The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap, 500 miles long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule. The track is two and a half a miles long.

The Daytona 500 is regarded by many as the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar, carrying by far the largest purse. Championship points awarded are equal to that of any other Sprint Cup race. It is also NASCAR's first race of the year; this phenomenon is virtually unique in sports, which tend to have championships or other major events at the end of the season rather than the start. Since 1995, U.S. television ratings for the Daytona 500 have been the highest for any auto race of the year, surpassing the traditional leader, the Indianapolis 500 which in turn greatly surpasses the Daytona 500 in in-track attendance and international viewing. The 2006 Daytona 500 attracted the sixth largest average live global TV audience of any sporting event that year with 20 million viewers.

The event serves as the final event of Speedweeks and is known as "The Great American Race" and the "Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing." It is held the second or third Sunday in February, and since 1971, has been loosely associated with Presidents Day weekend.

The winner of the Daytona 500 is presented with the Harley J. Earl Trophy in Victory Lane, and the winning car is displayed, in race-winning condition, for one year at Daytona 500 Experience, a museum and gallery adjacent to Daytona International Speedway.

The race is the direct successor of shorter races held on Daytona Beach. This long square was partially on the sand and also on the highway near the beach. Earlier events featured 200 mile races with stock cars. These cars were equipped with wipers and radiators to combat the sand they faced. Eventually, the 500 was held and has been held at Daytona International Speedway since its inaugural run in 1959. By 1961, it began to be referred to by its commonly known moniker, the "Daytona 500.

2008 Race: The 50th Running
The 2008 Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing marked the 50th running of "The Great American Race", run on Sunday, February 17, 2008, celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the first race run in 1959. The race was the first Daytona 500 run using NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, which was introduced in 2007, and became standard as of 2008. The race also marked the first race under the "Sprint Cup" banner, following the merger of Sprint with NEXTEL in 2005.

Many events and personalities were involved in the special running of the race. Activities began in March 2007 with a “Celebrity Tickets for Charity” competition, where the design of the most sought-after ticket in motorsports history was chosen from submissions provided by celebrities of which the original art were auctioned off for the benefit of the Jeff Gordon Foundation, with fans having a voice in the decision. They chose ten designs - four of them from past race winners - and a blue ribbon panel made up of NASCAR's family selected comedian/game show host Jeff Foxworthy's design as the winner. The pace car was driven by 1960 race winner (and former owner) Junior Johnson and seven-time winner Richard Petty waved the green flag to start the race. As many as 24 past champions gave the command to start the engines for the race as the Grand Marshals for this event.

The first 150 laps were mostly caution free, with only two yellow flags thrown for debris. Most of the drivers seemed content to fall in line and let the beginning of the race play itself out. The final fifty laps saw Jeff Gordon go to the garage for suspension failure, but able to return and finish the race 14 laps down. The final twenty laps were very exciting, with three cautions for accidents. When the race was restarted for the final time on lap 197, Tony Stewart quickly stormed past Jeff Burton into the lead. On the final lap down the back straightaway, Stewart dove to the bottom to pick up drafting help from his teammate Kyle Busch, who had led most of the race. This move proved to be a disaster as Ryan Newman, with drafting help from teammate Kurt Busch, surged to the front and took the checkered flag. In all, 32 cars finished on the lead lap in the first race at Daytona in the new car used by NASCAR. As the race winner, Ryan Newman took home $1,506,040.00 while last-place finisher Kenny Wallace won $256,735.00.

Qualifying is unique at Daytona for the 500. Some teams must race their way into the Daytona 500 field. However, since 2005, all exempt teams (the top 35 teams of the previous year in owner points) are guaranteed a spot in the Daytona 500. The first row is set by one round of qualifying, held one week before the race. (Prior to 2003, this was two rounds; prior to 2001, it was three.) The remainder of the field is set by a pair of qualifying races (these were 100 miles (160 km) from 1959–1967; 125 miles (201 km) from 1969–2004; and 150 miles (240 km), with two-lap overtime if necessary, beginning in 2005. These races were not held in 1968 because of rain). The top two drivers from the qualifying races that are not in the top 35 in owner points are given spots on the field, and the rest is set by the finishing order of the duels, with guaranteed spots to those in the top 35. The remaining spots, 40 to 43 are filled by top qualifying times of those not already in the field from the qualifying race. If there is a previous NASCAR Champion without a spot, he will get one of those four spots, otherwise, the fourth fastest car is added to the field.

Prior to 2005, after the top two cars were set, the top 14 cars in the qualifying races advanced to the field, and then between six (1998–2003), eight (1995-97, 2004), or ten (until 1994) fastest cars which did not advance from the qualifying race were added, and, since the mid-1980s, between two and seven cars were added by previous year's points performance and or championship.