The Daytona 500 is the most important and prestigious race of the NASCAR season. The race is staged at the Daytona International Speedway which is in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event takes place over 200 laps of the track, which equates to 500 miles in total. This annual event is staged between February 14 and February 20 each year and. The race carries the largest purse of any Nascar event.

This page features links and videos to some of the biggest crashes in the race's history. Because of the importance of winning the race, drivers over the years will sometimes take chances in manoeuvring their cars into position to try and win the race; chances they might not otherwise take because of the significance of being known as a Daytona 500 Champion.

The 51st Daytona 500 race in 2009 saw one very large crash involving 10 drivers. The crash occurred on lap 124 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. clipped Brian Vickers.

Drivers Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart both crashed during the final Daytona 500 practice on February 14, 2008. Neither driver was injured. Both drivers blamed the crash on the quality of the Goodyear tires provided to their teams.Hartford Courant: Tony Stewart And Ryan Newman Crash In Final Daytona 500 Practice (Feb. 14, 2009)

Of course, maybe the most tragic of all crashes occurred at the end of the 2001 race, where Dale Earnhardt, arguably the best driver in history, died after crashing into the wall off the final turn of the final lap of the race.

• "One second I’m in the clear. Next thing, bam, I’m sliding across the checkered line on my roof."—Clint Bowyer, on 2007 Daytona 500 crashPopular Mechanics: Anatomy of a NASCAR Crash (March 2008)

"Undoubtedly this is one of the toughest announcements I've personally had to make...After the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500 we've lost Dale Earnhardt."—MIke Helton, Nascar presidentNASCAR.com: Earnhardt Dies Following Daytona 500 Accident (February 21, 2001) | Jeffrey David Kirby | Lynn Marie Nabozny | Indy 500 Crashes