1992 Hanes 500

Race details
Race 8 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 Hanes 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt and his pit crew.
Date	April 26, 1992
Official name	43rd Annual Hanes 500
Location	Martinsville, Virginia, Martinsville Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Average speed	78.086 miles per hour (125.667 km/h)
Attendance	48,300
Pole position
Driver	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
Time	20.371
Most laps led
Driver	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing
Laps	219
Winner
No. 6	Mark Martin	Roush 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 Hanes 500 was the eighth stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 43rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 26, 1992, before an audience of 48,300 in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In a race marred with rear axle failures, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would manage to keep his car intact and hold off the field on the final restart with four to go to take his sixth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Sterling Marlin and owner-driver Darrell Waltrip would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

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

Martinsville Speedway is an NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 24, 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, April 25, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-30 would be decided on time,^[3] 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; which was usually two. 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.

Darrell Waltrip, driving for his own Darrell Waltrip Motorsports team, would win the pole, setting a time of 20.371 and an average speed of 92.956 miles per hour (149.598 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Two drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Davey Allison 1,214 2 Harry Gant 1,198 (-16) 1 3 Terry Labonte 1,173 (-41) 1 4 Bill Elliott 1,157 (–57) 5 Alan Kulwicki 1,131 (–83) 1 6 Morgan Shepherd 1,119 (–95) 1 7 Dale Earnhardt 1,070 (–144) 2 8 Geoff Bodine 1,052 (–162) 9 Dick Trickle 1,005 (–209) 2 10 Mark Martin 1,001 (–213) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References