1989 Champion Spark Plug 400

Race details
Race 19 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 Champion Spark Plug 400 program cover.
Date	August 20, 1989
Official name	20th Annual Champion Spark Plug 400
Location	Brooklyn, Michigan, Michigan International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2 mi (3.2 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Average speed	157.704 miles per hour (253.800 km/h)
Attendance	80,000
Pole position
Driver	Geoff Bodine	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	40.968
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Laps	162
Winner
No. 27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 Champion Spark Plug 400 was the 19th stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 20th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, August 20, 1989, before an audience of 80,000 in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. At race's end, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace would manage to dominate a majority of the race, leading 162 laps en route to his 15th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fifth victory of the season.^[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, RahMoc Enterprises driver Morgan Shepherd and Jackson Bros. Motorsports driver Harry Gant would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Michigan International Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

The race was held at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is known as a "sister track" to Texas World Speedway as MIS's oval design was a direct basis of TWS, with moderate modifications to the banking in the corners, and was used as the basis of Auto Club Speedway. The track is owned by International Speedway Corporation. Michigan International Speedway is recognized as one of motorsports' premier facilities because of its wide racing surface and high banking (by open-wheel standards; the 18-degree banking is modest by stock car standards).

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, August 19, at 11:30 AM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, August 19, at 2:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 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 were given.

Geoff Bodine, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 40.968 and an average speed of 175.962 miles per hour (283.183 km/h) in the first round.^[6][7]

Two drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 2,726 2 2 Rusty Wallace 2,644 (-82) 1 3 Mark Martin 2,631 (-95) 1 4 Darrell Waltrip 2,526 (–200) 1 5 Davey Allison 2,465 (–261) 1 6 Bill Elliott 2,440 (–286) 1 7 Ken Schrader 2,379 (–347) 1 8 Terry Labonte 2,333 (–393) 1 9 Geoff Bodine 2,314 (–412) 1 10 Ricky Rudd 2,292 (–434) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References