So, not only was Andretti known for being the two-time reigning USAC Champ Car title-holder, but those in the Cup Series garage area were already familiar with the diminutive Italian and how well he wheeled a stock car. Including his qualifying race that week, which counted in the point standings and the record books, Andretti made six NASCAR starts prior to winning his Daytona 500, four of them at Daytona, and registered a 37th-place finish in the prior year’s 500 while driving for Smokey Yunick. It was a “one-off race,” but Andretti was no stranger to NASCAR or Daytona
To understand how his triumph came to be, let’s consider three important points: 1. His victory as an interloper drew immediate shock among those unfamiliar with his bona fides - the tongue-in-cheek headline of that night’s Philadelphia Evening Bulletin was “All of Dixie Mourns Andretti’s Victory.” But with hindsight, the surprise and disdain associated with his win dissipated - he’s Mario Andretti, after all - and within the context of the race weekend, his stout performance made plenty of sense when considering what we know to be true. “It was so incredibly rewarding mainly because I didn’t luck into it.”Īndretti made 14 NASCAR Cup Series starts in his life, and the 1967 running of the 500 served as his only top-five finish. Nobody can say that,” Andretti, who led 112 of the race’s 200 laps, said in 2016. It was a legitimate race victory for Andretti, one the auto racing icon appreciates because there’s no “Daytona luck” attached that ignores the narrative and skews the result.
What can’t be argued, though, is what the win meant for Andretti’s legacy and for the profile of the race itself - the winner and the event, with time, raised the credibility of one another.
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