1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400

Race details [1]
Race 15 of 30 in the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400 program cover
Date	June 20, 1976 (1976-June-20)
Official name	Cam 2 Motor Oil 400
Location	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi (3.218 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather	Temperatures of 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds of 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h)
Average speed	141.149 miles per hour (227.157 km/h)
Attendance	46,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	129
Winner
No. 43	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing
Television in the United States
Network	untelevised
Announcers	none

The 1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on June 20, 1976, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Background

Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long. ^[3] Opened in 1968, the track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the 3,600-foot-long front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees. ^[3] The back stretch, has a five degree banking and is 2,242 feet long. ^[3]

Race report

David Pearson defeated Cale Yarborough by three car lengths in front of an audience of 46,000. ^{[2] [4]} There were 17 lead changes and three cautions for 20 out of the 200 laps. ^[2] The race took two hours and fifty minutes. ^{[2] [4]} Richard Petty earned the pole position with a speed of 158.569 miles per hour (255.192 km/h), the average speed of the race was 141.148 miles per hour (227.156 km/h). ^{[2] [4] [5]} Joe Frasson finished last due to an engine problem on lap 2. ^[2] All 36 of the drivers on the racing grid were American-born males. ^[2] The field was dominated by Chevrolet vehicles as opposed to Ford and Mercury vehicles. ^{[2] [4] [5]}

Cale Yarborough dominated most of this race, with radio announcer Ken Squier saying it was one of the best runs he'd seen Cale have, but in the closing stages it was David Pearson out front and cruising to a win when a late caution came out for Coo Coo Marlin's blown engine while he was running seventh in the closing laps. Under the yellow the leaders all pitted with Yarborough regaining the lead only for Pearson to pass him on the backstretch after the restart and take the win. Overall it was still a good day for Yarborough as he capitalized on a 74-point swing in the point standings to vault back into the points lead as a result of Benny Parsons' issues. ^{[2] [4]} He would eventually become the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion.

Bobby Allison was running second very late when he was black flagged for the Penske team having put tape over parts of the grill of his Cam 2 #2 Mercury. That aerodynamic improvement was illegal at the time but later became commonplace. Allison still recovered to finish third in part due to how few cars were left on the lead lap and the late caution. ^[2]

The grand total of this race's prize purse was $105,355 ($564,111 when considering inflation). ^[5]

Qualifying

Results

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points [2]	Differential
1	Cale Yarborough	2318	0
2	Benny Parsons	2267	-51
3	Richard Petty	2201	-117
4	Bobby Allison	2161	-157
5	Lennie Pond	1964	-354
6	Dave Marcis	1905	-413
7	Richard Childress	1867	-451
8	Buddy Baker	1823	-495
9	David Pearson	1743	-575
10	Darrell Waltrip	1740	-578

References