[2] Petty came back to win the second race of the year at Daytona Beach, Florida, in his Chrysler.
Rising star Buck Baker captured the winner's purse a total of four times in 1954, and finished third after a 12th-place effort in 1953.
Also in 1954, drivers Petty, Thomas, Baker, Dick Rathman, McGriff, Keller, Jim Paschal, Curtis Turner, Gober Sosbee, John Soares, and Dan Letner all captured at least one victory during the year.
A day later, Tim Flock reached the checkered flag first, but was disqualified for using a two-way radio, and Lee Petty was awarded the victory.
On March 28 Dick Rathmann won a 125-mile race at Oakland Speedway after starting the event in last place.
On June 13, NASCAR held its first ever road course event, at the airport in Linden, New Jersey, with driver Al Keller coming away with the win in a Jaguar, as 20 of the 43 starting entries were foreign made vehicles.
It was the first race to be won by a foreign manufacturer car and as of 2022, it remains as the only win scored by Jaguar in NASCAR.
Notable racers that appeared and did not finish in the top ten included Lee Petty (whose streak of 36 top-ten finishes ended at this race), Cotton Owens, Jimmie Lewallen, Ralph Liguori, Arden Mounts, Elmo Langley (in his NASCAR debut) and Buck Baker (pole winner).
[6] The 1954 Mid-South 250 was a NASCAR Grand National race that took place on October 10, 1954, at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in the community of LeHi, Arkansas.