1992 Budweiser at The Glen

Race details
Race 18 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 Budweiser at The Glen program cover, featuring Bill Elliott.
Date	August 9, 1992
Official name	7th Annual Budweiser at The Glen
Location	Watkins Glen, New York, Watkins Glen International
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.45 mi (3.949 km)
Distance	51 laps, 125.154 mi (88.980 km)
Scheduled Distance	90 laps, 220.5 mi (354.86 km)
Average speed	84.771 miles per hour (136.426 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Time	1:15.603
Most laps led
Driver	Ernie Irvan Kyle Petty	Morgan-McClure Motorsports SABCO Racing
Laps	19
Winner
No. 42	Kyle Petty	SABCO 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 1992 Budweiser at The Glen was the 18th stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the seventh iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, August 9, 1992, in Watkins Glen, New York, at the shortened layout of Watkins Glen International, a 2.45-mile (3.94 km) permanent road course layout. The race was shortened from the scheduled 90 laps to 51 laps due to rain. With the help of a fast final pit stop, SABCO Racing driver Kyle Petty would manage to lead at the halfway point at lap 45 when the caution flag for rain would come out the next lap. When the race was eventually stopped on lap 51, the race had already hit the halfway point, with NASCAR officials deciding to call the race official, handing Petty the victory. The victory was Petty's fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Wood Brothers Racing driver Morgan Shepherd and Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan would finish second and third, respectively.

With a poor finish from Davey Allison's relief driver, Dorsey Schroeder, driver's championship contender Bill Elliott would manage to retake the points lead, leading Allison by 17 points.^[3]

Background

The layout of Watkins Glen International NASCAR uses.

Watkins Glen International (nicknamed "The Glen") is an automobile race track located in Watkins Glen, New York at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980), but the site has been home to road racing of nearly every class, including the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the IndyCar Series.

Initially, public roads in the village were used for the race course. In 1956 a permanent circuit for the race was built. In 1968 the race was extended to six hours, becoming the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. The circuit's current layout has more or less been the same since 1971, although a chicane was installed at the uphill Esses in 1975 to slow cars through these corners, where there was a fatality during practice at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. The chicane was removed in 1985, but another chicane called the "Inner Loop" was installed in 1992 after J.D. McDuffie's fatal accident during the previous year's NASCAR Winston Cup event.

The circuit is known as the Mecca of North American road racing and is a very popular venue among fans and drivers. The facility is currently owned by International Speedway Corporation.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, August 7, at 3:00 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, August 8, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-38 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.

Dale Earnhardt, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 1:15.603 and an average speed of 116.662 miles per hour (187.749 km/h) in the first round.^[6]

Tom Rotsell was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Bill Elliott 2,621 1 2 Davey Allison 2,604 (-17) 3 Alan Kulwicki 2,527 (-94) 4 Harry Gant 2,481 (–140) 5 Mark Martin 2,368 (–253) 6 Ricky Rudd 2,326 (–295) 7 Terry Labonte 2,307 (–314) 8 Dale Earnhardt 2,285 (–336) 2 9 Kyle Petty 2,281 (–340) 1 10 Morgan Shepherd 2,281 (–340) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References