1979 Daytona 500 picked as NASCAR’s most memorable race

Take a ride through Daytona International Speedway’s main tunnel and photos of some of the most celebrated events in track history line the walls. It shows Cale Yarborough, helmet in hand, ready to unload on Bobby Allison and ignite a muddy, bloody slugfest in the 1979 Daytona 500 that turned the highly anticipated first live flag-to-flag broadcast of a race into a spectacle that stamped NASCAR on the national sports map. The seminal moment legitimized the Daytona 500 in a flash — more like in a punch — and suddenly even traditional stick-and-ball fans were buzzing over NASCAR and the brawl that changed it all.