1993 TranSouth 500

Race details
Race 5 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1993 TranSouth 500 program cover, featuring Bill Elliott.
Date	March 28, 1993
Official name	37th Annual TranSouth 500
Location	Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.198 km)
Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km)
Scheduled Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km)
Average speed	139.958 miles per hour (225.241 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Time	Set by 1993 owner's points
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	212
Winner
No. 3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress 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 TranSouth 500 was the fifth stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 37th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 28, 1993, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 367 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to overcome a first half struggle and dominate the second half of the race to take his 54th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Dale Jarrett would finish second and third, respectively. This would be the final NASCAR race for Alan Kulwicki, who finished sixth. Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash days later.

Background

The layout of Darlington Raceway, the venue where the race was held.

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Qualifying

Two round of qualifying were scheduled to be held on Friday, March 26, and Saturday, March 27.^[3] However, Friday's sessions were cancelled due to rain, with both rounds then scheduled to commence on Saturday.^[4] However, Saturday's sessions would also be cancelled due to rain, leaving qualifying to be determined by a system of owner's points and postmarks on entry list blanks. The top 30 positions would be determined by the current 1993 owner's points, while the final nine spots would be determined by a system of provisionals that included past winners, and finally postmarks.^[5] As a result, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would win the pole.^[6]

John McFadden was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 804 1 2 Rusty Wallace 747 (-57) 1 3 Geoff Bodine 747 (-57) 4 Dale Jarrett 730 (–74) 1 5 Mark Martin 708 (–96) 3 6 Davey Allison 644 (–160) 1 7 Morgan Shepherd 644 (–160) 3 8 Jeff Gordon 632 (–172) 5 9 Alan Kulwicki 625 (–179) 3 10 Ernie Irvan 624 (–180) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References