The 1992 Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 was the fourth stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 33rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 15, 1992, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.522 miles (2.449 km) permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 328 laps to complete. With the help of a late caution, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would manage to pull away on the final restart with 40 to go to take his 37th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his third victory of the season, and his third consecutive victory.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant and Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1992 Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 program cover, featuring Geoff Bodine. | |||
| Date | March 15, 1992 | ||
| Official name | 33rd Annual Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 | ||
| Location | Hampton, Georgia, Atlanta Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.522 mi (2.449 km) | ||
| Distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Average speed | 147.746 miles per hour (237.774 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Roush Racing | ||
| Time | 30.453 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Laps | 160 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC | ||
| Announcers | Paul Page, Benny Parsons, Bobby Unser | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
Background
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Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a 1.522-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.
Entry list
edit- (R) - denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 13, at 2:30 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, March 14, at 10:30 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,[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.
Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.453 and an average speed of 179.923 miles per hour (289.558 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Four drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editStandings after the race
edit
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References
edit- ^ Harris, Mike (March 16, 1992). "Elliott's luck brings third in row". The Tribune. p. 8. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (March 16, 1992). "'Pure luck'". Muncie Evening Press. p. 16. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. March 12, 1992. p. 14. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harris, Mike (March 14, 1992). "Mark Martin outdoes Trickle for NASCAR's Motorcraft 500 pole". The Times and Democrat. p. 16. Retrieved January 24, 2023.