1995 Daytona 500 - Mid-Race Events

Mid-Race Events

On Lap 70 rain interrupted the race for 2 hours. Jeff Gordon led Marlin, Todd Bodine, Earnhardt, and Ken Schrader when the red flag was withdrawn. On Lap 97 Todd Bodine spun exiting Turn 4 (whether or not contact with Robert Pressley caused it was unclear), and engine failure soon took him out after the restart. He joined Purvis, Mike Wallace, Kinser, Parsons, and Nemechek as the 6 cars out of the race. During the pit stops, Gordon dropped from the lead to 20th after a very long pit stop. Dale Earnhardt was the new leader, and at halfway he led Michael Waltrip, Morgan Shepherd, Sterling Marlin, and Ken Schrader to the restart. With help from Marlin, the younger Waltrip took the lead from Earnhardt for 2 laps before the defending 500 winner retook the lead. Meanwhile, Gordon was reclaiming lost ground quickly and passed Michael Waltrip in Turn 2 on Lap 109 to reenter the Top 10.

On Lap 131 Dave Marcis hit the Turn 3 wall and slowed to a stop in the middle of Turns 3 & 4. After the restart, a small dispute developed in his pits centering around the status of his unused tires. The Penske team showed up to make an offer for the tires, but Marcis wanted the tires to go to Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt, for whom Marcis and his team had done many miles of testing and from whom he had received an engine for the race. "I may not have been in the Daytona 500 if it wasn't for Richard Childress," said Marcis of the former owner-driver.

Through all of this, Marlin retained the lead until, with 40 laps to go, rookie Randy LaJoie spun on the backstretch and lost his windshield. As the yellow was being waved, Bobby Hamilton made contact with Rusty Wallace, resulting in Wallace's fifth straight Daytona 500 crash (4 of which resulted in a DNF, with 1992 as the exception). Rick Mast led a lap during the caution. 1989 Daytona 500 winner Darrell Waltrip had a transmission failure that would cost him 20 laps to repair. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon suffered an aerodynamic setback that would cost him the race. The jack was let down too soon on the driver's side during the tire change, and the fender was bent by the left front tire. Dale Earnhardt would lead the field to the restart, and afterwards Gordon would brush the wall in his now ill-handling car. He brought the 24 car in for a correctional pit stop and lost a lap.