| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 23 of 31 in the1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500 program cover, featuringDale Earnhardt. | |||
| Date | September 4, 1994 (1994-09-04) | ||
| Official name | 45th Annual Mountain Dew Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway,Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.366 miles (2.198 km) | ||
| Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Average speed | 127.952 miles per hour (205.919 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 50,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Geoff Bodine Racing | ||
| Time | 29.447 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 127 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Jerry Punch,Ned Jarrett,Benny Parsons | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500 was the 23rdstock car race of the1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 45th iteration of theevent. The race was held on Sunday, September 4, 1994, before an audience of 50,000 inDarlington, South Carolina, atDarlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 367 laps to complete. In the final stages of the race,Junior Johnson & Associates driverBill Elliott would make a late-race charge to the lead, passing with 13 to go to take his 40th careerNASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three,Richard Childress Racing driverDale Earnhardt andWood Brothers Racing driverMorgan Shepherd would finish second and third, respectively. The race would be Bill Elliott's last win in a Ford.
Darlington Raceway is arace track built forNASCAR racing located nearDarlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed"The Lady in Black" and"The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 2, 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 3, 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,[3] 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.
Geoff Bodine, driving for his ownGeoff Bodine Racing team, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.447 and an average speed of 166.998 miles per hour (268.757 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Two drivers would fail to qualify.
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| Previous race: 1994 Goody's 500 (Bristol) | NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1994 season | Next race: 1994 Miller Genuine Draft 400 (Richmond) |
