1994 Pontiac Excitement 400

Race details
Race 3 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1994 Pontiac Excitement 400 program cover. Artwork by Sam Bass.
Date	March 6, 1994
Official name	40th 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	98.334 miles per hour (158.253 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Ted Musgrave	Roush Racing
Time	21.867
Most laps led
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Laps	189
Winner
No. 28	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Television in the United States
Network	TBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, Dave Marcis, Kenny Wallace
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1994 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the third stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 40th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 6, 1994, 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. On the final restart with 20 to go, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan would manage to hold off the field, along with the help of a fast final pit stop to take his 10th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and the overall lead in the driver's championship.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would finish second and third, respectively.

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 split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 4, 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, March 5, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-34 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; which was usually two. 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.

Ted Musgrave, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 21.867 and an average speed of 123.474 miles per hour (198.712 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Nine drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Ernie Irvan 520 1 2 Dale Earnhardt 467 (-53) 2 3 Sterling Marlin 461 (-59) 4 Mark Martin 449 (–71) 5 Terry Labonte 425 (–95) 2 6 Ken Schrader 402 (–118) 4 7 Jeff Gordon 402 (–118) 5 8 Rusty Wallace 400 (–120) 3 9 Morgan Shepherd 398 (–122) 10 Rick Mast 398 (–122) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References