The week leading up to the Daytona 500 is the perfect blend of celebrating the past and anticipating the future. As the first official race of the NASCAR Cup Series season, Daytona International Speedway always brings the promise of excitement and energy for a new year of racing. Yet Daytona is also a monument to the heritage of American stock car racing. The speedway is the type of place where you can feel the history around you, and the power of the past makes racing at Daytona feel all the more special.
One of those legendary races occurred exactly 30 years ago today (Feb. 14): the 1993 Daytona 500. The race is best remembered for its thrilling finish where Dale Jarrett surged passed Dale Earnhardt on the last lap as Ned Jarrett, Dale Jarrett’s father, cheerfully called the victory for his son. Ned famously declared the last lap to be the “Dale and Dale show,” as his son scored the first-ever win for Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite Earnhardt suffering another difficult loss in the Great American Race, Jarrett’s victory became one of the great feel-good moments in the history of NASCAR.
What’s often overlooked today is how the win launched the careers of both the driver and the team. Jarrett and JGR may have been fast throughout Speedweeks, but neither were the force that they would grow into by the end of the decade. Jarrett had only one Cup Series win before 1993. That was at Michigan International Speedway in 1991. Driving for Wood Brothers Racing, Jarrett beat Davey Allison to the finish line by just eight inches. The following season, Jarrett joined Joe Gibbs’ brand new team. Gibbs’ cars showed flashes of speed at times, but the No. 18 team put up middling stats overall and did not score a victory in 1992. Winning the Daytona 500 in 1993 was the biggest hint that Jarrett and Gibbs would become superstars in NASCAR, albeit independently of each other.
Before the Daytona 500 began, most of the NASCAR world’s attention was focused elsewhere. Earnhardt had won the Busch Clash, his qualifying race, and as usual looked like the driver to beat. The other qualifying race shockingly went to a 21-year-old rookie Jeff Gordon, who was preparing to make just his second Cup Series start. Jarrett qualified on the outside pole next to Kyle Petty, who was racing the No. 42 Pontiac for Felix Sabates. Noticeably absent from the starting grid was Kyle Petty’s legendary father Richard Petty, who had retired from racing at the conclusion…
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