Bill Elliott won the pole and Michael Waltrip, in his first race in the No. 15 car for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., won the race. This was the first points-paying victory of his Winston Cup career, coming in his 463rd start, the longest wait for a first win. His teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 2nd and Rusty Wallace finished 3rd.
On the final lap, a fatal accident occurred involving Dale Earnhardt Sr., Ken Schrader, and Sterling Marlin. Earnhardt's car crashed head-on into the retaining wall, killing him. The race was also marred by an 18-car pile-up on lap 173 that began when Ward Burton made contact with Robby Gordon, sending Tony Stewart flipping twice down the backstretch. After Earnhardt's death - as well as other notable deaths of other drivers in other NASCAR national touring series in previous seasons–NASCAR implemented rigorous safety improvements in later seasons. The 2001 Daytona 500 is the last NASCAR Cup Series race to involve a fatal accident.
Qualifying to determine positions 1-2 for the Daytona 500 and the lineup for the Gatorade Duels happened on February 10, 2001. Originally, Bill Elliott and Jerry Nadeau were slated to start first and second, respectively. However, during post qualifying inspection, NASCAR determined that Nadeau had an unapproved shock absorber and spring shackle, and his time was disqualified. Stacy Compton, who was originally third, moved up to second.
Dwayne Leik would be the only driver to not set a time.
The Gatorade 125s are a pair of NASCAR Winston Cup series held in conjunction with the Daytona 500 annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. They consist of two 50 laps and 125 miles in length, which serve as heat races that set up the lineup for the Daytona 500. Both races set the lineup for positions 3–30. The first race sets the lineup for cars that qualified in odd–numbered positions on pole qualifying day. The second race sets the lineup for cars that qualified in even–numbered positions. After qualifying races, the next six positions are determined by fastest times in qualifying who have not yet made the field. The final seven positions go to provisional starters based on last year's car owner points standings.
Polesitter Bill Elliott led the field to the green flag, but he only led one lap before Sterling Marlin (the winner of the first 125-mile qualifying race three days earlier) passed him for the lead. On lap 29, Rusty Wallace drove into his pit after his right front tire had suddenly gone flat. NASCAR determined that he had exceeded the pit road speed limit on his way in and he was consequently issued a 15-second penalty. As a result, he went a lap down and attempted to make up for it by skipping the first scheduled pit stop. The first caution came out on lap 48 when Jeff Purvis bounced off the wall between turns 3 & 4. The race restarted and stayed under a long green-flag run that lasted 105 laps, in which Ward Burton led the most. On lap 87, Dale Earnhardt and rookie Kurt Busch made door-to-door contact coming out of turn 4 while battling for fifth place. Earnhardt promptly gave Busch the finger at 185mph or, as described by lap-by-lap commentator Mike Joy, he simply was saying "Kurt, you're number 1".[4]
The second caution came out on lap 157 when Busch, trying to pass Joe Nemechek, hit the front stretch wall and slid across the track right through the infield and onto pit road. On lap 167, Steve Park took the lead, only to be passed by his teammate Michael Waltrip on the next lap.
The Big One
On lap 173, a huge crash eliminated 18 cars in a spectacular fashion. This began when Robby Gordon, coming onto the back straightaway, turned Ward Burton in the outside lane. Burton then hit Tony Stewart, who turned back across the middle of the racetrack, collecting most of the field behind him. Stewart took the worst ride of any driver in that crash, as his car turned against the wall after being hit by Burton, caught a pocket of air, got pushed airborne over Robby Gordon and flipped over twice, and then landed on top of Jason Leffler before coasting to a stop in the infield. Bobby Labonte's hood broke off and got attached to Stewart's car, causing his engine to catch fire. Stewart's vehicle was described as something similar to Richard Petty's rollover crash in the 1988 race. Mark Martin collided first with the outside wall and then got hit by at least two other cars, destroying the rear end of his. Martin managed to limp his car back to pit road and abandon it. Also involved in this crash were Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, Andy Houston, Buckshot Jones, Dale Jarrett (the defending Daytona 500 winner), Jeff Burton, Elliott Sadler, Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, and Jerry Nadeau. Only a few drivers, including Earnhardt; Elliott; Ron Hornaday Jr.; and Ken Schrader, were able to avoid the crash with intact cars. The race was red-flagged for extensive cleanup. When the red flag was over, the race restarted on lap 180, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the lead. Marlin led the next three laps before Waltrip took over again.
Death of Dale Earnhardt and race finish
As the race neared its end, Darrell Waltrip in the Fox Sports booth became audibly excited and anxious while his younger brother Michael was poised to win his first NASCAR Cup Series race, cheering him on from the press box. As the white flag waved for the final lap, Earnhardt, Jr. ran second behind Waltrip with his father close behind in third. Earnhardt, who owned the two cars in front of him, was driving aggressively in an attempt to keep the pack, including Sterling Marlin, Ken Schrader, and Rusty Wallace, away from the race for the win. Entering turn 3, Earnhardt threw a block on Marlin, who was looking to make a pass on the bottom. Earnhardt's car was not clear, and his rear bumper clipped Marlin's front bumper, sending him into a skid with the nose of the car on the apron. Trying to correct at speed, Earnhardt sharply counter-steered against the slide, which redirected the car sharply back up the track into the path of Ken Schrader. Schrader rammed into him behind the passenger door, causing Earnhardt's car to snap, rapidly changing its angle toward the wall. As Schrader came into contact, Earnhardt crashed into the wall nose-first at an estimated speed of 155–160 mph (250-257 km/h). Both cars slid down the steep banking off the track and into the infield grass. While this two-car wreck was in progress, drivers were allowed to race to the finish under green flag conditions.
Michael Waltrip claimed his first Winston Cup victory as the field raced back, with his teammate Earnhardt Jr. 0.124 seconds behind in second. The yellow and checkered flags came out simultaneously as Waltrip crossed the line, locking the rest of the field in their positions at that moment.[5] Earnhardt and Schrader were credited finishing 12th and 13th despite not finishing the race. Schrader was the first person to witness the scene of Earnhardt's crash, and upon seeing the interior of the car he immediately called for urgent help. Waltrip celebrated in victory lane with his team, unaware of the severity of the incident until Schrader arrived to tell him the accident had been severe. Earnhardt's failure to emerge under his own power and resulting absence in victory lane as the winning car owner raised concern over his condition, as he was known for being a resilient driver who was hurt in far more visually violent crashes just a few years before, but very rarely sidelined. Earnhardt was extricated from his car and was transported by ambulance to the nearby Halifax Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:16 pm EST, reportedly surrounded by his wife Teresa, his team owner and closest friend Richard Childress, and his son Earnhardt Jr. The official announcement of Earnhardt's death was made at about 7:00 pm EST by NASCAR president Mike Helton. The death of the seven-time Winston Cup Champion largely overshadowed Waltrip's first Winston Cup victory and the 18-car crash on lap 173.
The 2001 Daytona 500 marked the first Cup Series race under NASCAR's new centralized television contracts, which shifted responsibility for NASCAR's media rights from the track owners (which led to events being inconsistently scattered across multiple networks, including long-time rightsholder CBS) to NASCAR itself. NASCAR entered into six-year deals with two broadcasters, Fox Sports and NBC Sports (with NBC sub-licensing cable rights to TNT, and Fox using its then-sister cable network FX), to serve as rightsholders for each respective half of the season in the Winston Cup Series and Busch Series. Fox and NBC alternated rights to the two Daytona race weekends annually.[6]
Mike Joy joined Fox from CBS to continue as lead announcer. Former driver Darrell Waltrip and crew chief Larry McReynolds would join Joy in the booth as analysts. Joy, Waltrip, and McReynolds would consistently remain Fox's on-air team until 2016, when McReynolds became the rules and technical analyst, replaced in the booth by Jeff Gordon. Darrell Waltrip retired from broadcasting in June 2019, leaving Joy and Gordon as a two-man booth for the 2020 season until Clint Bowyer was hired for the 2021 season and Gordon leaving at the end of the season.[7][8][9]
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