The 1992 Coca-Cola 600 was the 10th stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 33rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 24, 1992, in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to make a late-race pass with 54 to go for the lead to take his 53rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan and SABCO Racing driver Kyle Petty would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 10 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1992 Coca-Cola 600 program cover, with artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | May 24, 1992 | ||
| Official name | 33rd Annual Coca-Cola 600 | ||
| Location | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Average speed | 132.98 miles per hour (214.01 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||
| Time | 30.773 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | |
| Laps | 141 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Neil Bonnett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Performance Racing Network | ||
Background
edit
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, May 20, 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 Thursday, May 21, at 2:00 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.
Bill Elliott, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.773 and an average speed of 175.479 miles per hour (282.406 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Six drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editStandings after the race
edit
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ Foreman Jr., Tom (May 25, 1992). "Earnhardt avoids trouble to win 600". The Tampa Tribune. p. 21. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Clarke, Liz (May 25, 1992). "Earnhardt's crew savors flavor of victory". Sun-News. p. 13. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Race week schedule". The Charlotte Observer. May 19, 1992. p. 12. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nowell, Paul (May 21, 1992). "Charlotte pole another high for Elliott". The Item. p. 25. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.