NASCAR: Top-Five Wildest Moments In Daytona 500 History

A Driver Of All Trades (2002)

It’s amazing how the possibility of winning one of the most prestigious races in all of NASCAR can cause you to make questionable decisions. That’s exactly what happened to Sterling Marlin during the closing laps of the 2002 Daytona 500. Marlin was battling with Jeff Gordon during the closing laps of race, when Gordon blocked him, causing Marlin to get into him and spin him out.

Unfortunately for Marlin, who had never won the Daytona 500 in his career, he took damage to his right fender during the contact with Gordon and would probably have to surrender the lead to make repairs. Not only that, NASCAR officials were reviewing how the accident happened to determine if Marlin went below the yellow line to advance his position of Jeff Gordon.

While it was eventually decided by race officials that Marlin was forced below the yellow during the incident with Gordon, Marlin was penalized for getting out of his car during red flag conditions and trying to remove the fender from his right front tire. Marlin was eventually ordered to the tail end of the longest line for his actions and finished the race in eighth.

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