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The 1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500 was the 23rd stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 45th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 4, 1994, before an audience of 50,000 in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington 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 driver Bill Elliott would make a late-race charge to the lead, passing with 13 to go to take his 40th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt and Wood Brothers Racing driver Morgan Shepherd would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 23 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. | |||
| Date | September 4, 1994 | ||
| Official name | 45th Annual Mountain Dew Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.221 km) | ||
| Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Scheduled 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 | ||
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Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, 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.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
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Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 2, at 3:00 pm EST. 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 am EST. 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 own Geoff 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.
Full qualifying results
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| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 367 | 21 | running | 180 | $68,330 |
| 2 | 27 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 367 | 87 | running | 175 | $45,030 |
| 3 | 13 | 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 367 | 0 | running | 165 | $32,730 |
| 4 | 18 | 10 | Ricky Rudd | Rudd Performance Motorsports | Ford | 367 | 3 | running | 165 | $24,715 |
| 5 | 24 | 4 | Sterling Marlin | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 367 | 4 | running | 160 | $26,870 |
| 6 | 7 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 366 | 0 | running | 150 | $22,765 |
| 7 | 19 | 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South | Ford | 366 | 8 | running | 151 | $23,620 |
| 8 | 14 | 8 | Jeff Burton (R) | Stavola Brothers Racing | Ford | 366 | 0 | running | 142 | $19,500 |
| 9 | 35 | 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet | 365 | 0 | running | 138 | $23,370 |
| 10 | 22 | 5 | Terry Labonte | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 365 | 0 | running | 134 | $21,930 |
| 11 | 11 | 28 | Kenny Wallace | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 364 | 0 | running | 130 | $20,765 |
| 12 | 37 | 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 362 | 0 | running | 127 | $19,970 |
| 13 | 21 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip Motorsports | Chevrolet | 362 | 4 | running | 129 | $16,180 |
| 14 | 36 | 23 | Hut Stricklin | Travis Carter Enterprises | Ford | 361 | 0 | running | 121 | $11,890 |
| 15 | 34 | 9 | Phil Parsons | Melling Racing | Ford | 361 | 0 | running | 118 | $8,750 |
| 16 | 29 | 43 | John Andretti (R) | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 360 | 0 | running | 115 | $11,930 |
| 17 | 39 | 90 | Mike Wallace (R) | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 359 | 0 | running | 112 | $11,160 |
| 18 | 41 | 55 | Butch Miller | RaDiUs Motorsports | Ford | 359 | 0 | running | 109 | $7,885 |
| 19 | 12 | 77 | Greg Sacks | U.S. Motorsports Inc. | Ford | 358 | 0 | running | 106 | $10,705 |
| 20 | 10 | 1 | Rick Mast | Precision Products Racing | Ford | 356 | 0 | running | 103 | $14,335 |
| 21 | 42 | 19 | Loy Allen Jr. (R) | TriStar Motorsports | Ford | 354 | 0 | running | 100 | $7,200 |
| 22 | 16 | 40 | Bobby Hamilton | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 353 | 0 | running | 97 | $13,780 |
| 23 | 32 | 29 | Steve Grissom (R) | Diamond Ridge Motorsports | Chevrolet | 350 | 0 | running | 94 | $9,560 |
| 24 | 33 | 47 | Billy Standridge (R) | Johnson Standridge Racing | Ford | 347 | 0 | running | 91 | $6,785 |
| 25 | 6 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford | 342 | 105 | engine | 93 | $20,975 |
| 26 | 23 | 75 | Todd Bodine | Butch Mock Motorsports | Ford | 333 | 0 | running | 85 | $9,015 |
| 27 | 1 | 7 | Geoff Bodine | Geoff Bodine Racing | Ford | 323 | 6 | engine | 87 | $17,805 |
| 28 | 38 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 321 | 0 | engine | 79 | $8,595 |
| 29 | 5 | 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Ford | 290 | 0 | running | 76 | $12,385 |
| 30 | 28 | 52 | Brad Teague | Jimmy Means Racing | Ford | 281 | 0 | crash | 73 | $6,125 |
| 31 | 26 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 278 | 2 | engine | 75 | $12,040 |
| 32 | 2 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 272 | 127 | oil | 77 | $13,350 |
| 33 | 25 | 98 | Jeremy Mayfield (R) | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Ford | 265 | 0 | engine | 64 | $7,785 |
| 34 | 3 | 31 | Ward Burton (R) | A.G. Dillard Motorsports | Chevrolet | 236 | 0 | overheating | 61 | $5,750 |
| 35 | 20 | 12 | Derrike Cope | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Ford | 213 | 0 | crash | 58 | $11,140 |
| 36 | 8 | 22 | Bobby Labonte | Bill Davis Racing | Pontiac | 185 | 0 | overheating | 55 | $10,080 |
| 37 | 30 | 27 | Jimmy Spencer | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 181 | 0 | crash | 52 | $5,570 |
| 38 | 17 | 32 | Dick Trickle | Active Motorsports | Chevrolet | 143 | 0 | engine | 49 | $5,476 |
| 39 | 31 | 16 | Ted Musgrave | Roush Racing | Ford | 128 | 0 | overheating | 46 | $9,390 |
| 40 | 40 | 15 | Lake Speed | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 112 | 0 | overheating | 43 | $15,330 |
| 41 | 15 | 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Chevrolet | 94 | 0 | handling | 40 | $9,330 |
| 42 | 4 | 41 | Joe Nemechek (R) | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 66 | 0 | oil pump | 37 | $5,330 |
| Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
| 43 | 61 | Rick Carelli | Chesrown Racing | Chevrolet | ||||||
| 44 | 57 | Bob Schacht | Balough Racing | Ford | ||||||
| Official race results | ||||||||||
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