The 1993 AC Delco 500 was the 28th stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 29th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 24, 1993, 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, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to continue his championship pursuit on driver's championship leader, Dale Earnhardt, cutting down his lead to 72 points. The victory was Wallace's 30th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his ninth victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Earnhardt and Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would finish second and third, respectively.
Background
North Carolina Speedway is a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) D-shaped oval track in Rockingham, North Carolina. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1965, including the NASCAR Cup Series, O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and Truck Series. It has a 32,000-seat capacity as of 2012. North Carolina Speedway is owned by the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA).
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, October 21, 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 Saturday, October 22, 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,[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 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.
Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, won the pole, setting a time of 24.679 and an average speed of 148.353 mph (238.751 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Four drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South | Pontiac | 492 | 179 | running | 185 | $52,850 |
| 2 | 22 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 492 | 14 | running | 175 | $49,550 |
| 3 | 4 | 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 492 | 0 | running | 165 | $35,675 |
| 4 | 9 | 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Chevrolet | 492 | 139 | running | 165 | $29,225 |
| 5 | 1 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford | 491 | 3 | running | 160 | $33,150 |
| 6 | 3 | 28 | Ernie Irvan | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 491 | 86 | running | 155 | $24,800 |
| 7 | 16 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip Motorsports | Chevrolet | 491 | 0 | running | 146 | $21,350 |
| 8 | 2 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 491 | 7 | running | 147 | $17,900 |
| 9 | 10 | 41 | Dick Trickle | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 490 | 0 | running | 138 | $14,550 |
| 10 | 19 | 7 | Geoff Bodine | Geoff Bodine Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 134 | $22,500 |
| 11 | 8 | 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 130 | $16,150 |
| 12 | 25 | 8 | Sterling Marlin | Stavola Brothers Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 127 | $16,350 |
| 13 | 6 | 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 490 | 0 | running | 124 | $18,250 |
| 14 | 5 | 5 | Ricky Rudd | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 490 | 0 | running | 121 | $15,350 |
| 15 | 24 | 14 | Terry Labonte | Hagan Racing | Chevrolet | 489 | 0 | running | 118 | $15,500 |
| 16 | 31 | 15 | Lake Speed | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 489 | 0 | running | 115 | $17,150 |
| 17 | 13 | 1 | Rick Mast | Precision Products Racing | Ford | 489 | 0 | running | 112 | $14,450 |
| 18 | 29 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 489 | 0 | running | 109 | $16,050 |
| 19 | 17 | 98 | Derrike Cope | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Ford | 489 | 0 | running | 106 | $13,550 |
| 20 | 15 | 12 | Jimmy Spencer | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Ford | 489 | 56 | running | 108 | $14,750 |
| 21 | 7 | 24 | Jeff Gordon (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 486 | 0 | running | 100 | $11,350 |
| 22 | 12 | 22 | Bobby Labonte (R) | Bill Davis Racing | Ford | 485 | 0 | running | 97 | $10,150 |
| 23 | 14 | 4 | Joe Nemechek | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 485 | 0 | running | 94 | $17,400 |
| 24 | 20 | 27 | Hut Stricklin | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 485 | 0 | running | 91 | $14,950 |
| 25 | 23 | 75 | Todd Bodine (R) | Butch Mock Motorsports | Ford | 485 | 0 | running | 88 | $7,625 |
| 26 | 28 | 44 | Rick Wilson | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 482 | 0 | running | 85 | $9,100 |
| 27 | 34 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Ford | 478 | 5 | running | 87 | $7,400 |
| 28 | 32 | 55 | Ted Musgrave | RaDiUs Motorsports | Ford | 469 | 0 | running | 79 | $11,875 |
| 29 | 37 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Ford | 467 | 1 | running | 81 | $7,200 |
| 30 | 21 | 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet | 454 | 1 | rear end | 78 | $15,675 |
| 31 | 30 | 16 | Wally Dallenbach Jr. | Roush Racing | Ford | 430 | 0 | handling | 70 | $11,450 |
| 32 | 27 | 68 | Greg Sacks | TriStar Motorsports | Ford | 416 | 0 | running | 67 | $6,800 |
| 33 | 38 | 90 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 415 | 0 | running | 64 | $6,700 |
| 34 | 35 | 32 | Jimmy Horton | Active Motorsports | Chevrolet | 304 | 0 | crash | 61 | $6,600 |
| 35 | 11 | 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Ford | 281 | 0 | ignition | 58 | $15,125 |
| 36 | 33 | 66 | Mike Wallace | Owen Racing | Ford | 246 | 0 | engine | 55 | $6,475 |
| 37 | 41 | 40 | Kenny Wallace (R) | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 181 | 0 | handling | 52 | $7,950 |
| 38 | 40 | 56 | Jerry Hill | Hill Motorsports | Chevrolet | 138 | 0 | engine | 49 | $6,425 |
| 39 | 39 | 72 | John Andretti | Tex Racing | Chevrolet | 122 | 0 | crash | 46 | $6,425 |
| 40 | 26 | 02 | T. W. Taylor | Taylor Racing | Ford | 120 | 1 | crash | 48 | $6,400 |
| 41 | 36 | 37 | Loy Allen Jr. | TriStar Motorsports | Ford | 8 | 0 | crash | 40 | $6,400 |
| Official race results | ||||||||||
Standings after the race
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References
- ↑ Higgins, Tom (October 25, 1993). "Wallace takes 9th checkered flag". Kenosha News. p. 23. Retrieved January 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Harris, Mike (October 25, 1993). "Frustrated Wallace edges Earnhardt in AC Delco 500". Standard-Speaker. p. 26. Retrieved January 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. October 21, 1993. p. 32. Retrieved January 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Harris, Mike (October 22, 1993). "Martin wins with older car". The Anniston Star. p. 27. Retrieved January 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.