1993 GM Goodwrench 500

Race details
Race 2 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1993 GM Goodwrench 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	February 28, 1993
Official name	28th 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	124.486 miles per hour (200.341 km/h)
Attendance	37,900
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Time	24.482
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South
Laps	203
Winner
No. 2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South
Television in the United States
Network	TNN
Announcers	Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1993 GM Goodwrench 500 was the second stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 29th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 28, 1993, 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, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 22nd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. ^{[1] [2]} To fill out the top three, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt and Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

North Carolina 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 originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Friday, February 26, at 2:30 PM EST. However, due to rain, the first round was cancelled, and qualifying was condensed into one round, ^[4] which was held on Saturday, February 27, at 11:15 AM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-38 would be decided on time, ^[5] 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.

Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.482 and an average speed of 149.547 miles per hour (240.673 km/h) in the first round. ^[6]

Stanley Smith was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Dale Earnhardt 355 1 2 Dale Jarrett 330 (-25) 3 Geoff Bodine 313 (-42) 2 4 Mark Martin 310 (–45) 1 5 Hut Stricklin 289 (–66) 9 6 Ted Musgrave 269 (–86) 4 7 Terry Labonte 264 (–91) 24 8 Rusty Wallace 252 (–103) 17 9 Alan Kulwicki 250 (–105) 12 10 Phil Parsons 239 (–116) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References