| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 28 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1994 Mello Yello 500 program cover, with artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | October 9, 1994 | ||
| Official name | 35th Annual Mello Yello 500 | ||
| Location | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Average speed | 145.922 miles per hour (234.839 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 170,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | A.G. Dillard Motorsports | ||
| Time | 29.070 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Geoff Bodine | Geoff Bodine Racing | |
| Laps | 202 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Chuck Bown, Cale Yarborough | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Performance Racing Network | ||
The 1994 Mello Yello 500 was the 28th stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 35th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 9, 1994, in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 334 laps to complete. In the final restart of the race with four to go, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Dale Jarrett would manage to defend the field for the next three laps before a caution on the final lap ended the race, handing Jarrett the victory.[1][2] The victory was Jarrett's third NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory of his career and his only victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Wood Brothers Racing driver Morgan Shepherd and Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish second and third, respectively.
Heading into the 1994 AC Delco 500, Dale Earnhardt was the extremely heavy favorite to win the driver's championship, only needing to be ahead of second-place driver, Rusty Wallace by 371 points at the finish of the race to mathematically clinch the championship.[3]
Background
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, October 5, at 7:00 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 Thursday, October 6, at 1:30 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,[4] 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.
Ward Burton, driving for A.G. Dillard Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.070 and an average speed of 185.759 miles per hour (298.950 km/h) in the first round.[5]
12 drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Standings after the race
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References
- ↑ Higgins, Tom (October 10, 1994). "Dales have good day at Charlotte". Evansville Press. p. 19. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Macenka, Joe (October 10, 1994). "Jarrett wins Mello Yello 500, Earnhardt one step closer to fourth title in five years". The Park City Daily News. p. 13. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Clarke, Liz (October 10, 1994). "Wallace's point race hope hurt". The Charlotte Observer. p. 10. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. October 5, 1994. p. 106. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Higgins, Tom (October 6, 1994). "'Incredible lap' puts rookie first". Evansville Press. p. 26. Retrieved December 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.