| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 52 in the 1961 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
 1961 Daytona 500 program cover | |||
| Date | February 26, 1961 | ||
| Location |
Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km) | ||
| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (800 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching 69.1 °F (20.6 °C); wind speeds approaching 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 149.601 miles per hour (240.759 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Smokey Yunick | ||
| Qualifying race winners | |||
| Duel 1 Winner | Fireball Roberts | Smokey Yunick | |
| Duel 2 Winner | Joe Weatherly | Bud Moore | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Fireball Roberts | Smokey Yunick | |
| Laps | 170 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 20 Pontiac | Marvin Panch | Smokey Yunick | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | none | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1961 Daytona 500, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on February 26, 1961, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
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 was not originally scheduled to drive, and was only added to Yunick's team after Fireball Roberts suggested adding him. Panch drove the number 20 to victory in three hours and 20 minutes. The race was run in its entirety without a single caution flag. Panch took the lead with 13 laps remaining when race leader Fireball Roberts' car suffered a blown engine. The win was Panch's first, and only victory of the season.[2]
- ^ "Weather of the 1961 Daytona 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
- ^ Fleischman & Pearce 2004, p. 149.