1992 Hooters 500

1992 Hooters 500

Race details[1]
Race 29 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
1992 Hooters 500 program cover
Date	November 15, 1992 (1992-November-15)
Official name	Hooters 500
Location	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.522 mi (2.449 km)
Distance	328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.410 km)
Weather	Sunny & Cold with temperatures up to 57 °F (14 °C); wind speeds up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)
Average speed	133.322 miles per hour (214.561 km/h)
Attendance	162,500
Pole position
Driver	Rick Mast	Richard Jackson Racing
Time	30.409
Most laps led
Driver	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing
Laps	103
Winner
No. 11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett

The 1992 Hooters 500 was the 29th and final race of the 1992 NASCAR season. It was held on November 15, 1992, at Atlanta Motor Speedway and is widely considered the greatest NASCAR race of all time,^[2][3] with three stories dominating the race: the debut of Jeff Gordon in the Winston Cup Series, the final race of seven-time champion Richard Petty's thirty-five-year career,^[4][5] and the battle for the series points championship with six drivers mathematically eligible to win the title.

The race was won by Bill Elliott in the No. 11 Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson and Associates. The championship was won by Alan Kulwicki, driving the No. 7 Hooters Ford for AK Racing, which he also owned. Kulwicki placed second in the race, and by virtue of leading one more lap than Elliott clinched the title by securing five bonus points for leading the most laps, which enabled him to maintain a ten-point cushion he had over Elliott entering the race.^[6][7]

The 1992 Hooters 500 represented the 33rd running of the Atlanta fall race, and the sixth time the event was held as the NASCAR season finale.

Background[]

In 1992 Atlanta Motor Speedway was one of eight intermediate tracks, a track between one and two miles in length, to hold a Winston Cup Series race. ^[8] The layout at Atlanta Motor Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that was 1.522 miles (2.449 km) long.^[9] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.^[9]

The race, and its subsequent championship outcome, was run under the old NASCAR points system. The points system in place at the time had debuted in 1975, and the drivers would compete to accumulate the most points over the course of the entire season. The driver with the most points being awarded the series championship. This system would later be replaced by the playoff system at the start of the 2004 season.

Since each driver's point total was cumulative, this meant that if a driver had a successful season leading up to the final race, he could have already mathematically guaranteed himself the championship either by having an insurmountable points lead or enough of a points lead that all he needed to do was start the final race to guarantee himself the title. For example, Dale Earnhardt, at that time a five-time series champion, had done this three times in his career already; his 1986 and 1987 points championships were both clinched before the season's last race and in 1991 he was only required to start the finale to win.

Other seasons would regularly see two or three drivers mathematically eligible for the championship at the final race, as seen in Rusty Wallace's championship in 1989 and Earnhardt's championship in 1990 which were both seasons in which the champion finished with a narrow margin over second place. Such a high number as six drivers was a rarity, and set a series record for most drivers eligible for the championship at the final race.

Media coverage[]

Television[]

ESPN broadcast the race to a nationwide television audience as part of its Speedworld motor racing series. Bob Jenkins was the lap-by-lap commentator with Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett as analysts in the booth. Jerry Punch and John Kernan reported from pit road.

Radio[]

The race was also carried over radio by Motor Racing Network. Barney Hall & Eli Gold manned the announce position in the booth. Joe Moore reported from turns one and two, with Allen Bestwick stationed in turns three and four.

Pre-race[]

Coming into the race, six drivers had a mathematical chance to win the title, the most ever. The top three drivers, and thus the ones with the best chances, were Davey Allison, driving the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing; Alan Kulwicki, driving the #7 Hooters Ford as an owner-driver for his team AK Racing; and Bill Elliott, driving the #11 Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson & Associates.

Allison had gone through an up and down season to this point despite leading the series with five victories entering the race. He started off the season with a bang and won the season opening Daytona 500. However, his season was nearly halted on more than one occasion, after bad wrecks at Bristol in April, The Winston in May and at Pocono in June as he suffered several major injuries including a bruised lung and a severe concussion. Then, in August, he mourned the death of his brother Clifford, who was killed practicing for the Busch Series race at Michigan. Disappointment also met Allison at Darlington in September. He had added a victory at the spring race at Talladega to his Daytona victory and if he managed to win the Southern 500, he would clinch him the coveted Winston Million. However, a crew member misread a weather radar screen, and the crew brought Allison in for a pit stop. Moments later, an approaching rain storm ended the race early, and Allison settled for 5th place.

Allison rebounded, and won the second to last race of the season at Phoenix. Allison was attempting to become the second second-generation driver to win the Winston Cup Championship - his father Bobby won the title in 1983. At the time, Lee and Richard Petty were the only father-son duo to have won the championship.

Elliott, meanwhile, was experiencing a career renaissance in his first year after departing from Melling Racing at the end of the 1991 season. He won the spring race at Atlanta earlier in the season, part of a four-race winning streak, tying a modern era NASCAR record for consecutive Cup Series wins in a single season. Altogether, he earned 16 top-ten finishes.^[10] Experiencing a generally more consistent season up to that point, Elliott led by as many as 154 points in the season championship on September 20. But he began to falter, and had three bad races in a row, dropping his lead to 39 points with three races left. At the second to last race of the season at Phoenix, Elliott's car suffered a cracked cylinder head and overheating problems, which relegated him to a 31st-place finish. He slipped from first to third in the points standings going into the final race.

Despite being ahead of Elliott in the points, Kulwicki was considered the underdog to win the championship. While he had only won two races in 1992 up to that point, he had 10 top-5s and 16 top-10s.^[11] He was running at the finish at all but two races so far. Despite a crash at Dover in September, he rebounded to post finishes of 12th or better in the five races leading up to Atlanta. Kulwicki received approval from NASCAR and Ford to change the "Thunderbird" lettering on his bumper by putting two Mighty Mouse patches on the "TH" in "THUNDERBIRD" because he felt like the underdog for winning the championship, and Kulwicki admired the character, which symbolized him and his team (many of whom later became champions themselves long after his death).

Kulwicki also had intensely personal reasons for wanting to win the championship. Specifically, those reasons were targeted not at either of the two drivers surrounding him in the points, but at one of the two owners. Two years earlier, after Terry Labonte had departed from his team, Junior Johnson came to Kulwicki and asked him to drive the #11. Kulwicki declined, choosing instead to remain as an owner-driver. The next year, Johnson relaunched his second team, which he had not fielded since 1986 when Neil Bonnett drove for him, and again offered Kulwicki a significant salary to jump ship. At the time, Kulwicki had been in discussions with Kraft General Foods to carry their Maxwell House Coffee brand as his primary sponsor, since Zerex Antifreeze had left AK Racing. Kulwicki again declined Johnson’s offer, which caused Johnson to retaliate by convincing Kraft to give him the Maxwell House sponsorship for his second car, signing Sterling Marlin away from Hagan Racing to take the wheel and forcing Kulwicki to scramble to find a replacement. He eventually caught a break when Hooters approached him at the 1991 Atlanta spring race, which he sat on the pole for, when the car they were sponsoring failed to qualify; Hooters agreed to back Kulwicki for the remainder of 1991 and beyond.

Despite the performances by the top three in the points in getting to this point, they each had some level of inconsistency that prevented them from pulling away from the others or asserting their own dominance. Allison’s issue was his tendency to follow up a strong performance with a poor finish or a crash, while Elliott’s fall swoon cancelled out his stellar performances earlier on. Although Kulwicki managed to perform on a more consistent basis through the entire season, his two rivals had more wins and were able to gain some separation between themselves and him. Still, Allison entered the race in control of his own destiny.^[12] Running fifth or better would clinch the title for him outright, while leading a lap during the course of the event would require a finish of seventh or better. If Allison managed to lead the most laps, finishing eighth or better would bring him the Winston Cup. The key was to keep his championship rivals behind him regardless of the situation, as there was not much room for error.

After the race at Phoenix, Kulwicki slid into second place in points and trailed Allison by thirty entering the Hooters 500. Elliott’s poor finish in the race not only cost him the points lead but relegated him to third place in the standings, forty points behind Allison. They both would need solid finishes to have a chance, as well as to be significantly ahead of Allison when the checkered flag dropped. Elliott’s situation was further complicated because the gap between himself and Kulwicki was only ten points; with Kulwicki’s consistency, Elliott would need to put as much distance between himself and the #7 as he could should something happen to the #28.

Because the points race had significantly tightened up in the weeks leading into the race, three more drivers had a shot at the championship entering the weekend. One was Harry Gant, driving the #33 Skoal Oldsmobile for Leo Jackson Motorsports, who sat in fourth place in the points trailing Allison by 97. Gant had already recorded two victories during the season, and would have become the oldest driver to ever win the Cup Series championship.

One point behind Gant in fifth place was Kyle Petty, driving the #42 Mello Yello Pontiac for Team SABCO. was one point behind Gant, having also won twice. He had an opportunity to do something no driver had ever done to that point, as if he managed to become champion Kyle would join grandfather Lee and father Richard as champion and become the first third-generation driver to do so.

Sitting fifteen points behind Petty and 113 points behind Allison was Mark Martin, in the #6 Valvoline Ford for Roush Racing. Martin had also won twice during the season, as had the two drivers in front of him in the points. He had previously finished second in the championship in the 1990 season.

While Gant, Petty, and Martin did have chances, and focus would be paid to their efforts over the course of the race, their fates were left to the other drivers in the race. All three would likely need a victory and some misfortune to befall Allison, Elliott, and Kulwicki over the course of the 500-mile event.

Of the six championship contenders, the only one that was a former Winston Cup champion was Elliott, who was the 1988 series champion. The closest former champion to Elliott in points was eighth place Darrell Waltrip, the owner-driver of the #17 Western Auto Chevrolet who was not mathematically able to win the title.

Championship standings entering the 1992 Hooters 500

1. Davey Allison, 3928 points
2. Alan Kulwicki, −30
3. Bill Elliott, −40
4. Harry Gant, −97
5. Kyle Petty, −98
6. Mark Martin, −113
7. Ricky Rudd, −281
8. Darrell Waltrip, −363
9. Terry Labonte, −414
10. Ernie Irvan, −429

Bold indicates drivers mathematically eligible for the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup championship

Richard Petty's Fan Appreciation Tour[]

Since this was the last event of the season, it also marked the final stop on Richard Petty's "Fan Appreciation Tour." On October 1, 1991, Petty announced he would retire at the end of the 1992 season. He planned on running the entire season, not just selected events, and to that point, had managed to qualify for all 28 of the events in 1992. Media coverage of Petty's final race was extensive, and the weeks leading up to the race saw considerable pre-race hype and anticipation. Ticket sales were brisk, and a record sell-out crowd was expected at Atlanta to see "King Richard" in his final event.

Under the spotlight of attention during the 1992 season, Petty's on-track results had been so far unimpressive. He had scored zero top tens, and had a best finish of 15th (three times). His most notable race of the season came at Daytona during the July 4 Pepsi 400. With President George H. W. Bush in attendance, Petty was honored during the pre-race ceremonies. He qualified on the outside of the front row, and led the first five laps of the race.

At Atlanta, facing the intense pressure of a hectic schedule of appearances and honors, not to mention the actual on-track activities, Petty barely managed to qualify for the Hooters 500. He posted the 39th-fastest speed out of 41 cars. He would not have been eligible for the provisional starting position, and had to qualify on speed. Petty stood on his first round time, and sweated out second round qualifying. He slipped from 36th to 39th on the grid, but was not bumped from the lineup. With Petty safely in the field, the stage was set for a huge sendoff. Ceremonies to honor Petty were planned in the pre-race and post-race, and Petty was expected to take a ceremonial final lap around the track after the race to formally conclude his career. On the night before the race, Alabama held a concert honoring Petty at the Georgia Dome, with 45,000 in attendance.^[13]

On the night before pole qualifying, Richard Petty's cousin and longtime crew chief and team manager Dale Inman was robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Atlanta airport. The robber tried to grab a necklace from Inman's neck, but failed. He pointed his gun and pulled the trigger, but it did not fire, and no one was injured.

Qualifying[]

Pole qualifying[]

The first round of qualifying was held on Friday November 13. Rick Mast won his first career pole position in the #1 Skoal Oldsmobile for , the last ever pole for Oldsmobile as General Motors was withdrawing the brand from NASCAR after the race. (Mast, Gant, and Bob Schacht fielded the only Oldsmobiles in the race.)

Mast recorded a qualifying speed of 180.183 miles per hour (289.976 km/h) was the first-ever NASCAR qualifying speed over 180 mph at an intermediate length circuit. Previously that speed had only been achieved at Daytona and Talladega. He was joined on the front row by Brett Bodine, driving the #26 Quaker State Ford for King Racing.

Under the rules at the time, the first round of qualifying locked in only the top twenty cars. In first round qualifying, all of the six championship contenders except for Harry Gant qualified. Mark Martin (4th) was the highest of the six contenders. Richard Petty was not among the top twenty. A field of 40 cars (plus at least one provisional) was expected to comprise the starting grid. With Petty sitting 36th-fastest after Friday's first round, he was precariously close to being bumped from the field on Saturday.

• Source: The (Lexington, NC) Dispatch, Saturday, November 14, 1992, p. 2B.

Second round qualifying[]

Second round qualifying was held on Saturday November 14. Under the rules at the time, drivers who did not qualify during the first round moved on to second round qualifying. Each driver could elect to stand on his time from the first round, or erase their time and make a new attempt. Rookie Jeff Gordon bettered his time from the day before, and became the fastest qualifier of the second round. That entered him into the wild card drawing for the 1993 Busch Clash.

Most drivers stood on their times, including Richard Petty, who held on to qualify 39th. Jimmy Hensley elected to try again, and wound up losing eleven spots on the grid. Stanley Smith, who did not even make top 40 on Friday, made a big improvement, qualifying 33rd. Likewise, Jimmy Horton went from only 47th-fastest on Friday, to qualify 36th.

Race[]

Start[]

A record 160,000 fans, some with seats in temporary grandstands, arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway to witness Richard Petty's final ride, and to watch the exciting championship battle. Country Western Band Alabama sang the national anthem, then Richard Petty's son Kyle along with his sisters gave Richard the command to fire his engine one final time, while Bruton Smith gave the command to the rest of the field. Before the start of the race, four Apache helicopters did a fly-by and circled the track to salute the field.

The green flag then flew with polesitter Rick Mast in the #1 Skoal Oldsmobile for and Brett Bodine in the #26 Quaker State Ford for King Racing, battling into turn one, with Bodine leading the first lap. On lap 2, the two cars tangled, and crashed in turn one. Dale Earnhardt, the defending series champion whose reign was ending that day and who was running third in his familiar #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, slipped by, and took over the lead. Several other cars were collected in the crash, and five of the championship contenders got through unscathed. Davey Allison, however, slowed to avoid the crash, and was tagged from behind in the left rear by Hut Stricklin's #41 Kellogg's Ford. The left rear fender was badly bent, but did not puncture the tire. Allison stayed out on the track, and the crew would be able to bend the bodywork away from the tire on the next pit stop. The cars of Rich Bickle, Wally Dallenbach Jr., and Bob Schacht were also involved but sustained only minor damage and were able to continue.

During the caution, Mark Martin ducked into the pits to change all four tires, because he was afraid he ran over debris from the incident, as well as flat-spotting the tires when he locked up the brakes and slid sideways to avoid it.

Early race[]

Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, driving the #4 Kodak Chevrolet for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, traded the lead for the first 60 laps. Championship contenders Elliott, Allison, and Kulwicki ran near the top 10, while Gant, Martin, and Kyle Petty ran near the back of the pack. Richard Petty worked up to 30th.

By lap 60, entering the first round of green flag pit stops, the highest running of the championship contenders was Elliott in fifth. With the leaders in for service, Michael Waltrip spun out in the Bahari Racing #30 Pennzoil Pontiac and brought out the caution. Earnhardt and several other front runners lost a lap after being stuck on pit road. After the cycle completed under caution, four of the top five positions were filled by championship contenders. Elliott assumed the lead with Kulwicki second, Martin fourth, and Gant fifth.

However, the first significant issue for the main championship contenders struck during the pit stops. The gearbox on the #7’s transmission broke as Kulwicki tried to shift into first gear while exiting his pit stall. Thus, Kulwicki stalled on exit and had to get his crew to push him out of the box so he could get rolling. Fortunately for him, his engineering prowess and a recent incident enabled Kulwicki to adjust to at least minimize the potential issue.

Several races earlier, at the Mello Yello 500 at Charlotte, Kulwicki had the same gearbox issue that he had just experienced. To correct the issue, he upshifted into fourth gear and ran the remainder of the event in the highest possible gear. Kulwicki, who had qualified for that race on the pole, ended up running second with one of the faster cars on track that afternoon.

So, as he had at Charlotte, Kulwicki put the #7 in fourth gear and headed back out onto the track. On this day, the “Underbird” was running fast as well, so Kulwicki pressed on with the only concerns being the potential for slow pit stops and having to restart after cautions since the car could not climb through the gears as it normally would; in fact, even downshifting into second or third gear meant that pieces from the broken first gear could potentially cause damage to the transmission that might result in engine failure.

Richard Petty crash[]

On lap 85, Bob Schacht stalled in turn 1 & another series of yellow flag pit stops had shuffled the field, bringing Allison to the lead. Martin took the lead on lap 91, which meant that now four of the championship contenders (Martin, Allison, Elliott, and Kulwicki) has secured five bonus points for leading a lap. Five of the six contenders were running well, with Gant running third behind Martin and Allison and Elliott and Kulwicki running in the top ten. Kulwicki’s car was performing extremely well despite having to run in fourth gear all day, and once up to speed it was the fastest on the track. Kyle Petty, however, was not as fortunate. The #42 developed terminal engine trouble that took him out of contention for the championship (as he would have needed to win the race and get help) and would result in his finishing near the rear of the field, multiple laps down.

On lap 95, the #25 Kodiak Chevrolet of Ken Schrader and the #8 Snickers Ford of Dick Trickle tangled on the frontstretch. The cars spun wildly to the inside. Darrell Waltrip's #17 Western Auto Chevrolet spun to avoid the crash, and ran into the #16 Keystone Beer Ford driven by Wally Dallenbach, Jr.. The #45 Terminal Trucking Ford of Rich Bickle was also collected, which led to Richard Petty running into him and destroying the front end of the car, breaking the oil cooler. The oil started a fire, and Petty's car coasted to the infield in flames. Petty (who was overheard on ESPN's in-car camera shouting to the rescue crews "BRING THE F***ING FIRE EXTINGUISHER!"^[14]) was uninjured, however the car was badly damaged, and his return to the race was in question.^[15]

At the 100 lap mark, Allison continued to hold the hypothetical lead in the points standings, with Kulwicki second, and Elliott close behind in third.

Second half[]

Around lap 118, rookie Jeff Gordon brought the #24 Chevrolet into the pits for service. The Ray Evernham-led "Rainbow Warriors" crew, which in later years would become famous for their pit stop efficiency, was nowhere near that level in this race and their errors caused Evernham to refer to them as the “Keystone Kops”.^[16] During the stop, a roll of duct tape was left on the trunk lid. As Gordon left, the roll of tape rolled onto the track, and it struck the front of points leader Allison’s Ford. The #28 suffered damage to the front air dam, which caused Allison to drop back from second place where he had been running; he would continue to battle handling issues for the rest of the race.^[16] Gordon would eventually crash out of the race on lap 164, finishing 31st.^[15]

As the race neared its halfway point, the battle for the championship began to consolidate. On lap 160, Martin was forced to retire from the event after the engine blew on the #6. Gant would also fall back in the field as the race progressed and never was able to get back up to the front. With Petty’s car barely running, this left the #28, #11, and #7 as the only cars that could still contend for the title. On lap 167, Elliott passed Ernie Irvan to retake the lead. Allison still managed to hold onto his points lead as he stayed up front, running seventh with an 11 point margin separating him from both Elliott and Kulwicki.

On lap 210, Kulwicki passed Elliott and took the lead for the second time of the race, and the first time since lap 80. Kulwicki took full advantage of this, beginning a long run at the front. Allison, however, was still running in the top ten, in sixth place and as long as he was able to stay there, he would score enough points to clinch the championship.

On lap 254,^[12] Irvan, who was now running three laps down, lost control of the #4 and spun out on the front stretch and into the path of Allison, who had nowhere to go and t-boned Irvan. Allison's car would suffer tie rod and steering damage as both cars came to rest on the inside wall on the front straightaway. Allison would make it back onto the track after spending a significant amount of time in the garage, but would finish 53 laps down in 27th place, finishing the lowest of the six championship contenders whose cars were still running,^[15] and finishing ahead of only Mark Martin (who finished 32nd after blowing an engine).

Finish[]

With the race now under caution due to the Allison-Irvan wreck, race leader Kulwicki was now the points leader. Kulwicki and his crew chief Paul Andrews began to plot strategy for the remainder of the race. Initially, the idea was for him to come in for a pit stop during the caution and fill the fuel tank, but the two men decided not to because even taking into account the possibility of more caution periods, the crew would be counting on Kulwicki to run seventy laps on a single tank and that would prove unfeasible. Using his penchant for “thinking outside the box”, Kulwicki and Andrews decided the best bet was for them to maximize their position on the track and run for points. Since he and Elliott had already each gotten points for leading a lap, the goal was to lead enough laps to get the additional five points for leading the most laps. So, Kulwicki stayed on the track and when the green flag dropped on lap 258 he resumed his spot as the dominant car while the crew went to work on a late race strategy.

At lap 300, Kulwicki held about a two second lead on Elliott, and both cars were going to have to come to the pits one more time for fuel. Crew chief Andrews figured out that in order to get a full eleven gallon load of a fuel can into the car, six seconds were required. However, since they only needed to get Kulwicki to the checkered flag, they needed to determine how much fuel would get them there. Andrews calculated that just over five gallons, half a can, would do it.

The stop was supposed to occur on lap 306, and that Kulwicki needed to conserve fuel to make sure he reached that point without running out of gas. As Elliott began to catch him, Kulwicki was told to stay out for a few more laps to gain the five extra bonus points for leading the most laps regardless of what Elliott did the rest of the race. Kulwicki just needed to finish third or better at that point. Elliott tried and failed to pass Kulwicki, who finally pulled off track on lap 310. He had led the previous 101 laps, pushing his total to 103 for the race.

With the #11 now once again at the point, Kulwicki slowly brought the #7 to his pit stall.^[17] Car chief and gas man Tony Gibson stood waiting for his boss as he and Peter Jellen, the team’s catch can man, would be the only two team members working on the car. The rest stood by just in case Kulwicki stalled again as he had earlier. After 3.4 seconds, Kulwicki took off and headed back onto the track. However, there was an issue with the fuel relay and Gibson was unsure he got enough gas into the tank.^[17]

Meanwhile, the #11 team was in a position to equal the amount of laps led by the #7. If Elliott was able to do this, he and Kulwicki would each receive the additional five points. Thus, Kulwicki would have to ensure he finished no more than one place behind Elliott, as finishing two places behind would result in a tie with Elliott’s win total carrying over and anything further would result in Elliott becoming champion outright. However, the #11 made a critical error in tactics that proved costly; oddly enough, it would be their former driver Terry Labonte that would help do them in.

As Kulwicki and Elliott dueled at the front of the field, the 1984 champion, who replaced Sterling Marlin in the #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile when he left to join Johnson’s operation, found his way up to third place. He took second when Kulwicki pitted, a move that Elliott’s crew chief, Tim Brewer, had been unaware of. Brewer called Elliott to the pit four laps after Kulwicki pitted, thinking that he would be able to keep the lead once he completed his stop. Like Andrews, Brewer called for a half a can of fuel and Elliott got out of the pits in the same 3.4 seconds it took Kulwicki, with no issues.

However, while Elliott was on pit road, Labonte assumed the lead for one lap before he too had to come in for a fuel stop. Elliott got the lead back, but the lap Labonte led left him with a maximum number of 102. Since he no longer was able to score the five additional bonus points, Elliott now needed to hope that some sort of misfortune would befall Kulwicki since it was his last and only hope at winning the championship.

Kulwicki, meanwhile, was told by his crew on lap 324 that the five bonus points for leading the most laps were his. However, Andrews also told him that he had to continue to save fuel since Gibson was not sure he had gotten the necessary amount in. Kulwicki was once again running in second place by this point and still trying to maximize his position. As long as he managed to keep the car in third place or better, he would be champion. If the third place car, the #15 Motorcraft Ford driven by Geoff Bodine somehow managed to pass him, then Kulwicki would have to ensure that the fourth place car, the #12 Raybestos Ford driven by Jimmy Spencer, stayed behind him or else he would lose the championship on the aforementioned tiebreaker. As the cars were running, however, neither Bodine nor Spencer were anywhere close to the leaders and the only concern for Kulwicki was to make it to the checkered flag.

Elliott led the remaining laps and brought the #11 to victory lane for the fifth time in 1992, recording a sweep of the season’s races at Atlanta. Kulwicki came out of turn four moments later and crossed the finish line, with his fuel having held up, to claim the series championship. ^[3] Kulwicki's final lead in the standings was just ten points,^[3] the closest margin in NASCAR history until the 2011 season when Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards finished in a tie for first place, with the championship going to Stewart due to him winning 5 races to Edwards' 1.

Richard Petty's crew worked diligently all afternoon to get his car running again, and with two laps remaining, Petty pulled out of the pits. His car had no sheet metal on the front end^[15] and no hood. He finished 35th, and was credited as running at the finish in his final race.^[18] Commenting on the fire, Petty said, "I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory; I just forgot about the glory part." After the victory lane celebration, Petty climbed in the car for one final ceremonial lap to salute the fans. He waved out the window while the song "Richard Petty Fans" by Alabama was played on the public address system.

Immediately after taking the checkered flag, Alan Kulwicki drove back around to the frontstretch. He proceeded to stop at the flagstand and turn around, to drive what he referred to as a "Polish victory lap", clockwise (backwards) around the track, waving to fans. It mimicked a similar celebration he did at his first victory in 1988 at Phoenix. Kulwicki admitted after the race in his post-race and championship interview that he took his time coming down pit road on his final stop to make sure he didn't get a speeding penalty or stall the car again like he did on his first pit stop.

After the race, a furious Junior Johnson fired Tim Brewer for his error that cost Elliott his chance at the championship. It was the last time Johnson got that close to a title as a car owner; although Elliott would record two more top ten points finishes driving the #11, he would only record one more victory with Johnson before leaving to start his own team for 1995. Johnson would leave NASCAR altogether after 1995, selling his team to Brett Bodine.

Box score[]

Finish	Start	Car no.	Driver	Car make	Entrant	Laps	Status
1	11	11	Bill Elliott	Ford Thunderbird	Junior Johnson & Associates	328	Running
2	14	7	Alan Kulwicki	Ford Thunderbird	AK Racing	328	Running
3	8	15	Geoffrey Bodine	Ford Thunderbird	Bud Moore Engineering	328	Running
4	18	12	Jimmy Spencer	Ford Thunderbird	Bobby Allison Motorsports	328	Running
5	6	94	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet Lumina	Billy Hagan	328	Running
6	15	2	Rusty Wallace	Pontiac Grand Prix	Penske Racing South	328	Running
7	12	22	Sterling Marlin	Ford Thunderbird	Junior Johnson & Associates	327	Running
8	34	66	Jimmy Hensley	Ford Thunderbird	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	326	Running
9	22	55	Ted Musgrave	Ford Thunderbird	RaDiUs Racing	326	Running
10	32	18	Dale Jarrett	Chevrolet Lumina	Joe Gibbs Racing	326	Running
11	9	21	Morgan Shepherd	Ford Thunderbird	Wood Brothers Racing	325	Running
12	27	68	Bobby Hamilton	Ford Thunderbird	Tri-Star Motorsports	325	Running
13	29	33	Harry Gant	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Leo Jackson Motorsports	324	Running
14	25	30	Michael Waltrip	Pontiac Grand Prix	Bahari Racing	324	Running
15	10	10	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet Lumina	Whitcomb Racing	322	Running
16	20	42	Kyle Petty	Pontiac Grand Prix	Team SABCO	320	Engine
17	35	9	Chad Little	Ford Thunderbird	Melling Racing	320	Running
18	13	83	Lake Speed	Ford Thunderbird	Lake Speed	320	Running
19	40	23	Eddie Bierschwale	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Don Bierschwale	319	Running
20	38	88	Mike Wallace	Ford Thunderbird	Barry Owen	317	Running
21	37	52	Jimmy Means	Ford Thunderbird	Means Racing	317	Running
22	41	71	Dave Marcis	Chevrolet Lumina	Marcis Auto Racing	317	Running
23	24	17	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet Lumina	Darrell Waltrip Motorsports	307	Running
24	36	32	Jimmy Horton	Chevrolet Lumina	Active Motorsports	303	Running
25	16	5	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet Lumina	Hendrick Motorsports	300	Engine
26	3	3	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet Lumina	Richard Childress Racing	299	Running
27	17	28	Davey Allison	Ford Thunderbird	Robert Yates Racing	285	Running
28	1	1	Rick Mast	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Richard Jackson Motorsports	253	Running
29	5	4	Ernie Irvan	Chevrolet Lumina	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	251	Crash FS
30	31	90	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Ford Thunderbird	Junie Donlavey	235	Engine
31	21	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet Lumina	Hendrick Motorsports	164	Crash
32	4	6	Mark Martin	Ford Thunderbird	Roush Racing	160	Engine
33	28	57	Bob Schacht	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Doug Stringer	120	Ignition
34	26	45	Rich Bickle	Ford Thunderbird	Gene Isenhour	97	Crash
35	39	43	Richard Petty	Pontiac Grand Prix	Petty Enterprises	95	Running
36	23	25	Ken Schrader	Chevrolet Lumina	Hendrick Motorsports	94	Crash FS
37	7	8	Dick Trickle	Ford Thunderbird	Stavola Brothers Racing	94	Crash FS
38	30	16	Wally Dallenbach, Jr.	Ford Thunderbird	Roush Racing	94	Crash FS
39	33	49	Stanley Smith	Chevrolet Lumina	Stanley Smith	60	Engine
40	2	26	Brett Bodine	Ford Thunderbird	King Racing	1	Crash T1
41	19	41	Hut Stricklin	Ford Thunderbird	Larry Hedrick Motorsports	1	Crash T1

Race statistics[]

• Time of race – 3:44:20
• Average speed – 133.322 mph
• Margin of victory – 8.06 seconds
• Lead changes – 20 among 9 drivers
• Total purse: US$785,787 (winner's share $93,600)

^[19]

Selected awards[]

• Busch Pole Award: Rick Mast
• Busch Beer Fastest Second round Qualifier: Jeff Gordon
• Gillette Halfway Challenge: Ernie Irvan
• Goody's Headache Award: Davey Allison^[20]
• AP Parts Meet the Challenge Award:
• True Value Hard Charger Award: Bill Elliott
• Gatorade Circle of Champions Award: Bill Elliott
• Plasti-kote Winning Finish Award: Tim Brewer (Elliott)
• Western Auto Mechanic of the Race: Danny Glad (Kulwicki)
• Unocal 76 Challenge: $22,800 available to polesitter Rick Mast – not won (rollover)

Final points standings[]

1. Alan Kulwicki, 4078 points
2. Bill Elliott, −10
3. Davey Allison, −63
4. Harry Gant, −123
5. Kyle Petty, −133
6. Mark Martin, −191
7. Ricky Rudd, −343
8. Terry Labonte, −404
9. Darrell Waltrip, −419
10. Sterling Marlin, −475

Legacy[]

This race is considered the transition from the old age of NASCAR to the new age. As veteran Richard Petty retired, future champion Jeff Gordon made his debut. Gordon is one of the most successful and popular drivers NASCAR's modern era. This is also the only race in NASCAR history to feature Petty, Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt taking the green flag together. All three are considered among the best NASCAR drivers of all time.^[21] In total, nine former or future NASCAR Winston Cup champions drove in the race; Morgan Shepherd was a former Late Model Sportsman Series champion; and Mike Skinner (who failed to qualify) would eventually win the Truck Series championship – accounting for 11 NASCAR touring series champions entered in the event.

The race took place on the old "classic oval" configuration of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Later, Atlanta was re-configured to a quad-oval layout, and the start/finish line was moved to the old backstretch.

After coming up short in the championship battle, Bill Elliott's crew chief Tim Brewer was fired from Junior Johnson Motorsports. Had Elliott led the most laps, the season championship would have ended in a tie between Elliott and Kulwicki. Thus, Elliott would have been awarded the championship due to his having more wins during the season than Kulwicki (five to Kulwicki's two). This was perhaps Johnson's last hurrah as a team owner, as his cars never contended for a championship again. Despite Jimmy Spencer driving the team's #27 to two wins and Elliott recording a victory during the 1994 season, the team recorded more failure than success. Following the loss of his primary driver, Elliott, and his two sponsors, Budweiser and McDonald's, after the 1994 season, Johnson released Spencer and signed Lowe's to sponsor the #11 for one more season. He sold the operation to driver Brett Bodine in 1996 and retired.

The 1992 season was also considered Dale Earnhardt's worst season of his career, finishing outside of the top ten in points, with only one win all season. He led the race early, but pitted at a yellow and fell a lap down. After battling back to the lead lap, he brushed the wall and finished 26th.

Capping off the season with an 8th-place finish, Jimmy Hensley locked up the 1992 Rookie of the Year award. The rookie race for 1992 was mostly uncompetitive, however, as Hensley won by a large margin. All of the eligible rookies ran only partial schedules in 1992.

This was also the final race served as the NASCAR director, as he retired after the 1992 season. It was also Eddie Bierschwale's final career start.

The race broke the existing ESPN auto racing television audience record, registering a 4.1 rating and 2.5 million households. It fell just short of ESPN's all-time auto racing rating record (4.2 rating/1.8 million households for the 1987 Winston 500).^[22]

Alan Kulwicki stood as the last owner-driver to win a series championship until Tony Stewart accomplished the feat in 2011. Like in 1992, the championship came down to the final race and was decided by a tiebreaker when Stewart won the race to tie Carl Edwards for the points lead and was awarded the title by virtue of his five victories versus Edwards' single victory.

Tragedy strikes in 1993[]

Two of the principals in the championship chase that the Hooters 500 resolved would not survive the next season. On April 1, 1993, three days before the Food City 500 at Bristol, Alan Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash along with Hooters executives, while they were flying back from an appearance at a Hooters restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee.

A little over three months later on July 12, 1993, Davey Allison was flying his helicopter to Talladega Superspeedway to watch his friend David Bonnett (Neil Bonnett's son) test a Busch Series car. While trying to land the helicopter in a closed-in section of the Talladega infield, Allison crashed and suffered grave head injuries. He died the next morning.

Both Kulwicki and Allison were in the top five of the Cup series points at the time of their deaths, with Allison recording a victory at Richmond. Allison and Kulwicki were also invited to participate in IROC XVII based on their performances, with Kulwicki automatically qualifying as the NASCAR Winston Cup champion, and at the time of their deaths, both drivers were in the top five in IROC points. Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt took over for the deceased drivers and Labonte's effort in the final IROC race gave the series title to Allison posthumously.

Fifteenth anniversary[]

To commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the race, Jeff Gordon served as grand marshal and Richard Petty the honorary starter for the 2007 Pep Boys Auto 500 that took place on October 28, 2007.

Further reading[]

• Wheels of fortune: Kulwicki reigned supreme on a day when NASCAR's history took a right turn; Dave Kallmann; November 15, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; accessed October 2, 2007.
• Six Races That Changed NASCAR: Part 3 – 1992 Hooters 500
• 1992 Hooters 500: Need I say more?; Dave Kallmann (Journal Sentinel), accessed October 5, 2011.

References[]