1994 AC Delco 500
Race details | |||||
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Race 29 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||||
Date | October 23, 1994 | ||||
Official name | 30th Annual AC Delco 500 | ||||
Location |
North Carolina Motor Speedway | ||||
Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.636 km) | ||||
Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km) | ||||
Scheduled Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km) | ||||
Average speed | 126.408 miles per hour (203.434 km/h) | ||||
Attendance | 55,000 | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Rudd Performance Motorsports | ||||
Time | 23.305 | ||||
Most laps led | |||||
Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |||
Laps | 108 | ||||
Winner | |||||
No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt |
Network | TNN | ||
Announcers | Mike Joy, Buddy Baker | ||||
Radio in the United States | |||||
Radio | Motor Racing Network |
The 1994 AC Delco 500 was the 29th
With the victory, Earnhardt would manage to mathematically clinch and win a record-tying seventh NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship, which at the time was an achievement only achieved by Richard Petty. Earnhardt had only needed to gain 50 points on second-place driver in the driver's standings, Rusty Wallace. With Earnhardt's win and an early engine issue from Wallace, Earnhardt had managed to gain 127 points on Wallace, thus clinching the championship.[3] The feat would not be matched until 2016, when Jimmie Johnson managed to win his seventh championship at the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400.
Background
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Thursday, October 20, at 3:00 PM EST. However, after 35 drivers had taken times for qualifying, first-round qualifying was rained out and postponed until Friday, October 21, at 2:00 PM EST.[4] As a result of the rain delay, qualifying was decided to be combined into only one round. For this specific race, positions 1-40 would be decided on time,[5] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Ricky Rudd, driving for his own Rudd Performance Motorsports team, would win the pole, setting a time of 23.305 and an average speed of 157.099 miles per hour (252.826 km/h) in the first round.[6]
Three drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 492 | 108 | running | 185 | $60,600 |
2 | 8 | 1 | Rick Mast | Precision Products Racing | Ford | 492 | 58 | running | 175 | $45,425 |
3 | 6 | 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 492 | 34 | running | 170 | $32,100 |
4 | 1 | 10 | Ricky Rudd | Rudd Performance Motorsports | Ford | 492 | 2 | running | 165 | $28,076 |
5 | 2 | 5 | Terry Labonte | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 492 | 80 | running | 160 | $28,750 |
6 | 18 | 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 492 | 2 | running | 155 | $20,650 |
7 | 10 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing
|
Ford | 492 | 0 | running | 146 | $23,850 |
8 | 21 | 32 | Dick Trickle | Active Motorsports | Chevrolet | 492 | 1 | running | 147 | $15,625 |
9 | 7 | 31 | Ward Burton (R) | A.G. Dillard Motorsports | Chevrolet | 491 | 3 | running | 143 | $12,450 |
10 | 41 | 15 | Lake Speed | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 491 | 0 | running | 134 | $25,650 |
11 | 30 | 8 | Jeff Burton (R) | Stavola Brothers Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 130 | $18,450 |
12 | 27 | 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet | 489 | 0 | running | 127 | $21,850 |
13 | 26 | 16 | Ted Musgrave | Roush Racing
|
Ford | 488 | 0 | running | 124 | $17,450 |
14 | 37 | 4 | Sterling Marlin | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 488 | 5 | running | 126 | $20,050 |
15 | 23 | 28 | Kenny Wallace | Robert Yates Racing
|
Ford | 488 | 0 | running | 118 | $20,225 |
16 | 31 | 90 | Mike Wallace (R) | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 488 | 0 | running | 115 | $12,750 |
17 | 13 | 41 | Joe Nemechek (R) | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 484 | 0 | running | 112 | $12,450 |
18 | 5 | 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Ford | 484 | 0 | running | 109 | $20,150 |
19 | 39 | 98 | Jeremy Mayfield (R) | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Ford | 483 | 0 | running | 106 | $11,750 |
20 | 38 | 55 | Butch Miller | RaDiUs Motorsports
|
Ford | 483 | 0 | running | 103 | $9,450 |
21 | 28 | 75 | Todd Bodine | Butch Mock Motorsports
|
Ford | 481 | 0 | running | 100 | $11,100 |
22 | 40 | 61 | Rick Carelli | Chesrown Racing | Chevrolet | 475 | 0 | running | 97 | $8,400 |
23 | 22 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip Motorsports | Chevrolet | 474 | 0 | crash | 94 | $16,900 |
24 | 35 | 14 | Randy MacDonald | Hagan Racing
|
Chevrolet | 466 | 0 | running | 91 | $8,200 |
25 | 36 | 43 | John Andretti (R) | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 466 | 0 | running | 88 | $10,500 |
26 | 33 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 460 | 0 | running | 85 | $14,300 |
27 | 34 | 23 | Hut Stricklin | Travis Carter Enterprises | Ford | 459 | 0 | running | 82 | $13,200 |
28 | 19 | 22 | Bobby Labonte | Bill Davis Racing | Pontiac | 458 | 0 | engine | 79 | $13,900 |
29 | 15 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 437 | 101 | handling | 81 | $26,300 |
30 | 16 | 29 | Steve Grissom (R) | Diamond Ridge Motorsports | Chevrolet | 430 | 0 | running | 73 | $9,600 |
31 | 9 | 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports
|
Chevrolet | 398 | 0 | crash | 70 | $13,400 |
32 | 24 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 381 | 40 | running | 72 | $13,300 |
33 | 42 | 40 | Bobby Hamilton | SABCO Racing
|
Pontiac | 341 | 0 | handling | 64 | $11,200 |
34 | 12 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 334 | 0 | handling | 61 | $7,100 |
35 | 14 | 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South
|
Ford | 300 | 0 | engine | 58 | $19,200 |
36 | 29 | 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing
|
Pontiac | 233 | 0 | crash | 55 | $20,575 |
37 | 4 | 12 | Derrike Cope | Bobby Allison Motorsports
|
Ford | 230 | 0 | engine | 52 | $10,950 |
38 | 32 | 27 | Jimmy Spencer
|
Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 202 | 0 | crash | 49 | $6,925 |
39 | 11 | 77 | Greg Sacks | U.S. Motorsports Inc. | Ford | 112 | 0 | crash | 46 | $6,925 |
40 | 3 | 7 | Geoff Bodine | Geoff Bodine Racing | Ford | 95 | 58 | engine | 48 | $12,500 |
41 | 25 | 47 | Billy Standridge (R) | Johnson Standridge Racing | Ford | 39 | 0 | crash | 40 | $6,950 |
42 | 17 | 19 | Loy Allen Jr. (R) | TriStar Motorsports | Ford | 25 | 0 | crash | 37 | $6,900 |
Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
43 | 02 | Brad Noffsinger | Taylor Racing | Ford | ||||||
44 | 52 | Brad Teague | Jimmy Means Racing | Ford | ||||||
45 | 84 | Norm Benning | Norm Benning Racing | Ford | ||||||
Official race results |
Standings after the race
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