Advo Care 500 - Notable Races

Notable Races

• 1971: Richard Petty became the first stock car driver to reach $1 million in career earnings after a race-long duel with Bobby Allison.
• 1976: Dave Marcis took his final superspeedway win. Driving Harry Hyde's famous #71 Dodge, Marcis engaged in a nose-to-nose battle for most of the first 64 laps with Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, and David Pearson. Part-time racer Dale Earnhardt survived a huge crash with some 60 to go when Dick Brooks hit the wall in Three and slid into Earnhardt's path; Earnhardt tumbled to the fourth turn.
• 1977: The race shortened due to rain/darkness. Darrell Waltrip took advantage of the lapped car of James Hylton to storm past Donnie Allison on the last lap; Allison crashed with Cale Yarborough coming to the stripe.
• 1978: A scoring breakdown led to an embarrassing change of the declared winner. Manual scoring ruled that Richard Petty had edged Dave Marcis at the stripe, but a recheck hours later proved that Donnie Allison, who finished two lengths ahead of Petty and Marcis, had indeed won.
• 1980: A multicar wreck in the first 20 laps eliminated the Allison brothers and other contenders, leaving Cale Yarborough to breeze all but uncontested to the win; the win helped him close to within 29 points of leader Dale Earnhardt with one race left in the 1980 title chase.
• 1981: ESPN televised the race live, the first such telecast for the third-year cable network. The race turned into a spirited affair as Neil Bonnett and Richard Petty fought back and forth for the lead amid bids by Darrell Waltrip, Joe Ruttman, and Harry Gant. The final two laps were a fierce duel won by Bonnett over Waltrip and Cale Yarborough.
• 1982: The race set a track record for lead changes at 45, among 14 drivers. Blistered tires ruined a victory bid by Richard Petty as Bobby Allison outdueled Darrell Waltrip and Harry Gant for the win. This would be the final start for Country Music singer Marty Robbins, who would die in December of that year.
• 1984: Driver Terry Schoonover was killed in the race after crashing into the barrier in turn two.
• 1986: Dale Earnhardt wrapped up his second career title by completely dominating the Dixie 500. The rest of the top five was a list of NASCAR luminaries - Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, Tim Richmond, and Buddy Baker.
• 1987: For the first time, this race was scheduled as the final race of the NASCAR season.
• 1989: In this race, independent driver Grant Adcox was killed in a crash.
• 1990: With cars packed tightly together for late-race pitstops under yellow (the result of NASCAR's rule closing pit road when the yellow comes out instead of letting cars pit before taking the yellow), one of Bill Elliott's crew members was killed when Ricky Rudd was coming into the pits for service and lost control of his car. This led to NASCAR mandating a speed limit on pit road for crew members safety.
• 1992: Widely considered one of the most dramatic NASCAR races of all time. See 1992 Hooters 500
• 1993: Race winner Wallace, and Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt circled the track in a Polish Victory Lap, carrying #7 and #28 flag to honor Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison who were both killed in aviation accidents during the season. Both Kulwicki and Allison were key fixtures exactly one year earlier at the classic 1992 race.
• 1995: Dale Earnhardt drove his #3 to victory at the race time of 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 3 seconds.
• 1996: Bobby Labonte took the win, the first for Joe Gibbs Racing building its own engines after four seasons running Rick Hendrick engines. Terry Labonte clinched the 1996 Winston Cup Championship driving for Hendrick Motorsports. The two made a victory lap together and celebrated together in victory lane.
• 1997: 325 laps / 500.5 miles with new configuration. Bobby Labonte won in JGR's first win with Pontiac; Pontiacs dominated the top ten at the finish
• 1998: Race shortened due to rain and darkness. Rain delays throughout the day made the race go into midnight, and track officials wanted the fans to get home at a decent hour. First night Cup race.
• 2000: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain. Final career start for Darrell Waltrip. It would be the final time the event would be the last race of the NASCAR season.
• 2001: Was scheduled to be the final race of the 2001 season, but Loudon was moved to the weekend after due to 9/11. That instead made this the second-to-last race of the season.
• 2002: Race shortened due to rain. Moved from November to October, such that the race will no longer be the final race of the NASCAR season.
• 2009: Race moved from October to Labor Day weekend, marking the first regularly scheduled Sprint Cup race at Atlanta to start at night. Kasey Kahne took the win, the second of the year for the team now under the aegis of Richard Petty Motorsports.
• 2011: Race postponed from Sunday Night to Tuesday Afternoon due to rain from Tropical Storm Lee. Jeff Gordon scored his 85th Cup win after a fierce duel with teammate Jimmie Johnson over the final 10 laps on worn tires, giving him sole possession of third on the all time wins list and the most wins by a driver in NASCAR's Modern Era (1972-). This was only the second time in NASCAR's Modern Era that a race was postponed to a Tuesday, the other time coming in August 2007 at Michigan (also for rain). Gordon was honored by NASCAR president Mike Helton with a framed portrait of photos from past victories by Jeff made into the shape of the #85 to commemorate the milestone victory.