1989 Talladega DieHard 500

Race details
Race 17 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 Talladega DieHard 500 program cover, featuring Ken Schrader.
Date	July 30, 1989
Official name	21st Annual Talladega DieHard 500
Location	Lincoln, Alabama, Alabama International Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.66 mi (4.28 km)
Distance	188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Scheduled Distance	188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Average speed	157.354 miles per hour (253.237 km/h)
Attendance	90,000
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Time	49.158
Most laps led
Driver	Morgan Shepherd	RahMoc Enterprises
Laps	70
Winner
No. 11	Terry Labonte	Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, Chris Economaki
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 Talladega DieHard 500 was the 17th stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 21st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, July 30, 1989, before an audience of 90,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Alabama International Motor Speedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete. On the final restart with five laps left in the race, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Terry Labonte would manage to defend the field, mainly defending Hendrick Motorsports driver Darrell Waltrip to take his 11th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season.^[1][2][3] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Darrell Waltrip and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Talladega Superspeedway, the venue where the race was held.

Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, a 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) tri-oval.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, July 27, at 2:00 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 Friday, July 28, 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,^[4] 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.

Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.158 and an average speed of 194.800 miles per hour (313.500 km/h) in the first round.^[5][6]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 2,444 1 2 Darrell Waltrip 2,354 (-90) 2 3 Mark Martin 2,318 (-126) 4 Bill Elliott 2,285 (–159) 3 5 Rusty Wallace 2,279 (–165) 3 6 Terry Labonte 2,164 (–280) 1 7 Davey Allison 2,159 (–285) 2 8 Ken Schrader 2,136 (–308) 1 9 Sterling Marlin 2,079 (–365) 1 10 Ricky Rudd 2,069 (–375) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References