1989 Valleydale Meats 500

Race details
Race 6 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 Valleydale Meats 500 program cover, featuring Bill Elliott.
Date	April 9, 1989
Official name	29th Annual Valleydale Meats 500
Location	Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.533 mi (0.858 km)
Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Average speed	76.034 miles per hour (122.365 km/h)
Attendance	56,000
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Time	15.953
Most laps led
Driver	Greg Sacks	Baker–Schiff Racing
Laps	119
Winner
No. 27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max 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 Valleydale Meats 500 was the sixth stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 29th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 9, 1989, before an audience of 56,000 in Bristol, Tennessee, at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. Coming back from initial mishaps early in the race, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace would manage to make a late race charge to the lead, passing for the lead with 43 laps left in the race to take his 13th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season.^[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Darrell Waltrip and Geoff Bodine, both drivers for Hendrick Motorsports, would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Bristol Motor Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.

Qualifying

Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 7, at 2:00 PM EST. Originally, the first 15 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 16-30 meant to be determined the following day on Saturday, April 8.^[5] However, due to rain, the second round was cancelled. As a result, the rest of the starting lineup was set using the results from the first round. 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.^[6]

Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 15.953 and an average speed of 120.278 miles per hour (193.569 km/h) in the first round.^[7]

Five drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Geoff Bodine 900 2 2 Rusty Wallace 881 (-19) 2 3 Alan Kulwicki 875 (-25) 2 4 Dale Earnhardt 869 (–31) 1 5 Sterling Marlin 851 (–49) 1 6 Darrell Waltrip 807 (–93) 1 7 Davey Allison 786 (–114) 2 8 Rick Wilson 756 (–144) 5 9 Mark Martin 728 (–172) 1 10 Michael Waltrip 727 (–173) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References