The 1994 Daytona 500, the 36th running of the event, was held February 20 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Loy Allen Jr., ARCA graduate and Winston Cup rookie, driving the No. 19 for Tri-Star Motorsports, won the pole. Speedweeks 1994 was marked by tragedy when two drivers, Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr, were killed in separate practice accidents for this race. Sterling Marlin in the Morgan-McClure Motorsports No. 4 won the race, the first career win of his NASCAR career.

The yellow flag was displayed with 60 laps to go when Morgan Shepherd spun, which made for interesting fuel mileage strategy. Earnhardt, Irvan, and Mark Martin came into the pits again for extra fuel. 1990 winner Derrike Cope led the field at the restart, only to be passed by Marlin and Irvan a couple of laps later. Irvan took the lead with 43 laps to go, but on Lap 180 he suddenly got loose in Turn 4. He recovered the car, but Marlin retook the lead as Irvan fell back to 7th. With 12 laps to go, Irvan was repassed by Martin, whom he had passed a few laps before, but with eight laps to go the Ford duo tag-teamed Jeff Gordon for 3rd and 4th. The two Fords swapped positions with five laps to go, and Irvan passed Terry Labonte (who was hung up behind Jimmy Hensley) in the tri-oval with three laps to go. But Sterling Marlin's Morgan-McClure Chevrolet was untouchable, and he finally won a Winston Cup race in his 279th start after eight second-place finishes. He broke Dave Marcis' previous record for most starts before his first Cup win (227th start, at Martinsville in 1975). Martin ran out of fuel with two to go, but he managed to take the white flag to complete 199 laps.