1991 Tyson Holly Farms 400
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 25 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1991 Tyson Holly Farms 400 program cover, featuring Chad Little. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | September 29, 1991 | ||
| Official name | 42nd Annual Tyson Holly Farms 400 | ||
| Location | North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 0.625 mi (1.006 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km) | ||
| Average speed | 94.113 miles per hour (151.460 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 43,500 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Leo Jackson Motorsports | ||
| Time | 19.252 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | |
| Laps | 350 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The 1991 Tyson Holly Farms 400 was the 25th stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 42nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 29, 1991, before an audience of 43,500 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 miles (1.006 km) oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, taking advantage of a brake failure of the dominant driver of the day, Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would mount a late-race charge to the lead, passing Gant with nine laps to go in the race to take the victory, breaking Gant's streak of four consecutive victories.[1][2][3] The victory was Earnhardt's 52nd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fourth and final victory of the season. To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Harry Gant and Bud Moore Engineering driver Morgan Shepherd would finish second and third, respectively.
Background[edit]
North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures 0.625 mi (1.006 km) and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.
Entry list[edit]
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying[edit]
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 27, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 15 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, September 28, at 12:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 16-30 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 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.
Harry Gant, driving for Leo Jackson Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 19.252 and an average speed of 116.871 miles per hour (188.086 km/h) in the first round.[5][6]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results[edit]
Race results[edit]
Standings after the race[edit]
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References[edit]
- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 30, 1991). "Gant's streak broken (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 11. Retrieved March 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 30, 1991). "Gant's streak broken (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 15. Retrieved March 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harris, Mike (September 30, 1991). "Gant's remarkable winning streak ends". Rocky Mount Telegram. p. 11. Retrieved March 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. September 27, 1991. p. 11. Retrieved March 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 28, 1991). "Gant leads the pack once again (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 19. Retrieved March 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 28, 1991). "Gant leads the pack once again (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 20. Retrieved March 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
