| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 29 in the1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1992 Daytona 500 program cover, featuringErnie Irvan. | |||
| Date | February 16, 1992 (1992-02-16) | ||
| Official name | 34th Annual Daytona 500 By STP | ||
| Location | Daytona Beach, Florida,Daytona International Speedway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.5 miles (4.0 km) | ||
| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Average speed | 160.256 miles per hour (257.907 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 140,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||
| Time | 46.823 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Laps | 127 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier,Neil Bonnett,Ned Jarrett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The1992 Daytona 500 was the firststock car race of the1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 34th iteration of theevent. The race was held on Sunday, February 16, 1992, before an audience of 140,000 inDaytona Beach, Florida atDaytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete.
Leading for over half of the race,Robert Yates Racing'sDavey Allison managed to avoid a major wreck in the first half of the race that took out several contenders. Afterwards, Allison managed to dominate the latter stages of the race, leading the final 98 laps en route to his 14th careerNASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and his only career Daytona 500 victory.[1][2] To fill out the top three,Wood Brothers Racing'sMorgan Shepherd andBud Moore Engineering'sGeoff Bodine finished second and third, respectively.
Daytona International Speedway is one of threesuperspeedways to holdNASCAR races, the other two beingIndianapolis Motor Speedway andTalladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31degrees, while thefront stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.
Qualifying was set by the1992 Gatorade Twin 125 Qualifiers. The top two positions were set by qualifying speeds held for the Twin 125 Qualifiers held on Sunday, February 9, with the top two qualifiers in the session earning the top two positions for the Daytona 500. The rest of the starting was set in the Twin 125 Qualifiers, held on Thursday, February 14, during two races. The top 14 finishers in the first race, excluding the pole position winner, set the inside row from rows two to 15, and the top 14 finishers in the second race, excluding the outside pole position winner, set the outside row from rows two to 15. The remaining non-qualifiers set positions 31-40 based on qualifying speeds from the first qualifying session held on Sunday. If needed, up to two extra provisionals were given to teams high enough in the previous season's owner's standings that did not qualify for the race by either qualifying speed or from the Twin 125 Qualifiers.
Sterling Marlin, driving forJunior Johnson & Associates, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 46.823 and an average speed of 192.213 miles per hour (309.337 km/h) in Sunday's session.[3]
15 drivers failed to qualify.
The initial laps of the race were free of incidents, although on lap 41Geoff Bodine andMorgan Shepherd touched exiting Turn 4 with no further incident.Brett Bodine andRicky Rudd fell out in the first half of the race with separate engine failures, as theJunior Johnson cars ofSterling Marlin andBill Elliott established themselves as the cars to beat.Davey Allison's crew gambled with a two-tire change but caught a lucky break whenGeoff Bodine was penalized for speeding, and gained adrafting partner.
Rain fell after 80 laps, and when the race restartedErnie Irvan went for the lead on lap 92. He came up in front ofSterling Marlin, but had not cleared him, and also moved him up the track into histeammateBill Elliott who was on the outside. Theensuing mayhem collected polesitterSterling Marlin,Ernie Irvan,Bill Elliott,Mark Martin,Ken Schrader andDale Earnhardt. Also,Bobby Hillin Jr.,Dale Jarrett,Alan Kulwicki,Chad Little,Richard Petty,Hut Stricklin,Rusty Wallace, andDarrell Waltrip were involved.
The wreck ended the race for Jarrett, Schrader, Marlin, Hillin, and Little, with their cars being terminally damaged.
On Lap 144Rick Wilson was planning to pit theStavola BrothersFord, butKerry Teague did not realize it and ran into him. This brought out the thirdyellow flag in the race. On Lap 166Ernie Irvan's crippled car spun to bring out the fourthcaution flag. LeadersAllison,Shepherd, andMichael Waltrip made their final stops.Waltrip fell back after the restart with an engine that was quitting. This left the twoFord Thunderbirds ofAllison andShepherd to race for the win, finishing in this order. This win made the Allisons the secondfather-son duo to win theDaytona 500, joiningLee andRichard Petty. Alan Kulwicki finished a quiet fourth which kicked off an unlikely championship run.
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| Previous race: 1991 Hardee's 500 | NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1992 season | Next race: 1992 GM Goodwrench 500 |
