1991 Daytona 500

Davey Allison led the first lap from Dale Earnhardt, who took the lead entering Turn 1. On the backstretch, Earnhardt obliterated a seagull. This adversely affected his car's water temperature, raising it at one point to 240 °F or 116 °C. It forced Earnhardt's team to make emergency repairs under one of the many early cautions in the race.

Sprint car champion Sammy Swindell spun on the backstretch to bring out the first yellow flag. Five laps after the restart, Rick Wilson and Greg Sacks collided in Turn 1, ending Sacks' day. Just after the restart, Bill Elliott cut a tire, but had to wait for the proper lap for a pit stop. On lap 31, Jimmy Spencer's engine blew, filling the car with smoke. A fire also erupted just after Spencer climbed out to catch his breath. Meanwhile, turn 4 was coated with oil, gathering Jeff Purvis, Jimmy Means, Phil Barkdoll, and again Sammy Swindell. Barkdoll would soon spin again in Turn 4, blowing out his windshield in the spin and nearly flipping. The windshield slid across the track and into Ken Schrader's bumper and air dam, puncturing the radiator and causing a lengthy repair that eliminated the three-time Daytona 500 polesitter from contention. 1990 Winston Cup runner-up Mark Martin moved through the field quickly in the early going, but was also eliminated from contention as the center section of the car's rear gearing sheared completely off of the driveshaft, causing him to spend many laps behind the wall.

On Lap 75, Geoff Bodine, Eddie Bierschwale and Phil Barkdoll ran three-wide coming out of turn 4. Bierschwale slid up the track and into Bodine's left-rear quarter panel, sending Bodine into a spin and into Jim Sauter, who was slowing to enter the pits. The caution flag came out and all four cars continued in the race. However, Bodine spent several laps in the pits because the rim of his left-rear wheel had been so badly warped in the collision that the crew could not remove the lug nuts to change the now flat left-rear tire. This incident effectively eliminated Bodine from contention and he later retired with an oil leak.

This would be the last caution flag for over 100 laps, and the new pit rules confused the running order during the long green flag run. The lead changed hands many times, as Dale Earnhardt, Joe Ruttman, Davey Allison, Sterling Marlin, Rick Mast, Kyle Petty, Ernie Irvan, and Darrell Waltrip had all pitted on varying laps.

With 16 laps to go, Richard Petty and off-road racer Robby Gordon tangled on the backstretch. Polesitter and leader Davey Allison pitted with the leaders, allowing Rusty Wallace to take the lead. He was quickly shuffled off of the lead on the restart, and was touched by Kyle Petty in Turn 4, which broke the car loose and sent him into a spin. Rick Mast narrowly avoided Wallace, but Darrell Waltrip, unsighted, collided with Wallace's left rear quarter panel, before Wallace slammed into the inside retaining wall, eliminating both cars. Seconds later, Derrike Cope lost control entering the tri-oval while trying to avoid Waltrip's damaged car. Cope spun across the infield and back across the track almost at the start/finish line and into the path of Hut Stricklin. With nowhere to go, Stricklin slammed nearly head-on into the rear of Cope's car, sending him bouncing off Harry Gant's car and down the straightaway with no brakes and virtually no steering. At the final restart on lap 193, the order was Earnhardt, Irvan, Petty, Ruttman, Marlin, Mast, and Allison, the only cars remaining on the lead lap. Leader Dale Earnhardt was passed by Ernie Irvan a lap after the green flag returned, and Davey Allison made up four positions in one lap to run third. Irvan began to pull away while Earnhardt spent several laps battling Davey Allison for 2nd. With 2 laps to go, Earnhardt got loose while running side by side under Allison exiting turn 2. The two cars tapped each other, pushing Allison into the outside wall briefly before the car spun into the infield towards Lake Lloyd, slamming into the earthen embankment as Allison had done early in the 1989 race. Earnhardt spun down the backstretch and into the path of Kyle Petty, who slammed into Earnhardt's right front fender, launching the car into the air briefly before it landed back on its wheels. Ernie Irvan coasted to the checkers to become the first Californian since Marvin Panch in 1961 to win the Daytona 500.