| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 17 of 31 in the1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
 Track map of Daytona International Speedway. | |||
| Date | July 4, 1980 (1980-07-04) | ||
| Official name | Firecracker 400 | ||
| Location | Daytona Speedway,Daytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.500 miles (4.023 km) | ||
| Distance | 160 laps, 400 mi (643 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures of 88.9 °F (31.6 °C); wind speeds of 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 173.473 miles per hour (279.178 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 54,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Bobby Allison | Bud Moore Engineering | |
| Laps | 63 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 15 | Bobby Allison | Bud Moore Engineering | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC | ||
| Announcers | Keith Jackson | ||
The1980 Firecracker 400 was aNASCARWinston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 4, 1980, atDaytona International Speedway inDaytona Beach, Florida. The NASCAR Winston Cup Series was also plagued with top teams running big engines and finishing in third place to avoid inspection around the early-1980s.
One hundred and sixty laps of racing would result in a final win forMercury in the Cup Series[2] before the manufacturer left NASCAR due to rule changes reducing the wheelbase of thetires from 110 inches (9.2 ft) to 105 inches (8.8 ft).[3]
Bobby Allison was the final driver to win in a Mercury for theFord Motor Company; he beatDavid Pearson by six car lengths.[2] Pearson had a strong runner-up performance here despite leading only three laps.[2] Other notable competitors includedDale Earnhardt,Richard Petty,Richard Childress andBill Elliott.[2] Out of forty participants, eleven competitors failed to finish the race.[2]Cale Yarborough was credited for finishing last place with an overheatedengine.[2] The race took two hours, eighteen minutes, and eleven seconds to complete.[2] Phil Finney had a violent crash off turn 4 and inflicted terminal damage to his vehicle on lap 152.[2]
All drivers were born in theUnited States of America.[2] The Ford and Mercury cars of the early-1980s weren't exactly aerodynamic wonders compared to the General Motors cars.[2] Also this was the era before Ernie Elliott figured out how to make the 351 Cleveland rev in the same high ranges that the Chevys were running without breaking valve springs.[2] By the late-1980s and early-1990s, the Ford and Mercury cars could compete on a more equal basis with the General Motor cars (especially the Chevrolet cars that would go on to dominate NASCAR in the 21st century).
Safety regulations made within the 1980s and 1990s would slow down the speed of vehicles in both theFirecracker 400 and theDaytona 500. The average speed for this race was a race record 173.473 miles per hour (279.178 km/h) while the pole position speed was 194.670 miles per hour (313.291 km/h). Three cautions slowed the race for 11 laps.[2] Fifty-four thousand spectators were in attendance.[2] Out of the forty drivers in the grid, ten of them failed to finish the race due to car problems.[2] On the day after the race, Lennie Pond made a celebrity appearance at aBurger King in nearbySouth Daytona; entertaining customers for three hours in the days before celebrity appearances were mainstream in the racing community.[4]
Rick Wilson made his NASCAR debut in this event while Phil Finney and John Greenwood retired from NASCAR racing after this race.[5]
Section reference:[2]
* Driver failed to finish race
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
| Pos | Driver | Points[2] | Differential |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Dale Earnhardt | 2557 | 0 |
| 2 | Richard Petty | 2529 | -28 |
| 3 | Cale Yarborough | 2397 | -160 |
4 | Bobby Allison | 2354 | -203 |
| 5 | Benny Parsons | 2349 | -208 |
6 | Darrell Waltrip | 2319 | -238 |
| 7 | Jody Ridley | 2204 | -353 |
| 8 | Harry Gant | 2055 | -502 |
| 9 | Richard Childress | 2054 | -503 |
| 10 | Terry Labonte | 1985 | -572 |
| Preceded by | NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Firecracker 400 races 1980 | Succeeded by |