1991 GM Goodwrench 500

Race details
Race 3 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1991 GM Goodwrench 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	March 3, 1991
Official name	26th Annual GM Goodwrench 500
Location	Rockingham, North Carolina, North Carolina Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.637 km)
Distance	492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km)
Average speed	124.083 miles per hour (199.692 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing
Time	24.538
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing
Laps	380
Winner
No. 42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing
Television in the United States
Network	TNN
Announcers	Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1991 GM Goodwrench 500 was the third stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 26th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 3, 1991, in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Speedway, a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. With the assist of a late caution with 14 laps to go in the race, SABCO Racing driver Kyle Petty would manage to catch up and pass for the lead on the ensuing restart with 11 laps to go to take his fourth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader and Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

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

North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, February 28, at 2:30 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, March 1, 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.

Kyle Petty, driving for SABCO Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.538 and an average speed of 149.205 miles per hour (240.122 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 482 2 Ricky Rudd 478 (-4) 3 3 Harry Gant 423 (-59) 4 Alan Kulwicki 414 (–68) 5 Ernie Irvan 412 (–70) 14 6 Kyle Petty 398 (–84) 6 7 Darrell Waltrip 385 (–97) 1 8 Dale Jarrett 380 (–102) 13 9 Ken Schrader 379 (–103) 7 10 Sterling Marlin 377 (–105) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References