1992 Pontiac Excitement 400

Race details
Race 3 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 Pontiac Excitement 400 program cover, with artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Date	March 8, 1992
Official name	38th Annual Pontiac Excitement 400
Location	Richmond, Virginia, Richmond International Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.75 mi (1.21 km)
Distance	400 laps, 300 mi (482.803 km)
Scheduled Distance	400 laps, 300 mi (482.803 km)
Average speed	104.378 miles per hour (167.980 km/h)
Attendance	65,200
Pole position
Driver	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Time	22.252
Most laps led
Driver	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	348
Winner
No. 11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network	TBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, Neil Bonnett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1992 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the third stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 38th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 8, 1992, before an audience of 65,200 in Richmond, Virginia, at Richmond International Raceway, a 0.75 miles (1.21 km) D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. In a close finish, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would manage to complete a dominant performance by besting challenger Alan Kulwicki by 18 inches (46 cm) at the finish line to take his 36th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant would finish third.

Background

The layout of Richmond International Raceway, the venue where the race was at.

Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series. Known as "America's premier short track", it formerly hosted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, an IndyCar Series race, and two USAC sprint car races.

Qualifying

Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 6, at 2:30 PM EST. Originally, the first 20 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 21-40 meant to be determined the following day on Saturday, March 7.^[3] 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.^[4]

Bill Elliott, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 22.252 and an average speed of 121.337 miles per hour (195.273 km/h).^[5]

Two drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Davey Allison 525 1 2 Harry Gant 462 (-63) 3 3 Bill Elliott 457 (-68) 2 4 Morgan Shepherd 438 (–87) 1 5 Terry Labonte 434 (–91) 1 6 Geoff Bodine 401 (–124) 4 7 Alan Kulwicki 400 (–125) 8 8 Darrell Waltrip 384 (–141) 4 9 Hut Stricklin 367 (–158) 1 10 Rick Mast 360 (–165) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References