1992 AC Delco 500
The 1992 AC Delco 500 was the 27th stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 18th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 25, 1992, before an audience of 62,300 in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Speedway, a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 492 laps to complete. At race's end, SABCO Racing driver Kyle Petty would dominate the race to take his sixth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 27 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1992 AC Delco 500 program cover, featuring Richard Petty. | |||
| Date | October 25, 1992 | ||
| Official name | 18th Annual AC Delco 500 | ||
| Location | Rockingham, North Carolina, North Carolina Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.636 km) | ||
| Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km) | ||
| Average speed | 130.748 miles per hour (210.419 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 62,300 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | SABCO Racing | ||
| Time | 24.461 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | |
| Laps | 484 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TNN | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
In the overall driver's championship standings, championship leader Bill Elliott, assisted by a fourth-place finish, would manage to increase his points lead over second-place driver Davey Allison to 70 points after three consecutive poor finishes for Elliott. The winner of the race, Kyle Petty, would move to fourth in the standings, 94 points behind Elliott, and nine points behind third-place driver Alan Kulwicki, who was 85 points behind Elliott in the standings.[3]
Background
North Carolina Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School.[4]
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, October 22, at 2:30 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 Friday, October 23, at 1:00 PM 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,[5] 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 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.
Kyle Petty, driving for SABCO Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.461 and an average speed of 149.675 miles per hour (240.879 km/h) in the first round.[6]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 492 | 484 | running | 185 | $153,100 |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Ernie Irvan | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 492 | 2 | running | 175 | $53,200 |
| 3 | 7 | 5 | Ricky Rudd | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 491 | 0 | running | 165 | $31,225 |
| 4 | 3 | 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 491 | 3 | running | 165 | $26,200 |
| 5 | 19 | 22 | Sterling Marlin | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 491 | 0 | running | 155 | $20,075 |
| 6 | 18 | 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 491 | 0 | running | 150 | $21,450 |
| 7 | 6 | 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Ford | 491 | 0 | running | 146 | $15,200 |
| 8 | 12 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 490 | 0 | running | 142 | $22,350 |
| 9 | 11 | 94 | Terry Labonte | Hagan Racing | Oldsmobile | 490 | 0 | running | 138 | $14,500 |
| 10 | 15 | 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 134 | $20,600 |
| 11 | 21 | 12 | Jimmy Spencer | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Ford | 489 | 0 | running | 130 | $13,600 |
| 12 | 8 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 489 | 0 | running | 127 | $15,500 |
| 13 | 13 | 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 489 | 0 | running | 124 | $13,600 |
| 14 | 24 | 10 | Derrike Cope | Whitcomb Racing | Chevrolet | 488 | 0 | running | 121 | $9,800 |
| 15 | 27 | 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet | 488 | 0 | running | 118 | $12,550 |
| 16 | 14 | 8 | Dick Trickle | Stavola Brothers Racing | Ford | 487 | 0 | running | 115 | $11,500 |
| 17 | 25 | 1 | Rick Mast | Precision Products Racing | Oldsmobile | 487 | 0 | running | 112 | $11,500 |
| 18 | 23 | 66 | Jimmy Hensley (R) | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Ford | 487 | 0 | running | 109 | $8,950 |
| 19 | 4 | 68 | Bobby Hamilton | TriStar Motorsports | Ford | 487 | 0 | running | 106 | $11,950 |
| 20 | 22 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 486 | 0 | running | 103 | $11,150 |
| 21 | 9 | 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South | Pontiac | 485 | 0 | running | 100 | $16,700 |
| 22 | 20 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip Motorsports | Chevrolet | 485 | 0 | running | 97 | $15,600 |
| 23 | 30 | 16 | Wally Dallenbach Jr. | Roush Racing | Ford | 484 | 0 | running | 94 | $5,400 |
| 24 | 33 | 9 | Chad Little | Melling Racing | Ford | 483 | 0 | running | 91 | $5,300 |
| 25 | 26 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 482 | 0 | running | 88 | $9,850 |
| 26 | 37 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 475 | 0 | running | 85 | $6,700 |
| 27 | 34 | 88 | Mike Wallace | Owen Racing | Ford | 474 | 0 | running | 82 | $5,000 |
| 28 | 32 | 85 | Mike Skinner | Mansion Motorsports | Chevrolet | 459 | 0 | running | 79 | $4,900 |
| 29 | 16 | 55 | Ted Musgrave | RaDiUs Motorsports | Ford | 454 | 0 | running | 76 | $9,375 |
| 30 | 2 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford | 436 | 3 | crash | 78 | $15,700 |
| 31 | 36 | 80 | Dave Blaney | Hover Motorsports | Pontiac | 371 | 0 | handling | 70 | $4,500 |
| 32 | 17 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 322 | 0 | vibration | 67 | $22,000 |
| 33 | 31 | 41 | Greg Sacks | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 304 | 0 | rear end | 64 | $5,850 |
| 34 | 28 | 32 | Jimmy Horton | Active Motorsports | Chevrolet | 299 | 0 | overheating | 61 | $4,200 |
| 35 | 10 | 15 | Geoff Bodine | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 278 | 0 | engine | 58 | $8,625 |
| 36 | 35 | 83 | Lake Speed | Speed Racing | Ford | 263 | 0 | transmission | 55 | $4,075 |
| 37 | 38 | 65 | Jerry O'Neil | Aroneck Racing | Oldsmobile | 233 | 0 | brakes | 52 | $4,625 |
| 38 | 29 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 144 | 0 | rear end | 49 | $5,525 |
| 39 | 39 | 77 | Mike Potter | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 7 | 0 | handling | 46 | $4,025 |
| 40 | 40 | 53 | John McFadden | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 4 | 0 | handling | 43 | $4,050 |
| Official race results | ||||||||||
Standings after the race
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- Higgins, Tom (October 26, 1992). "Kyle Petty edges Irvan to win AC Delco 500". The Anniston Star. p. 13. Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Harris, Mike (October 26, 1992). "Kyle Petty dominates AC Delco 500". The Morning Call. p. 38. Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (October 26, 1992). "Elliott stays in driver's seat for points championship". The Charlotte Observer. p. 12. Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Fast Track High Performance Driving School, Inc". Fasttrackracing.com. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
- "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. October 22, 1992. p. 9. Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (October 23, 1992). "Younger Petty is right at home on pole at 'The Rock'". Messenger-Inquirer. p. 11. Retrieved February 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.