1993 Hanes 500

Race details
Race 8 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1993 Hanes 500 program cover.
Date	April 25, 1993
Official name	44th Annual Hanes 500
Location	Martinsville, Virginia, Martinsville Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance	356 laps, 187.256 mi (301.359 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Average speed	79.078 miles per hour (127.264 km/h)
Attendance	55,000
Pole position
Driver	Geoff Bodine	Bud Moore Engineering
Time	20.169
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South
Laps	409
Winner
No. 2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South
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 Hanes 500 was the eighth stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 44th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 25, 1993, before an audience of 55,000 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, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to dominate the race to take his 25th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fourth victory of the season, and his third consecutive victory.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Dale Jarrett would finish second and third, respectively.

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, April 23, 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, April 24, 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 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.

Geoff Bodine, driving for Bud Moore Engineering, would win the pole, setting a time of 20.169 and an average speed of 93.887 miles per hour (151.096 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Two drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Rusty Wallace 1,297 2 Dale Earnhardt 1,196 (-101) 3 Davey Allison 1,139 (-158) 4 Kyle Petty 1,099 (–198) 1 5 Geoff Bodine 1,090 (–207) 1 6 Mark Martin 1,059 (–238) 2 7 Mark Martin 1,048 (–249) 8 Dale Jarrett 1,039 (–258) 3 9 Darrell Waltrip 982 (–315) 6 10 Brett Bodine 951 (–346) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References