1992 Daytona 500

The 1992 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 34th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 16, 1992, before an audience of 140,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete.

1992 Daytona 500 By STP

Race details
Race 1 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 Daytona 500 program cover, featuring Ernie Irvan.
Date	February 16, 1992
Official name	34th Annual Daytona 500 By STP
Location	Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Scheduled 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	Sterling Marlin	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

Leading for over half of the race, Robert Yates Racing's Davey 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 career NASCAR 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's Morgan Shepherd and Bud Moore Engineering's Geoff Bodine finished second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Daytona International Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

Daytona International Speedway is one of three superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the other two being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega 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 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

#	Driver	Team	Make	Sponsor
0	Delma Cowart	H. L. Waters Racing	Ford	Masters Inn Economy
1	Rick Mast	Precision Products Racing	Oldsmobile	Skoal
2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Pontiac	Miller Genuine Draft
3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench Service Plus
03	Kerry Teague	KT Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Team USA: America's Car
4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan–McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kodak
5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Tide
6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	Valvoline
7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	Hooters
8	Dick Trickle	Stavola Brothers Racing	Ford	Snickers
9	Phil Parsons	Melling Racing	Ford	Melling Racing
10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing	Chevrolet	Purolator Filters
11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	Budweiser
12	Hut Stricklin	Bobby Allison Motorsports	Chevrolet	Raybestos
13	Dave Mader III	Folsom Racing	Chevrolet	Seal-Tech
13	Mike Skinner	Mansion Motorsports	Chevrolet	Glidden
14	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt Racing	Oldsmobile	Copenhagen
15	Geoff Bodine	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	Motorcraft
16	Wally Dallenbach Jr.	Roush Racing	Ford	Keystone
17	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip Motorsports	Chevrolet	Western Auto
18	Dale Jarrett	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	Interstate Batteries
20	Mike Wallace	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile	1st Ade
21	Morgan Shepherd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	Citgo
22	Sterling Marlin	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	Maxwell House
23	Eddie Bierschwale	B&B Racing	Oldsmobile	SplitFire
25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kodiak
26	Brett Bodine	King Racing	Ford	Quaker State
28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	Texaco, Havoline
30	Michael Waltrip	Bahari Racing	Pontiac	Pennzoil
31	Bobby Hillin Jr.	Team Ireland	Chevrolet	Team Ireland
33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Skoal Bandit
41	Greg Sacks	Larry Hedrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	Mello Yello
43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	STP
47	Buddy Baker	Close Racing	Oldsmobile	Close Racing
48	James Hylton	Hylton Motorsports	Chevrolet	Son's Auto Supply
49	Stanley Smith	BS&S Motorsports	Chevrolet	Ameritron
50	Clay Young	Clay Young Racing	Pontiac	Aflac
52	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing	Pontiac	Jimmy Means Racing
55	Ted Musgrave	RaDiUs Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Jasper Engines & Transmissions
59	Andy Belmont (R)	Pat Rissi Racing	Ford	Slick 50
62	Ben Hess	Gray Racing	Ford	Gray Racing
66	Chad Little	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Ford	Phillips 66 TropArtic
68	Bobby Hamilton	TriStar Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Country Time
71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet	Abilene Boots
73	Phil Barkdoll	Barkdoll Racing	Oldsmobile	X-1R
75	Dick Trickle	RahMoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	RahMoc Enterprises
77	Mike Potter	Balough Racing	Chevrolet	Kenova Golf Course Construction
83	Lake Speed	Speed Racing	Chevrolet	Purex
84	Dave Pletcher Sr.	Pletcher Racing	Pontiac	Pletcher Racing
88	Joe Booher	Malloch Racing	Pontiac	Malloch Racing
89	Jim Sauter	Mueller Brothers Racing	Pontiac	Evinrude Outboard Motors
90	Dorsey Schroeder	Donlavey Racing	Ford	Whistler Group
94	Terry Labonte	Hagan Racing	Oldsmobile	Sunoco
95	Bob Schacht (R)	Sadler Brothers Racing	Oldsmobile	Shoney's
97	Mark Gibson	Collins Racing	Oldsmobile	Collins Racing
98	Jimmy Spencer	Travis Carter Enterprises	Chevrolet	Moly Black Gold
99	Brad Teague	Ball Motorsports	Chevrolet	Ball Motorsports

Qualifying

Qualifying was set by the 1992 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 for Junior 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.

Full qualifying results

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Make	Reason
1	22	Sterling Marlin	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	Qualified on pole
2	11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	Qualified on outside pole
3	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	First in Twin 125 #1
4	21	Morgan Shepherd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	Second in Twin 125 #2
5	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	Second in Twin 125 #1
6	28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	Third in Twin 125 #2
7	4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan–McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	Third in Twin 125 #1
8	5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Fourth in Twin 125 #2
9	41	Greg Sacks	Larry Hedrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Fourth in Twin 125 #1
10	30	Michael Waltrip	Bahari Racing	Pontiac	Fifth in Twin 125 #2
11	33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Fifth in Twin 125 #1
12	17	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip Motorsports	Chevrolet	Sixth in Twin 125 #2
13	1	Rick Mast	Precision Products Racing	Oldsmobile	Sixth in Twin 125 #1
14	66	Chad Little	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Ford	Seventh in Twin 125 #2
15	25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Seventh in Twin 125 #1
16	15	Geoff Bodine	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	Eighth in Twin 125 #2
17	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Pontiac	Eighth in Twin 125 #1
18	26	Brett Bodine	King Racing	Ford	Ninth in Twin 125 #2
19	9	Phil Parsons	Melling Racing	Ford	Ninth in Twin 125 #1
20	10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing	Chevrolet	Tenth in Twin 125 #2
21	03	Kerry Teague	KT Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Tenth in Twin 125 #1
22	68	Bobby Hamilton	TriStar Motorsports	Oldsmobile	11th in Twin 125 #2
23	71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet	11th in Twin 125 #1
24	47	Buddy Baker	Close Racing	Oldsmobile	12th in Twin 125 #2
25	73	Phil Barkdoll	Barkdoll Racing	Oldsmobile	12th in Twin 125 #1
26	31	Bobby Hillin Jr.	Team Ireland	Chevrolet	13th in Twin 125 #2
27	0	Delma Cowart	H. L. Waters Racing	Ford	13th in Twin 125 #1
28	75	Dick Trickle	RahMoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	14th in Twin 125 #2
29	77	Mike Potter	Balogh Racing	Chevrolet	14th in Twin 125 #1
30	49	Stanley Smith	BS&S Motorsports	Chevrolet	15th in Twin 125 #2
31	90	Dorsey Schroeder	Donlavey Racing	Ford	Speed provisional (191.404)
32	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	Speed provisional (189.909)
33	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	Speed provisional (189.717)
34	94	Terry Labonte	Hagan Racing	Oldsmobile	Speed provisional (188.897)
35	18	Dale Jarrett	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	Speed provisional (188.644)
36	95	Bob Schacht	Sadler Brothers Racing	Oldsmobile	Speed provisional (188.225)
37	16	Wally Dallenbach Jr.	Roush Racing	Ford	Speed provisional (188.206)
38	8	Rick Wilson	Stavola Brothers Racing	Ford	Speed provisional (187.993)
39	14	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt Racing	Oldsmobile	Speed provisional (187.903)
40	55	Ted Musgrave	RaDiUs Motorsports	Chevrolet	Speed provisional (187.336)
41	7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	Owner's points provisional
42	12	Hut Stricklin	Bobby Allison Motorsports	Chevrolet	Owner's points provisional
Failed to qualify or withdrew
43	99	Brad Teague	Ball Motorsports	Chevrolet	15th in Twin 125 #1
44	83	Lake Speed	Speed Racing	Chevrolet	17th in Twin 125 #2
45	59	Andy Belmont (R)	Pat Rissi Racing	Ford	16th in Twin 125 #1
46	89	Jim Sauter	Mueller Brothers Racing	Pontiac	18th in Twin 125 #2
47	23	Eddie Bierschwale	B&B Racing	Oldsmobile	20th in Twin 125 #1
48	20	Mike Wallace	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile	19th in Twin 125 #2
49	13	Dave Mader III	Folsom Racing	Chevrolet	28th in Twin 125 #1
50	98	Jimmy Spencer	Travis Carter Enterprises	Chevrolet	21st in Twin 125 #2
51	62	Ben Hess	Gray Racing	Ford	29th in Twin 125 #1
52	13	Mike Skinner	Mansion Motorsports	Chevrolet	22nd in Twin 125 #2
53	88	Joe Booher	Malloch Racing	Pontiac	23rd in Twin 125 #2
54	50	Clay Young	Clay Young Racing	Pontiac	24th in Twin 125 #2
55	48	James Hylton	Hylton Motorsports	Chevrolet	25th in Twin 125 #2
56	52	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing	Pontiac	26th in Twin 125 #2
57	97	Mark Gibson	Collins Racing	Oldsmobile	27th in Twin 125 #2
WD	84	Dave Pletcher Sr.	Pletcher Racing	Pontiac	Lack of practice speed
Official Twin 125 Qualifiers results
Official starting lineup

Race Summary

The start

The initial laps of the race were free of incidents, although on lap 41 Geoff Bodine and Morgan Shepherd touched exiting Turn 4 with no further incident. Brett Bodine and Ricky Rudd fell out in the first half of the race with separate engine failures, as the Junior Johnson cars of Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliott established themselves as the cars to beat. Davey Allison's crew gambled with a two-tire change but caught a lucky break when Geoff Bodine was penalized for speeding, and gained a drafting partner.

The Big One

Rain fell after 80 laps, and when the race restarted Ernie Irvan went for the lead on lap 92. He came up in front of Sterling Marlin, but had not cleared him, and also moved him up the track into his teammate Bill Elliott who was on the outside. The ensuing mayhem collected polesitter Sterling Marlin, Ernie Irvan, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt. Also, Bobby Hillin Jr., Dale Jarrett, Alan Kulwicki, Chad Little, Richard Petty, Hut Stricklin, Rusty Wallace, and Darrell Waltrip were involved.

The wreck ended the race for Jarrett, Schrader, Marlin, Hillin, and Little, with their cars being terminally damaged.

The finish

On Lap 144 Rick Wilson was planning to pit the Stavola Brothers Ford, but Kerry Teague did not realize it and ran into him. This brought out the third yellow flag in the race. On Lap 166 Ernie Irvan's crippled car spun to bring out the fourth caution flag. Leaders Allison, Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip made their final stops. Waltrip fell back after the restart with an engine that was quitting. This left the two Ford Thunderbirds of Allison and Shepherd to race for the win, finishing in this order. This win made the Allisons the second father-son duo to win the Daytona 500, joining Lee and Richard Petty. Alan Kulwicki finished a quiet fourth which kicked off an unlikely championship run.

Race results

Fin	St	#	Driver	Team	Make	Laps	Led	Status	Pts	Winnings
1	6	28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	200	127	running	185	$244,050
2	4	21	Morgan Shepherd	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	200	7	running	175	$181,300
3	16	15	Geoff Bodine	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	200	0	running	165	$116,250
4	41	7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	200	0	running	160	$87,500
5	28	75	Dick Trickle	RahMoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	200	0	running	155	$78,800
6	33	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	200	0	running	150	$67,700
7	34	94	Terry Labonte	Hagan Racing	Oldsmobile	199	0	running	146	$58,575
8	40	55	Ted Musgrave	RaDiUs Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	0	running	142	$52,750
9	3	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	199	0	running	138	$87,000
10	19	9	Phil Parsons	Melling Racing	Ford	199	0	running	134	$49,150
11	24	47	Buddy Baker	Close Racing	Oldsmobile	199	0	running	130	$38,275
12	11	33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports	Oldsmobile	199	0	running	127	$51,100
13	13	1	Rick Mast	Precision Products Racing	Oldsmobile	199	0	running	124	$40,355
14	9	41	Greg Sacks	Larry Hedrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	0	running	121	$36,790
15	37	16	Wally Dallenbach Jr.	Roush Racing	Ford	198	0	running	118	$29,700
16	32	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	198	0	running	115	$32,530
17	25	73	Phil Barkdoll	Barkdoll Racing	Oldsmobile	198	0	running	112	$27,960
18	10	30	Michael Waltrip	Bahari Racing	Pontiac	197	3	flagged	114	$37,140
19	31	90	Dorsey Schroeder	Donlavey Racing	Ford	196	0	running	106	$25,750
20	23	71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet	195	0	running	103	$26,210
21	39	14	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt Racing	Oldsmobile	195	0	running	100	$23,055
22	30	49	Stanley Smith	BS&S Motorsports	Chevrolet	195	0	running	97	$24,150
23	38	8	Rick Wilson	Stavola Brothers Racing	Ford	195	0	running	94	$24,045
24	42	12	Hut Stricklin	Bobby Allison Motorsports	Chevrolet	188	0	running	91	$27,740
25	27	0	Delma Cowart	H. L. Waters Racing	Ford	188	0	running	88	$23,285
26	12	17	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip Motorsports	Chevrolet	180	1	running	90	$33,580
27	2	11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	178	23	running	87	$60,255
28	7	4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan–McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	166	0	handling	79	$43,370
29	5	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	162	0	running	76	$49,675
30	29	77	Mike Potter	Balogh Racing	Chevrolet	151	0	fuel pump	73	$21,710
31	17	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Pontiac	150	0	running	70	$30,455
32	22	68	Bobby Hamilton	TriStar Motorsports	Oldsmobile	125	0	piston	67	$27,350
33	21	03	Kerry Teague	KT Motorsports	Oldsmobile	122	0	accident	64	$22,445
34	20	10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing	Chevrolet	120	0	radiator	61	$23,115
35	1	22	Sterling Marlin	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	91	33	accident	63	$34,435
36	35	18	Dale Jarrett	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	91	0	accident	55	$19,780
37	15	25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	6	accident	57	$30,500
38	26	31	Bobby Hillin Jr.	Team Ireland	Chevrolet	91	0	accident	49	$20,370
39	14	66	Chad Little	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Ford	90	0	accident	46	$22,760
40	8	5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	79	0	engine	43	$34,350
41	18	26	Brett Bodine	King Racing	Ford	13	0	distributor	40	$25,150
42	36	95	Bob Schacht	Sadler Brothers Racing	Oldsmobile	7	0	engine	37	$18,250
Failed to qualify or withdrew
43		99	Brad Teague	Ball Motorsports	Chevrolet
44		83	Lake Speed	Speed Racing	Chevrolet
45		59	Andy Belmont (R)	Pat Rissi Racing	Ford
46		89	Jim Sauter	Mueller Brothers Racing	Pontiac
47		23	Eddie Bierschwale	B&B Racing	Oldsmobile
48		20	Mike Wallace	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile
49		13	Dave Mader III	Folsom Racing	Chevrolet
50		98	Jimmy Spencer	Travis Carter Enterprises	Chevrolet
51		62	Ben Hess	Gray Racing	Ford
52		13	Mike Skinner	Mansion Motorsports	Chevrolet
53		88	Joe Booher	Malloch Racing	Pontiac
54		50	Clay Young	Clay Young Racing	Pontiac
55		48	James Hylton	Hylton Motorsports	Chevrolet
56		52	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing	Pontiac
57		97	Mark Gibson	Collins Racing	Oldsmobile
WD		84	Dave Pletcher Sr.	Pletcher Racing	Pontiac
Official race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Davey Allison 185 2 Morgan Shepherd 175 (-10) 3 Geoff Bodine 165 (-20) 4 Alan Kulwicki 160 (–25) 5 Dick Trickle 155 (–30) 6 Kyle Petty 150 (–35) 7 Terry Labonte 146 (–39) 8 Ted Musgrave 142 (–43) 9 Dale Earnhardt 138 (–47) 10 Phil Parsons 134 (–51) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

1. Higgins, Tom (February 17, 1992). "Allison steers clear to victory". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1B, 5B. Retrieved September 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Long, Gary (February 17, 1992). "D. Allison earns 500 glory". The Miami Herald. pp. 1D, 5D. Retrieved September 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Higgins, Tom (February 10, 1992). "Schrader Dashes To Daytona 500 Pole". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1B, 3B. Retrieved September 9, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

Previous race: 1991 Hardee's 500

NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1992 season

Next race: 1992 GM Goodwrench 500