We're short track racing again in the Winston Cup Series with a stop in North Wilkesboro. For once a very close race took precedent as a number of lead changs at the end was the cause for an exciting finish. In the end, it was Coo Coo Marlin who won his first career Winston Cup race in 105 career starts.
Cale Yarbourough was the polesitter for this race, but lost the lead on segment one to James Hylton and continued to fall back through the field before blowing his engine on segment eight and finishing 27th.
Hylton held his lead for the first four segments of the race, but on segment five pit stops, Bobby Allison stole first. Allison would lead the most segments as he held his lead through segment 14.
On the final pit stops at segment 15, Allison had problems in the pits and was forced to replace his shocks, effectively ruining his chances of winning. In a race out of the pits, Marlin beat out Dick Brooks and Buddy Baker for first place. Baker would steal the lead on segment 16, but on the final segment, Baker could not hold off Marlin. Brooks made a run at Marlin around turn 4 but came up short and Marlin pulled off the win. Brooks and Baker were second and third. Despite his pit problems, Allison still got 4th, followed by Alton Jones in 5th. Hylton, Benny Parsons, J.D. McDuffie, Carl Adams, and Richard Childress roudned out the top ten.
Bonus Total
POS DRIVER Points Points Points
1 Coo Coo Marlin 175 5 180 Running
2 Dick Brooks 170 170 Running
3 Buddy Baker 165 5 170 Running
4 Bobby Allison 160 10 170 Running
5 Alton Jones 155 155 Running
6 James Hylton 150 5 155 Running
7 Benny Parsons 146 146 Running
8 J. D. McDuffie 142 142 Running
9 Carl Adams 138 138 Running
10 Richard Childress134 134 Running
11 Dave Marcis 130 130 Running
12 Richie Panch 127 127 Running
13 Cecil Gordon 124 124 Running
14 Earl Brooks 121 121 Running
15 Ed Negre 118 118 Running
16 Dick May 115 115 Running
17 David Sisco 112 112 Running
18 Joe Mihalic 109 109 Running
19 Paul Dean Holt 106 106 Engine
20 Lennie Pond 103 103 Overheating
21 Buddy Arrington 100 100 Running
22 Joe Frasson 97 97 Engine
23 Donnie Allison 94 94 Engine
24 Jim Vandiver 91 91 Engine
25 Walter Ballard 88 88 Clutch
26 Earl Canavan 85 85 Engine
27 Cale Yarborough 82 82 Transmission
28 Chuck Bown 79 79 Engine
29 Dean Dalton 76 76 Overheating
30 D. K. Ulrich 73 73 Engine
31 David Pearson 70 70 Engine
32 Frank Warren 67 67 Engine
33 Jimmy Hensley 64 64 Rear End
34 Neil Castles 61 61 Engine
35 Joey Arrington 58 58 Engine
36 Darrell Waltrip 55 55 Brakes
37 Elmo Langley 52 52 Engine
38 Rick Newsom 49 49 Engine
39 Richard Petty 46 46 Engine
40 Travis Tiller 43 43 Transmission
41 Bobby Isaac 40 40 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
42 Bill Champion 37 37 Engine
43 Jabe Thomas 34 34 Brakes
The race was a huge turning point in the standings as well. Richard Petty blew his engine at North Wilkesboro on segment two and finished 39th. This zapped away almost his entire point lead as Bobby Allison is now jsut 10 points in back of him for first. Childress is within 92 points of Petty in third, Hylton is in 4th 104 points back, and David Pearson has 5th, 145 points back.
One change to the top 20 came as Harry Jefferson, in the top 20 going into North Wilkesboro but did not run, dropped to 21st and Marlin, with his win, vaulted into the top 20.
Total
Points DRIVER POS
945 Richard Petty 1
935 Bobby Allison 2
853 Richard Childress 3
841 James Hylton 4
800 David Pearson 5
790 Benny Parsons 6
789 Buddy Baker 7
787 Elmo Langley 8
748 Cecil Gordon 9
718 Dave Marcis 10
700 Dick Brooks 11
647 Darrell Waltrip 12
629 Jim Vandiver 13
616 Richie Panch 14
582 Dick May 15
562 Coo Coo Marlin 16
562 Frank Warren 17
545 Ed Negre 18
525 Carl Adams 19
520 Cale Yarborough 20
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509 Harry Jefferson 21
474 Alton Jones 22
465 Joe Mihalic 23
465 Lennie Pond 24
436 David Sisco 25
Next week the Winston Cup Series heads to Alabama International Speedway (today known as Talladega) for the Winston 500.
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