1989 First Union 400

Race details
Race 7 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 First Union 400 program cover, featuring Terry Labonte.
Date	April 16, 1989
Official name	39th Annual First Union 400
Location	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.625 mi (1.006 km)
Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Scheduled Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Average speed	89.937 miles per hour (144.740 km/h)
Attendance	36,000
Pole position
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Time	19.145
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	296
Winner
No. 3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 First Union 400 was the seventh stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 39th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 16, 1989, before an audience of 36,000 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 miles (1.006 km) oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to dominate a majority of the race, leading 296 laps to take his 35th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, owner-driver Alan Kulwicki and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of North Wilkesboro Speedway, the venue where the race was held

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures 0.625 mi (1.006 km) and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 14, at 3:00 pm EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 10 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, April 15, at 12:15 pm EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 11-30 would be decided on time,^[7] 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.

Rusty Wallace, driving for Blue Max Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 19.357 and an average speed of 116.237 miles per hour (187.065 km/h) in the first round.^[8][9]

Four drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 3 1 Dale Earnhardt 1,054 1 2 Geoff Bodine 1,051 (-3) 3 Alan Kulwicki 1,045 (-9) 2 4 Rusty Wallace 1,024 (–30) 1 5 Darrell Waltrip 954 (–100) 1 6 Sterling Marlin 936 (–93) 7 Davey Allison 916 (–118) 1 8 Mark Martin 893 (–161) 4 9 Ricky Rudd 853 (–201) 5 10 Dick Trickle 831 (–223) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References