1992 TranSouth 500

Race details
Race 5 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 TranSouth 500 program cover, featuring Ricky Rudd.
Date	March 29, 1992
Official name	36th Annual TranSouth 500
Location	Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.198 km)
Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km)
Scheduled Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km)
Average speed	139.364 miles per hour (224.285 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Sterling Marlin	Junior Johnson & Associates
Time	30.157
Most laps led
Driver	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing
Laps	160
Winner
No. 11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
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 TranSouth 500 was the fifth stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 8, 1992, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 367 laps to complete. In the final stages of the race, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would make a late-race charge for the lead, passing for the lead with 45 to go to take his 38th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fourth victory of the season, and his fourth consecutive victory.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Dale Jarrett and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Darlington Raceway, the venue where the race was held.

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 27, 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, March 28, at 11:30 AM 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,^[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.

Sterling Marlin, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.157 and an average speed of 163.067 miles per hour (262.431 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Davey Allison 865 2 Bill Elliott 817 (-48) 3 Harry Gant 812 (-53) 4 Terry Labonte 715 (–150) 5 Morgan Shepherd 696 (–169) 1 6 Geoff Bodine 693 (–172) 1 7 Alan Kulwicki 665 (–200) 8 Dale Earnhardt 658 (–207) 1 9 Dick Trickle 608 (–257) 7 10 Mark Martin 588 (–277) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References