The 1964 Daytona 500, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on February 23, 1964, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Race report

The race was won by Richard Petty driving a 1964 Plymouth. Petty drove his number 43 to victory in 3 hours and 14 minutes. There were three caution flags that slowed the race for 19 laps. The Chrysler teams debuted their brand-new 426 ci Chrysler Hemi engine in this race; NASCAR ordered the teams who had it to sandbag it during practice and qualifying due to their superiority. During the race itself, Richard Petty, who at the time was known best for his skill on short tracks, led 184 of the 200 laps (a Daytona 500 record that stands to this day) and Chrysler teams took four of the top five spots. First Daytona 500 starts for Bobby Isaac, Doug Cooper, Johnny Rutherford, Jack Anderson, Jim Bray, and Neil Castles. Only Daytona 500 starts for Dave MacDonald, Jo Schlesser, Smokey Boutwell, Jim McElreath, Ronnie Chumley, Bobby Marshman, Joe Clark, Bill McMahan, and Jim Cook. Last Daytona 500 starts for Jimmy Pardue, Billy Wade, Dan Gurney, Larry Thomas, Ralph Earnhardt, Curtis Crider, Sal Tovella, Parnelli Jones, Fireball Roberts, and Elmo Henderson. This was the first NASCAR race that had a purse of over $100,000.

Top 10 finishers

Timeline

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