1991 Winston 500

Race details
Race 9 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1991 Winston 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	May 6, 1991
Official name	22nd Annual Winston 500
Location	Lincoln, Alabama, Talladega Superspeedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.66 mi (4.28 km)
Distance	188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Scheduled Distance	188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Average speed	165.62 miles per hour (266.54 km/h)
Attendance	105,000
Pole position
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Time	49.061
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	112
Winner
No. 33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1991 Winston 500 was the ninth stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 22nd iteration of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, May 5, 1991, but was delayed to Monday, May 6, due to rain.^[1] The race was held before an audience of 105,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete. Running on a fuel strategy, Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant would manage to drive the last 56 laps of the race on one tank of fuel to take his 12th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[2][3]

On lap 72 of the race, a 20-car crash would occur when Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan's car hit both Kyle Petty and Mark Martin's cars, causing a chain reaction crash in the field. In the crash, Kyle Petty would suffer a broken left femur, causing Petty to miss the next several races due to his injury.^[4] Irvan would take most of the blame for causing the crash by drivers, with many of the drivers involved in the crash claiming that Irvan had been "out of control" for the entire race leading up to that point.^[5][6]

Background

The layout of Talladega Superspeedway, the venue where the race was held.

Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, a 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) tri-oval.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, May 2, at 4:30 PM 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, May 3, at 4:30 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,^[7] 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. 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.

Ernie Irvan, driving for Morgan–McClure Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.061 and an average speed of 195.186 miles per hour (314.121 km/h) in the first round.^[8]

Five drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Dale Earnhardt 1,366 1 2 Ricky Rudd 1,362 (-4) 1 3 Darrell Waltrip 1,281 (-85) 2 4 Michael Waltrip 1,188 (–178) 5 5 Harry Gant 1,185 (–181) 3 6 Ernie Irvan 1,183 (–183) 2 7 Davey Allison 1,157 (–209) 1 8 Ken Schrader 1,156 (–210) 1 9 Morgan Shepherd 1,132 (–234) 3 10 Mark Martin 1,118 (–248) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References