Marvin Panch won the race in the one-year-old 1960 Pontiac built and owned by Smokey Yunick after taking the lead on lap 187.

Panch took the lead with 13 laps remaining when race leader Fireball Roberts' car suffered a blown engine.

[2] Tragedy struck during the preliminaries of Daytona Speedweeks when a driver from Phoenix, Arizona crashed in turn 3 of the 2.5-mile (4.0-kilometre) track.

Lee Petty won the race contested on the 3.1-mile (5.0 km) infield track in a 1960 Valiant with an average speed of 83.546 miles per hour (134.454 km/h).

The race proved to be a tough loss for Fireball Roberts, who had started at the rear of the field but managed to charge to the lead in only 4 laps.

[5] During the initial 2-lap qualifying trials Fireball Roberts set a new track record of 155.700 miles per hour (250.575 km/h) average speed over the 5-mile (8.0 km) run.

The second fastest average belonged to Joe Weatherly in his 1961 Pontiac, with Cotton Owens, Curtis Turner, and Marvin Panch rounding out the top 5.

[7] The two qualifying events which established the starting lineup of the Daytona 500 were marred by multiple crashes in which at least one fan and seven drivers were injured on February 24, 1961.

The top 20 finishers would secure positions in the upcoming 500-mile (800 km) event, with winners of each qualifier also earning a $5,000 purse.

[10] The accident started when Banjo Matthews spun in front of the field while leading the second qualifying 100-mile (160 km) race.

[8][15] Driver Rex White stated that: “If NASCAR doesn’t have a meeting to educate some of these amateurs, there can’t be much of a race on Sunday.

Prior to the start of the main event, drivers were understandably apprehensive due to the large number of mishaps during the qualifying races.

On lap 182 driver Darel Dieringer contacted the outside fence, but managed to make repairs in time to finish the race.

[19] Then on lap 187, with more than a two-lap lead on second place teammate Panch, Roberts' engine failed knocking him out of the race.

[23] Years after retiring from the sport, Panch would rebuild a replica of his winning Pontiac and tour the NASCAR circuit.