| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 23 of 29 in the1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1989 Peak Performance 500 program cover, featuringKyle Petty. | |||
| Date | September 17, 1989 | ||
| Official name | 19th Annual Peak Performance 500 | ||
| Location | Dover, Delaware,Dover Downs International Speedway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1 miles (1.6 km) | ||
| Distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Average speed | 122.909 miles per hour (197.803 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 64,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Robert Yates Racing | ||
| Time | 24.629 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 375 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins,Benny Parsons,Ned Jarrett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The1989 Peak Performance 500 was the 23rdstock car race of the1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 19th iteration of theevent. The race was held on Sunday, September 17, 1989, before an audience of 64,000 inDover, Delaware atDover Downs International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end,Richard Childress Racing driverDale Earnhardt would manage to fend offRoush Racing driverMark Martin in the final laps of the race, completing a dominant performance of the race. The victory was Earnhardt's 38th careerNASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fourth victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Mark Martin andHendrick Motorsports driverKen Schrader would finish second and third, respectively.
Dover Downs International Speedway is an ovalrace track inDover, Delaware, United States that has held at least twoNASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hostedUSAC and theNTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concreteoval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated byDover Motorsports.
The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway afterDover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 14, at 3:00 PMEST. 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, September 15, at 11:30 AMEST. 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,[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.
Davey Allison, driving forRobert Yates Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.629 and an average speed of 146.169 miles per hour (235.236 km/h) in the first round.[6][7]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
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| Previous race: 1989 Miller High Life 400 (Richmond) | NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1989 season | Next race: 1989 Goody's 500 |
