1993 Goody's 500

Race details
Race 25 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1993 Goody's 500 program cover.
Date	September 26, 1993
Official name	45th Annual Goody's 500
Location	Ridgeway, Virginia, Martinsville Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Average speed	74.102 miles per hour (119.256 km/h)
Attendance	56,000
Pole position
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Time	20.453
Most laps led
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Laps	402
Winner
No. 28	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates 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 1993 Goody's 500 was the 25th stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 45th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 26, 1993, before an audience of 56,000 in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan would manage to dominate the majority of the race to take his eighth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.^[1][2] Meanwhile, second-place finisher, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace made a considerable points gain, cutting down on driver's championship leader Dale Earnhardt lead by 99 points, making the points deficit 82 points. To fill out the top three, Bobby Allison Motorsports driver Jimmy Spencer would finish third.

Background

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

Martinsville Speedway is an NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 24, at 3:00 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 Saturday, September 25, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-32 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 provisionals 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.

Ernie Irvan, driving for Robert Yates Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 20.453 and an average speed of 92.583 miles per hour (148.998 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Jimmy Means was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 3,702 2 Rusty Wallace 3,620 (-82) 1 3 Dale Jarrett 3,428 (-274) 1 4 Mark Martin 3,412 (–290) 5 Morgan Shepherd 3,287 (–415) 6 Ken Schrader 3,150 (–552) 7 Kyle Petty 3,125 (–577) 8 Bill Elliott 3,041 (–661) 1 9 Ernie Irvan 3,027 (–675) 1 10 Jeff Gordon 2,988 (–714) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References