The 1986 Firecracker 400 was the 15th stock car race of the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 28th iteration of the event.

With eight laps left in the race, Dale Earnhardt blew an engine in front of the leader, Buddy Baker.

Although Baker was able to avoid the wreck, in the race back to the line, Hendrick Motorsports' Tim Richmond was able to take the lead at the time of caution.

The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.

Cale Yarborough, driving for Ranier-Lundy Racing, won the pole, setting a time of 44.222 and an average speed of 203.519 miles per hour (327.532 km/h) in the first round.