When watching the 46th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 15, 2004, you should expect the unexpected.
Since the first Daytona 500 on Feb. 22, 1959, there have been plenty of unbelievable finishes in the history of the "Great American Race."
From a driver working on his car under red flag conditions to the race leaders crashing on the last lap, there have been enough surprises in Daytona 500s to rival any great mystery novel.
After reviewing the 45 previous Daytona 500s, here’s a look at five of the most unusual finishes:
2002 Daytona 500
When looking for strange Daytona 500 finishes, we can start with the 2002 race.
On a restart with six laps to go, Sterling Marlin, running second, slowed as he approached the green flag in order to get a run on race leader Jeff Gordon.
Gordon quickly reacted and blocked Marlin and the two cars made contact. Gordon spun out into the grass while Marlin took the lead but suffered damage to his right front fender. At the same time Marlin and Gordon tangled, a multi-car crash broke out.
NASCAR quickly threw out the red flag and stopped all the cars on the Superstretch to clean up the accident. Marlin climbed out of his No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, walked over to his right front and began to pull the fender away from the tire.
Teams are not allowed to work on their machines under the red flag and NASCAR officials quickly ordered Marlin back to his race car and forced him to start at the tail end of the lead lap.
Marlin's loss was Ward Burton’s gain as Burton went on to lead the final five laps to become the first Virginian to win the Daytona 500.
1979 Daytona 500
Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison delivered quite a show in the first live televised broadcast of the Daytona 500.
On the final lap, Yarborough pulled out to pass Allison on the Superstretch. The two banged fenders so hard they crashed into the Turn 3 outside wall before sliding down to the apron.
A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip were about a half lap behind the two embattled leaders. Foyt checked up once he saw the caution light while Petty and Waltrip passed him.
Petty and Waltrip proceeded to battle for the victory with Petty holding on for his sixth Daytona 500 win. But it was the show in Turn 3 that continues to make the highlight reels as Yarborough and Allison began a heated debate that turned into a fist fight with Allison’s brother Bobby jumping into the fray.
1990 Daytona 500
This edition of the “Great American Race” offered one of the race’s biggest upsets.
Dale Earnhardt, who had won almost everything at DIS except the Daytona 500, looked like he would finally break his losing streak in the “Great American Race.”
Earnhardt's famous black No. 3 Chevrolet was the class of the field as he led 150 laps and nearly lapped the field. But Earnhardt couldn’t lead the most important lap – the final one.
About a quarter lap away from the checkered flag and his elusive first Daytona 500 victory, Earnhardt’s right rear tire failed after running over a piece of bell housing.
Earnhardt miraculously kept his car off the wall, but he was off the pace and out of contention. Derrike Cope, with Terry Labonte behind, passed Earnhardt as they headed toward the checkered flag.
Cope, an up-and-coming driver from Spanaway, Wash., in only his third Daytona 500 start, fended off Terry Labonte to record one of the greatest upsets in motorsports history.
Meanwhile, Earnhardt had to wait until 1998 and his 20th Daytona 500 start before finally hoisting the Harley J. Earl trophy in Daytona’s Victory Lane.
1976 Daytona 500 It was a classic David Pearson-Richard Petty duel that produced one of the most incredible finishes in NASCAR history.
The showdown had been building for about 100 miles when Pearson, on the final lap, passed Petty on the Superstretch.
Exiting Turn 4, Petty had ducked low and passed Pearson but his car slightly drifted up the track and the two drivers touched and crashed. When both cars came to rest in the tri-oval grass, they still had not crossed the start/finish line.
Petty’s radiator was pushed back into the fan on the front of the engine and the car wouldn’t restart. But Pearson dumped the clutch and kept the car in neutral keeping it from stalling.
Pearson straightened out his damaged machine and slowly crossed the start/finish line to capture the only Daytona 500 victory of his career. The finish was the slowest under green flag conditions in Daytona 500 history.
1959 Daytona 500
Unlike most races, the inaugural Daytona 500 didn’t end when the checkered flag waved.
Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp were the only contenders for the victory as the race approached its conclusion.
As Petty and Beauchamp exchanged the lead in the waning laps of the race, Joe Weatherly, whose car was two laps down, was able to latch on to the leaders' draft.
On the final lap, Petty had the lead. When the leaders and Weatherly came off of Turn 4 to take the checkered flag, they were three wide with the lap car of Weatherly on the high side, Petty in the middle and Beauchamp at the bottom.
The finish was close. While Beauchamp celebrated the victory, Petty would actually be declared the winner the following Wednesday when newsreel footage provided conclusive evidence that he nipped Beauchamp at the line.
On the Sunday morning before the Daytona 500, every NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver goes through a schedule that typically includes a sponsorship appearance, the driver’s meeting, chapel service, driver introductions and a final meeting with their crew chief to go over any last minute details.
It's a schedule that a driver does every Sunday before any Winston Cup race. But the Daytona 500 isn't just any race. The Daytona 500 is the most watched motorsports event in the world when on-site attendance and television viewing are combined. Estimated attendance for the Daytona 500 is 200,000 and more than 29 million total viewers tuned in on FOX Sports.
"The Great American Race" also has the biggest total payout in prize money for any motorsports event in the United States, surpassing the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. Last year, the total posted winning for the Daytona 500 was $13,816,240 with race winner Michael Waltrip pocketing $1,390,710
"This is the Daytona 500," said driver Jimmy Spencer. "It's the biggest race of the year. It's the biggest crowd, biggest TV audience. It's the biggest everything." The perks of winning the Daytona 500 are more than just collecting the largest payout in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series or hoisting the prestigious Harley J. Earl trophy. Winning stock car racing’s greatest prize also brings fame and fortune.
Michael Waltrip, the 2003 Daytona 500 champion, and Dale Earnhardt Inc. are certainly pleased to see their No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet rest inside DAYTONA USA, the official attraction of NASCAR, for the next year. Waltrip also traveled to New York City to visit with major media outlets following his victory. Ward Burton and his owner Bill Davis reaped a huge benefit after their 2002 Daytona 500 win in the form of a sponsorship deal.
Caterpillar, who was in the final year of a sponsorship contract on the No. 22 Dodge, opted to extend its sponsorship agreement and the Daytona 500 victory was a major factor in the decision.
"You hope it wasn't the only thing it was based on, but it probably made a difference,” Davis said. “The team that they believed in, the team they had been with for four years, had done them a good enough job that they would look at five more years.
"Certainly, winning the biggest race, winning the Super Bowl, winning the Masters, winning the World Series, didn't hurt."
Said Burton: “That race probably sealed the five-year deal for the team. The corporate decisions are made when people come and go and the way the economy has been, it’s hard to say where we would be at.”
Besides the financial aspect of winning the Daytona 500, the victory can also elevate a driver’s status in the sport.
"Winning a race during Speedweeks, it makes you quite a bit more valuable, I think, in the sport as a driver," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has yet to win the Daytona 500 but has won almost every other race including the Pepsi 400 and the Budweiser Shootout. "Winning any race at Daytona its like going into Yankee Stadium and winning a game. It further solidifies you as a driver."
Elliott Sadler drives the No. 38 M&M's Ford for Robert Yates Racing, a team that has won the Daytona 500 three times.
"If you win the Daytona 500, it will stay with you throughout your racing career," Sadler said. "It's really helped a lot of people catapult their careers up to the next level. There are a few races that if a driver wins, owners and sponsors really pay attention too.
Derrike Cope has used his 1990 Daytona 500 victory to his advantage as he pursues sponsorship for Quest Motor Racing, his own Winston Cup team that he drives for on a part-time basis.
"When you say you have a Daytona 500 win, that’s like a Super Bowl ring,” Cope said. “When you are able to sit in front of these people like I do and convey what the sport can do for them and how they can leverage it and they see that Daytona 500 ring, you instantly have creditability. Certainly that has gone a long way in helping me procure sponsorship."
For most drivers, the dream of winning the Daytona 500 goes back to their childhood when they were racing go-karts or quarter midgets. In the back of their minds, they were already thinking about the possibility of competing and even winning the Daytona 500.
"It means a great deal to me,” Cope said. “I think growing up and having aspirations of being a professional race car driver, you always would say and tell people that you’re going to win the Daytona 500, but so few have that opportunity.
When you win the Daytona 500, you have a very big place in history and it’s always going to be there. There’s a limited few that have that opportunity. For me if I didn’t win another race for the rest of my career, when it is all said and done, you would relish the Daytona 500 win more than anything. No one could ever say you didn’t accomplish something great with your life.”