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2003 Daytona 500

45th iteration of Daytona 500

Field	Value
Type	NASWINSTON
Fulldate
Year	2003
Race_No	1
Season_No	36
Image	2003_Daytona_500_logo.png
Caption	2003 Daytona 500 logo
Location	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course_mi	2.5
Course_km	4.02336
Distance_laps	109
Distance_mi	272.5
Distance_km	438.546
Scheduled_laps	200
Scheduled_mi	500
Scheduled_km	804.672
Weather	Warm with temperatures reaching up to 81 F; wind speeds approaching 22.9 mph
Avg	133.870 mi/h
Attendance	200,000
Pole_Driver	Jeff Green
Pole_Team	Richard Childress Racing
Duel1	Robby Gordon
One_Team	Richard Childress Racing
Duel2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Two_Team	Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Most_Driver	Michael Waltrip
Most_Team	Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Most_laps	68
Car	15
First_Driver	Michael Waltrip
First_Team	Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
Ratings	9.8/21
(16.8 million average viewers)

(16.8 million average 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. In addition, the pledge of allegiance and pre-race opening invocation given by the Reverend Hal Marchman, in his next-to-last running of the event before his retirement and subsequent death, were recited. Grammy Award-winning artist Mariah Carey then performed the national anthem.

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, it had been the shortest Daytona 500 ever.

During lap 58 into the race, Ryan Newman had an accident in the tri-oval, where his No. 12 Dodge tumbled end-over-end onto the track's infield grass, but he was not injured in the crash.

This is the first Daytona 500 event that respected Winston Cup veteran Dave Marcis did not attempt since 1967, a whole season before he had started driving.

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.

On lap 58 Ryan Newman was running 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. Following Newman's flip, there were six 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 third 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 three yellow flag laps after Burton's crash, and 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 third career Winston Cup win both overall and at Daytona, and his second career Daytona 500 win. Coincidentally, Waltrip's first three wins came in the first three Daytona races broadcast by Fox.

This was the third Daytona 500 to have been shortened by rain, following the races held in 1965 and 1966. At 272.5 miles and 109 lap, this race was also the shortest Daytona 500 ever, only eight laps more than the minimum required for an official race (101 laps).

Results

W = Past winner of the Daytona 500; R = Daytona 500/NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie

Pos	Grid	Car No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Laps Led
4	15	Michael Waltrip (W)	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	109	68	Running
36	97	Kurt Busch	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	8	Running
31	29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
26	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
3	31	Robby Gordon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
8	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	109	6	Running
20	19	Jeremy Mayfield	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	109	0	Running
18	09	Mike Wallace	Phoenix Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
11	88	Dale Jarrett (W)	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
9	99	Jeff Burton	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
13	24	Jeff Gordon (W)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
30	45	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	109	0	Running
24	0	Jack Sprague (R)	Haas CNC Racing	Pontiac	109	0	Running
5	21	Ricky Rudd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
21	23	Kenny Wallace	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
7	40	Sterling Marlin (W)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
6	54	Todd Bodine	BelCar Motorsports	Ford	109	1	Running
40	10	Johnny Benson	MBV Motorsports	Pontiac	109	0	Running
35	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	109	2	Running
27	16	Greg Biffle (R)	Roush Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
15	25	Joe Nemechek	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
16	38	Elliott Sadler	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	109	0	Running
39	77	Dave Blaney	Jasper Motorsports	Ford	109	0	Running
38	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
25	32	Ricky Craven	PPI Motorsports	Pontiac	109	1	Running
29	41	Casey Mears (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	109	1	Running
42	01	Jerry Nadeau	MBV Motorsports	Pontiac	109	0	Running
32	1	Steve Park	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
41	5	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
19	42	Jamie McMurray (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	109	0	Running
14	9	Bill Elliott (W)	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	109	0	Running
33	74	Tony Raines (R)	BACE Motorsports	Chevrolet	109	0	Running
12	43	John Andretti	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	108	0	Flagged
34	33	Christian Fittipaldi (R)	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet	108	0	Flagged
2	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	108	22	Flagged
43	4	Mike Skinner	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Pontiac	108	0	Flagged
17	22	Ward Burton (W)	Bill Davis Racing	Dodge	105	0	Accident
1	30	Jeff Green	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	94	0	Accident
23	7	Jimmy Spencer	Ultra Motorsports	Dodge	94	0	Accident
22	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	81	0	Flagged
28	49	Ken Schrader	BAM Racing	Dodge	57	0	Accident
37	12	Ryan Newman	Penske Racing	Dodge	56	0	Accident
	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: No. 84 – Norm Benning.

References

"Weather of the ''2003 Daytona 500''". The Old Farmers' Almanac.
"2003 Daytona 500 - Racing-Reference.info".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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