1992 GM Goodwrench 500

Race details
Race 2 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 GM Goodwrench 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	March 1, 1992
Official name	27th Annual GM Goodwrench 500
Location	Rockingham, North Carolina, North Carolina Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.637 km)
Distance	492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km)
Average speed	126.125 miles per hour (202.979 km/h)
Attendance	43,600
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing
Time	24.420
Most laps led
Driver	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	260
Winner
No. 11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network	TNN
Announcers	Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1992 GM Goodwrench 500 was the second stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 27th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 1, 1992, before an audience of 43,600 in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Speedway, a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 492 laps to complete. At race's end, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 35th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. ^{[1] [2]} To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison and Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School. ^[3]

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, February 28, at 2:30 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, February 29, 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, ^[4] 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.

Kyle Petty, driving for SABCO Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.420 and an average speed of 149.926 miles per hour (241.283 km/h) in the first round. ^[5]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Davey Allison 360 2 Morgan Shepherd 304 (-56) 9 3 Harry Gant 292 (-68) 3 4 Terry Labonte 292 (–68) 1 5 Geoff Bodine 286 (–74) 11 6 Michael Waltrip 274 (–86) 20 7 Bill Elliott 272 (–88) 8 Ted Musgrave 254 (–106) 4 9 Rick Mast 251 (–109) 4 10 Kyle Petty 231 (–129) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References