[8] Winners of the Daytona 500 through 1997 received the Harley Earl Award, a wooden trophy approximately three feet (0.91 m) tall, adorned with silver figurines.

[9] Starting in 1998, to celebrate the 40th running, individual winners of the Daytona 500 have been presented with a miniature replica of the Harley J. Earl Trophy,[9] which was recreated by John Lajba, a sculptor from Omaha, Nebraska.

[6] Previously commissioned to craft a sculpture of Bill France and his wife, Ann France, for display in front of NASCAR corporate headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida,[6] Lajba's work on each replica trophy requires six weeks of 12-hour days to create the Firebird I automobile, with all the work done by hand, at Herman Engraving,[6] before it gets plated in silver by Koley’s Inc., also located in Omaha.

[6] For the 2008 Daytona 500, the 50th anniversary of the first race, the replica of the trophy, presented to winner Ryan Newman, was plated in gold rather than silver.

[11] Petty's seven victories lead the four Daytona 500 wins of Cale Yarborough, and three each by Bobby Allison, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Denny Hamlin.