, including 69 of the final 70, while pole-sitter Bobby Labonte and Jeremy Mayfield remained his closest challengers.

On lap 199, Lake Speed and John Andretti spun and the third caution appeared. NASCAR’s rules then required drivers to race back to the start-finish line rather than freeze the order immediately, so Earnhardt still had to beat Labonte and Mayfield to the stripe while negotiating the lapped car of Rick Mast.

Earnhardt reached the line first and received the white and yellow flags together. With no green-white-checkered overtime rule in force, the last lap ran under caution and the No. 3 took the checkered flag after 200 laps and 500 miles.

The final classification placed Earnhardt first, Bobby Labonte second and Jeremy Mayfield third; all three completed the full distance. Michael Waltrip had earlier been sent to the rear after a pit-road hose violation, but no recorded penalty or exclusion altered the podium.

It was Earnhardt’s twentieth Daytona 500 start and his first—and ultimately only—victory in the race. As he drove toward Victory Lane, crews from rival teams lined pit road to congratulate him, turning the end of a long pursuit into one of stock-car racing’s defining communal celebrations.

NASCAR’s retrospective and lap-by-lap reconstruction document the date, field, late caution and finish procedure: https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2023/02/15/dale-earnhardts-daytona-500-victory-still-resonates/ and https://www.nascar.com/long-form/untold-story-1998-daytona-500-matt-crossman-1/. ESPN’s independent result records the finishing order and distance: https://www.espn.com/racing/raceresults?raceId=199802150001&series=sprint. Daytona International Speedway documents the venue’s 31-degree high banks: https://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/about-us/.

The image is a United States Geological Survey orthophoto made on 26 January 1999. It does not depict the race, but shows the same Daytona oval and Lake Lloyd less than a year later.

Photo: United States Geological Survey, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.