1989 Miller High Life 400

Race details
Race 14 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 Miller High Life 400 program cover, featuring Bobby Hillin Jr. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Date	June 25, 1989
Official name	21st Annual Miller High Life 400
Location	Brooklyn, Michigan, Michigan International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2 mi (3.2 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Average speed	139.023 miles per hour (223.736 km/h)
Attendance	85,000
Pole position
Driver	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	41.207
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Laps	131
Winner
No. 9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Television in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, Chris Economaki
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 Miller High Life 400 was the 14th stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 21st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 25, 1989, before an audience of 85,000 in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. On the final restart with 11 laps left in the race, Melling Racing driver Bill Elliott would manage to fend off the field and secure his 30th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} To fill out the top three, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports driver Darrell Waltrip would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The race was held at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is known as a "sister track" to Texas World Speedway as MIS's oval design was a direct basis of TWS, with moderate modifications to the banking in the corners, and was used as the basis of Auto Club Speedway. The track is owned by International Speedway Corporation. Michigan International Speedway is recognized as one of motorsports' premier facilities because of its wide racing surface and high banking (by open-wheel standards; the 18-degree banking is modest by stock car standards).

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, June 23, at 11:30 AM 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, June 23, at 2:00 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, ^{[6] [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.

Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 41.207 and an average speed of 174.728 miles per hour (281.197 km/h) in the first round. ^[8]

Lee Raymond was the only driver that failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 2,057 2 Rusty Wallace 1,935 (-122) 3 Darrell Waltrip 1,908 (-149) 4 Mark Martin 1,858 (–199) 3 5 Bill Elliott 1,803 (–254) 6 Sterling Marlin 1,794 (–263) 2 7 Geoff Bodine 1,777 (–280) 1 8 Ken Schrader 1,760 (–297) 1 9 Ricky Rudd 1,749 (–308) 10 Terry Labonte 1,700 (–357) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References