Daytona 500

Daytona International Speedway — January 1, 1981

Richard Petty

Winner

200

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Richard Petty won the 1981 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on January 1, 1981, leading 26 of 200 laps. Bobby Allison finished second; Ricky Rudd rounded out the podium. The race featured 9 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Thursday, January 1, 1981

Track

Daytona International Speedway

Season

1981

Winner

Richard Petty

Leaders

9 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	8	+7	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		200	—	Running	26	180
2	1	-1	Bobby Allison	Ranier Racing		200	—	Running	117	180
3	5	+2	Ricky Rudd	DiGard Motorsports		200	—	Running	9	170
4	6	+2	Buddy Baker	Ellington Racing		200	—	Running	10	165
5	7	+2	Dale Earnhardt	Osterlund Motorsports		200	—	Running	4	160
6	16	+10	Bill Elliott	George Elliott Racing		199	—	Running	4	155
7	27	+20	Jody Ridley	Donlavey Racing		198	—	Running	—	146
8	29	+21	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing		197	—	Running	—	142
9	34	+25	Joe Millikan	RahMoc Enterprises		197	—	Running	—	138
10	35	+25	Johnny Rutherford	Benfield Racing		195	—	Running	—	134
11	21	+10	Bill Elswick	RahMoc Enterprises		195	—	Running	—	0
12	33	+21	Donnie Allison	Kennie Childers (Owner)		195	—	Running	—	127
13	22	+9	Stan Barrett	Mach 1 Racing		195	—	Running	—	124
14	13	-1	Don Whittington	Scott Smith Racing		194	—	Running	—	121
15	15	—	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		194	—	Running	—	118
16	38	+22	Dick Brooks	Matthews Racing		193	—	Running	1	0
17	28	+11	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		192	—	Running	—	112
18	17	-1	Ronnie Sanders	Gray Racing		191	—	Running	—	109
19	23	+4	Glenn Jarrett	Hamby Racing		186	—	Running	—	106
20	39	+19	Don Sprouse	Rogers Racing		181	—	Running	—	103
21	26	+5	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		179	—	Running	—	100
22	14	-8	Geoffrey Bodine	Bahre Racing		178	—	Running	—	97
23	31	+8	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm Team		175	—	Running	—	94
24	41	+17	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		169	—	Running	—	91
25	37	+12	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	Howard & Egerton Racing		167	—	DNF	—	88
26	20	-6	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	159	—	Running	—	85
27	32	+5	Lennie Pond	Testa Racing		155	—	DNF	—	82
28	19	-9	Ronnie Thomas	Ronnie Thomas Racing		151	—	DNF	—	79
29	9	-20	David Pearson	Halpern Enterprises		144	—	DNF - Engine	3	81
30	40	+10	Tim Richmond	Ulrich Racing		144	—	DNF	—	73
31	4	-27	Benny Parsons	Bud Moore Engineering		135	—	DNF	—	70
32	11	-21	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises		128	—	DNF - Engine	—	67
33	3	-30	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing		123	—	DNF	26	69
34	25	-9	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		123	—	DNF	—	61
35	10	-25	A.J. Foyt	A.J. Foyt Racing		120	—	DNF - Engine	—	58
36	2	-34	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates		117	—	DNF - Engine	—	55
37	42	+5	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		116	—	Running	—	52
38	18	-20	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing		110	—	DNF - Engine	—	49
39	24	-15	Bruce Hill	Nelson Malloch (Owner)		54	—	DNF - Crash	—	46
40	12	-28	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		47	—	Running	—	43
41	36	-5	Billie Harvey	Billie Harvey (Owner)		45	—	DNF - Engine	—	40
42	30	-12	Blackie Wangerin	Wangerin Racing		17	—	DNF - Crash	—	37