1994 Slick 50 300

Race details
Race 16 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1994 Slick 50 300 program cover, featuring Harry Gant.
Date	July 10, 1994
Official name	2nd Annual Slick 50 300
Location	Loudon, New Hampshire, New Hampshire International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.058 mi (1.704 km)
Distance	300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km)
Scheduled Distance	300 laps, 317.4 mi (510.805 km)
Average speed	87.599 miles per hour (140.977 km/h)
Attendance	72,000
Pole position
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Time	29.944
Most laps led
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Laps	176
Winner
No. 10	Ricky Rudd	Rudd Performance Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	TNN
Announcers	Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Kenny Wallace
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1994 Slick 50 300 was the 16th stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, July 2, 1994, in Loudon, New Hampshire, at New Hampshire International Speedway, a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) permanent, oval-shaped, low-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 300 laps to complete. On the final restart of the race with eight laps to go, Ricky Rudd, driving for his own Rudd Performance Motorsports team would manage to hold off the field to take his 15th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.^[1][2] Meanwhile, second-place finisher, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would retake the overall driver's championship lead after a poor finish from then-points leader Ernie Irvan.^[3] To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would finish third.

Background

The layout of New Hampshire International Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

New Hampshire International Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as an IndyCar weekend and the oldest motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval. The track was originally the site of Bryar Motorsports Park before being purchased and redeveloped by Bob Bahre. The track is currently one of eight major NASCAR tracks owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, July 8, at 3:30 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, July 9, 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 21-40 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.

Ernie Irvan, driving for Robert Yates Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.944 and an average speed of 127.197 miles per hour (204.704 km/h) in the first round.^[5] In the second round, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would manage to beat his time with a time of 29.755; however, since the time was in the second round, Elliott would only garner the 21st starting position.^[6]

Fiver drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Dale Earnhardt 2,511 1 2 Ernie Irvan 2,507 (-4) 3 Rusty Wallace 2,270 (-241) 4 Mark Martin 2,256 (–255) 5 Ken Schrader 2,171 (–340) 6 Morgan Shepherd 2,070 (–441) 7 Ricky Rudd 2,038 (–473) 8 Michael Waltrip 1,901 (–610) 2 9 Ted Musgrave 1,887 (–624) 1 10 Jeff Gordon 1,866 (–645) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References