The 87-year-old Petty, who won a record 200 races, remains an ambassador at Legacy Motor Club. Earnhardt died during a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500, creating a pivotal move toward better safety in a sport that had endured plenty of death.

Welcome to the Daytona 500! Maybe you’re new to the sport, have a casual interest or are just coming around to the edge-of-your-seat wrecks, the thrilling finishes and the stars

Maybe you’re new to the sport, have a casual interest or are just coming around to the edge-of-your-seat wrecks, the thrilling finishes and the stars that make up the Daytona 500 field. Daytona Beach became the unofficial “birthplace of speed” in 1903 when two men argued over who had the fastest horseless carriage and decided to settle things in a race on the white,