The1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 38th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 15th modern-era Cup series season. The season began on February 16 and ended November 16.Dale Earnhardt ofRCR Enterprises won his second championship this year.
In what would be the first of a string of Daytona 500 heartbreakers forDale Earnhardt; Earnhardt ran out of fuel with three laps to go and coasted into pit road for gas, only to blow his engine when restarting it; resulting in a 14th place finish.
This wasKyle Petty's first career Winston Cup Series victory.
The race is widely considered one of the most controversial finishes in NASCAR history.Darrell Waltrip andDale Earnhardt battled for the better part of the race. In the final five laps, Waltrip rode on the back bumper of Earnhardt, bumping and rubbing the whole way. With three laps to go, Waltrip finally got a nose underneath Earnhardt exiting turn two. But Waltrip did not fully clear Earnhardt down the backstretch. Going into turn 3, Earnhardt spun Waltrip out, but lost control himself and both cars crashed hard into outside guardrail. The wreck collected Joe Ruttman (3rd place) and Geoff Bodine (4th place), allowing 5th place Kyle Petty to slip by and take his first-career Cup victory in improbable fashion. The incident drew a fine for Earnhardt, raised tempers throughout the garage area, and earned Earnhardt the "Ironhead" nickname. The incident was dramatized in the movie 3.
With his victory, Kyle Petty became NASCAR's first third generation winner.
In the 1990 filmDays of Thunder, a clip of the incident between Earnhardt and Waltrip appears on the TV set thatCole Trickle andHarry Hogge are watching in the scene where they are riding in a transporter.
Terry Labonte, thinking his engine had failed, pulled his #44Piedmont Airlines Oldsmobile behind the wall. However, a crew member noticed some metal interfering with the ignition, and once the obstruction was cleared, the engine refired, allowing Labonte to return to the race and finish in 15th place.
Early in the race, Earnhardt could be seen steering his car while simultaneously wiping dirt off his windshield.
This race marked the 1st careerWinston Cup start forWilly T. Ribbs, best known for being the 1stAfrican-American to start theIndianapolis 500 in 1991. Ribbs struggled during the race, spinning out twice on his way to a 22nd-place finish, 13 laps down.
The No. 6 ofTrevor Boys smacked the wall in Turn 3 on lap 89 and came to a stop at the entrance of pit road, blocking it. Instead of throwing a caution, thetow truck was sent out to tow the D. K. Ulrich-owned car to his pit stall/hauler (until the September 1988 event at the track, race team haulers were literally parked right behind their chosen pit stall) while the rest of the cars continued around the track at full speed.
This race included two caution periods around halfway due to rain. However, the race was not red-flagged either time the caution was thrown for the rain showers.
This race is most notable for a pre-race incident involving a drunken fan who stole the pace car before the race started and drove a lap around the track. Local Sheriff's Deputies and track workers quickly set up a road block at the exit of Turn 4. When the fan stopped thePontiac Firebird, the sheriffs opened the door, pulled the driver out and detained him.
The whole field qualified over 200 miles per hour with several upcoming stars failing to qualify.
Bill Elliott led a race-high 116 laps. Elliott had the dominant car all day, but finished 24th after his engine blew while leading with 14 laps remaining.
This was the only time the All-Star Race was held at Atlanta, and featured a 200-kilometer (83 lap) format, with a mandatory green flag pit stop. Because there were only nine race winners in 1985, the highest placed non-winner from the 1985 point standings (Geoff Bodine) was added to the field to make it an even ten cars.
Bill Elliott led 82 of the 83 en route to a dominating victory. Elliott collected the $200,000 first place prize, plus $40,000 in additional cash bonuses for leading laps 20, 30, 50, and 60.
A consolation race for non-winners from 1985, the Atlanta Invitational (now known as the All-Star Open), was added to the weekend's events.Benny Parsons won the 100-lap/152.2 mile race, his last NASCAR-sanctioned victory. The win gave Parsons a free spot in thenext year's All-Star Race. In subsequent years, the winner of the All-Star Open advances to the All-Star Race, followed by a few years where the number of cars advancing to the All-Star Race were designed to ensure the field reaches 20 cars. Since 2023, the top two drivers in the All-Star Open and a fan vote winner (added in 2004) advance to the feature.
A lackluster crowd of only 18,500 attended the event, and only 23 cars entered (10 in the All-Star Race, 13 in the Open). However, the all-star format of having a non-winners' "last chance" race followed by a main event would become a permanent fixture of all-star weekend.
Originally, R. J. Reynolds intended the race to rotate to different tracks each year. This was the second and last year of that format. Rather that rotate each year, for 1987 it was moved back to Charlotte where it remained through 2019. The All-Star Race moved to Bristol in 2020 because of NASCAR's compacted schedule and North Carolina's ban on spectator events at the time, it was then held in Fort Worth, Texas f9r both 2021 and 2022. It was then moved to North Wilkesboro for 2023 through 2025. The 2026 edition is scheduled to be moved yet again toDover Motor Speedway.
Richard Petty was not allowed to bring out a backup car after crashing his #43Pontiac in practice. As a result,Petty Enterprises bought thelime green-and-white #6Chevrolet of D.K. Ulrich, and raced that car. Petty finished 38th as a result of a blown engine after completing 123 laps.
This race insured there would be noWinston Million winner in 1986. The bonus for winning 2 out of 4 races was still alive for the Southern 500 later in the season.
After this race,Dale Earnhardt would not take the checkered flag first again until returning to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Oakwood Homes 500 on October 5.
This was the 1st careerWinston Cup start forChad Little, who was then a regular in theWinston West series. Little finished 13th, 3 laps down in the race after starting 25th.
This was the final time thatDarrell Waltrip wins from the pole.
The win was Richmond's first since April 1984, coming after two second-place finishes in the two preceding races, and the first forHarry Hyde since November 1984.
This race celebratedRichard Petty's 1,000th career start in theWinston Cup Series, dating back to 1958.[5] Since the race also fell onFather's Day, Petty's daughters Rebecca, Sharron, and Lisa gave the starting command. Petty would finish 13th after falling a lap down early on; a caution came out while he was pitting on lap 45.
Rick Baldwin, who was scheduled for the ARCA event that weekend, substituted forBuddy Arrington, who had been ruled out from a concussion in the Lap 196 crash the previous week at Pocono. During the first round qualifying session, Baldwin, who drove Arrington's No. 67Ford Thunderbird that was a formerMelling Racing car, spun in Turn 1, with the car hitting the wall flush with the driver's side, knocking him unconscious into a coma from the massive head injuries. In 1992, driversKen Schrader andDarrell Waltrip, along with ownersElmo Langley andRichard Childress, testified in court after Baldwin's wife Deborah sued NASCAR over the incident. The drivers testified Baldwin's car was too fast with a chassis setup that was not appropriate for him. Childress testified that Baldwin made chassis adjustments, while Langley (by then a NASCAR official) cautioned Baldwin about the chassis alterations. The jury ruled in NASCAR's favour. The seat mount broke, and Baldwin's head hit the wall (then a common issue with seat safety, which would become at the forefront of later changes), from which he would succumb eleven years later. NASCAR made changes to seat mounting for the 1990 season.
Dale Earnhardt blew his engine with 7 laps remaining and spun head-on into the wall after the blown engine dumped oil on his back tires. Attempting to avoid the crash, leaderBuddy Baker clippedConnie Saylor's car; damaging Baker's car and providing an opening for Richmond.
This race was shortened to 150 laps (375 miles) due to a combination of rain, fog and darkness.
On lap 121,Tim Richmond, racing withGeoff Bodine andNeil Bonnett, spun out and was hit byRichard Petty exiting Turn 2. His car had both front tires flattened and was in a position so that he could not drive it forwards. Richmond backed the car out, then drove it in reverse nearly 1 mile to his pit. At that point, his crew fixed the car so that he could go forward, but only in high gear (4th). He lost a lap but raced with the leaders untilDale Earnhardt crashed around Lap 140; he beat the leaders to the flag and thus got his lap back. With a long rain delay at the start of the race, a NASCAR rule used until July 2024 stated they would race until NASCAR gave the ten laps remaining indicator from the starter. On Lap 141, officials gave the ten laps remaining indicator because of darkness. Richmond pitted for new tires and then charged through the field after the restart; he passed Bodine on the final lap, but Bodine dove back alongside and the two raced through Turn Three; Bodine got loose andRicky Rudd stormed three abreast; Richmond won in a photo finish. As the 1990 movieDays of Thunder was based on Richmond, this incident was fictionalised in the said movie.
Davey Allison drove the race in place ofNeil Bonnett, who was injured in a multi-car wreck at Pocono the previous week; Bonnett worked withCBS Sports as a second color analyst on the telecast of the race.
Bobby Allison was eliminated while racing Richmond for third; he was hooked bySterling Marlin and spun into traffic in Turn One; Richmond passed Wallace subbing for Rudd for second while Marlin finished fourth.
Ribbs withdrew after four engine failures during practice sessions.
This was the first time a NASCAR race had been run at the track since1965. However, the 1971 Six Hours configuration was new, as the circuit had moved the pits in the 1971 reconstruction.
This was Richmond's 4th victory of the season.
Neil Bonnett returns after sitting out the previous race due to broken ribs. Junior Johnson had Doug Heveron on standby to take over if Bonnett could not run the full race. He would run the full race, running as high as 2nd but eventually settling for 5th.
Rusty Wallace had to earn his finishing spot the hard way. After taking the lead for three laps from laps 17 to 19, Wallace was black-flagged by NASCAR for leaking oil onto the track. Rejoining the field at the tail-end, Wallace would cut a tire after making contact with the wall, then spun out in turn 5 to bring out a full course caution flag. Despite the setbacks, Wallace would rally to finish 6th.
Al Unser, Sr. made his first NASCAR start since 1969, driving the #88 Pontiac in place ofBuddy Baker. Baker, the car co-owner and regular driver, was the crew chief.
With this win, Bill Elliott became the 1st driver in NASCAR history to win 4 straight races at one Superspeedway.
This wasDavid Pearson's lastWinston Cup start. He ran as high as 3rd place at one point in the race.
Buddy Arrington returned to the track where rookie Rick Baldwin, driving Arrington's #67, had suffered injuries that would eventually prove to be fatal in a crash during qualifying for the June event. Arrington would finish 6 laps down in 19th.
This was the final race for owner of the #35 car Bill Terry. His driver Alan Kulwicki would buy out the team before the next race and be the sports newest owner/driver
Geoff Bodine was leading with 14 laps left whenBill Elliott passed him coming off of turn 2 on lap 354. Bodine had slowed down due to running out of fuel and was forced to pit for a splash-and-go. Bodine's engine stalled and the car had to be pushed out, dropping him to the tail end of the lead lap. Elliott stretched his lead to a huge margin, but with 7 laps left, he clipped the outside wall in turn 1.Tim Richmond, who had led a race-high 168 laps, caught Elliott going down the front straightaway and passed him for the lead, winning the race by 2 seconds. It was Richmond's 5th win of the season.
This race was plagued by rain, to the point of the race running on a damp surface and the drivers having to race as ifDarlington Raceway was a dirt track.
Before this race, rookieAlan Kulwicki bought out his owner Bill Terry and became the owner/driver of the #35 car. He would finish in 12th place, 7 laps down in his first owner/driver outing.
This race insured no one would win the Winston bonus for winning 2 out of 4 crown jewel races.
The race was red-flagged for 2 hours and 15 minutes after lap 14 due to a rain shower. Because of the delay,ESPN broke away from its TV coverage of the race on Lap 192 (about 4:30 pm ET) to broadcast the final round of thePGA Tour'sSt. Jude Classic, as originally scheduled. ESPN provided updates on the race during golf coverage and aired the finish live.
Tim Richmond had to survive a late race restart because on lap 395 the caution flag flew whenMichael Waltrip's entire driveshaft fell out of the car. The race went back under the green flag with 2 laps remaining. Richmond held on by 3 car lengths.
This was the last Cup Series race to feature less than a 30 car field.
Geoff Bodine had the dominant car leading the most laps (218) but faded late, losing the lead at lap 390 to Darrell Waltrip, he would pull away to a 1.21 second lead for his final victory of 1986.
Earnhardt had to work hard for this victory as he at one point in the race lost 2 laps due to separate tire issues.
The pre-race ceremonies saw several members of marching bands pass out from heat exhaustion due to the warmer than normal for late October temperatures, which soared to around the upper 80s.
Dale Earnhardt's official margin of victory was 1 lap and an additional 3 seconds.
By virtue of Darrell Waltrip blowing an engine to finish 39th and Dale Earnhardt winning the race while leading the most laps, Earnhardt clinched his 2ndWinston Cup Championship.
Going into the race,Dale Earnhardt had already clinched the Winston Cup championship. The attention shifted to the battle for second in the championship. PolesitterTim Richmond needed to finish five positions higher thanDarrell Waltrip to move into second. Richmond went on to win the race. However, Waltrip managed 4th place, which secured himself second in the championship, by 6 points over Richmond.
This wasAl Unser's final NASCAR start. He would devote the rest of his career toCART.
This marked the final time where Riverside would close the Cup season. Beginning in 1987 and lasting until 2000, the season finale would be atAtlanta Motor Speedway.
Alan Kulwicki, a future hall of famer (seeClass of 2019 hall of fame) driving for a team that had only one car (which he would buy out before the Southern 500 and become an owner/driver), won theRookie of the Year award in 1986 despite skipping 6 races (3 of those he failed to qualify for, rounds 1, 2, and 9), finishing in the top-ten four times. Of the rest of the candidates, only runner-upMichael Waltrip ran a complete schedule.
