1991 Daytona 500 By STP

Race details
Race 1 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1991 Daytona 500 program cover, featuring Richard Petty.
Date	February 17, 1991
Official name	33rd Annual Daytona 500 By STP
Location	Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	500 laps, 400 mi (804.672 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Average speed	148.148 miles per hour (238.421 km/h)
Attendance	145,000
Pole position
Driver	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing
Time	45.929
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing
Laps	51
Winner
No. 4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan–McClure Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, David Hobbs, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1991 Daytona 500 By STP was the first stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 33rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 17, 1991, before an audience of 145,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. Following a period of three late-race cautions, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan took the lead from Dale Earnhardt with six laps left in the race. With three laps to go, Earnhardt spun and collected Davey Allison and Kyle Petty, bringing out the final caution with two laps left. Coasting to the finish on fumes, Irvan was able to take his second career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and his only Daytona 500 victory.^[1][2][3] To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Sterling Marlin and RahMoc Enterprises driver Joe Ruttman finished second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Daytona International Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

Daytona International Speedway is one of three superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the other two being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.

Qualifying

Qualifying was set by the 1991 Gatorade Twin 125 Qualifiers. The top two positions were set by qualifying speeds held for the Twin 125 Qualifiers held on Saturday, February 9, with the top two qualifiers in the session earning the top two positions for the Daytona 500. The rest of the starting was set in the Twin 125 Qualifiers, held on Thursday, February 14 during two races. The top 14 finishers in the first race, excluding the pole position winner, would set the inside row from rows two to 15, and the top 14 finishers in the second race, excluding the outside pole position winner, would set the outside row from rows two to 15. The remaining non-qualifiers would set positions 31-40 based on qualifying speeds from the first qualifying session held on Saturday. If needed, up to two extra provisionals were given to teams high enough in the previous season's owner's standings that did not qualify for the race by either qualifying speed or from the Twin 125 Qualifiers.

Davey Allison, driving for Robert Yates Racing, won the pole with a time of 45.929 and an average speed of 195.955 miles per hour (315.359 km/h) in Saturday's session.^[4]

16 drivers failed to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ernie Irvan 180 2 Sterling Marlin 175 (-5) 3 Joe Ruttman 170 (-10) 4 Rick Mast 165 (–15) 5 Dale Earnhardt 160 (–20) 6 Dale Jarrett 150 (–30) 7 Bobby Hillin Jr. 146 (–34) 8 Alan Kulwicki 142 (–38) 9 Ricky Rudd 138 (–42) 10 Bobby Hamilton 134 (–46) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References