NASCAR Race 8 of 16- Winston 500 (Alabama International Speedway)

On a beautiful weekend at Talladega, Alabama, the Winston Cup series ran the Winston 500. It also saw its eighth different winner as Harry Jeffseron won hsi first career race in a battle of sruvival. The cars that finished the race had good finishes as only seven cars finished the race.

Bobby Allison won the pole for the race, but would never lead a segment, as he fell back in the field early and blew his engine on segment 3, finishing 30th. Buddy Baker led the first two segments before giving up the lead to Cecil Gordon for segments 3 and 4. Baker and Gordon dueled for the lead for a while, but Gordon would fall out of contention with a blown engine on segment 9.

Jefferson took the lead on segment 7 and held it through 10 before losing it to Baker for segments 11-13. However, on segment 14 pit stops, Baker had vibration issues and opted to work on the car rather than risk a DNF. He fell too far back to win, but still finished 3rd. Jefferson would grab an eays lead and held off Jackie Rogers for the win.


Bonus Total
POS DRIVER Points Points Points
1 Harry Jefferson 175 10 185 Running
2 Jackie Rogers 170 170 Running
3 Buddy Baker 165 5 170 Running
4 Dick May 160 160 Running
5 Dave Marcis 155 155 Running
6 Richard Childress150 150 Running
7 Bruce Hill 146 146 Running
8 Johnny Rutherford142 142 Engine
9 Ramo Stott 138 138 Engine
10 Warren Tope 134 134 Engine
11 Elmo Langley 130 130 Overheating
12 Lennie Pond 127 127 Rear End
13 Carl Adams 124 124 Engine
14 Coo Coo Marlin 121 121 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
15 Ed Negre 118 118 Engine
16 David Pearson 115 115 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
17 Dick Trickle 112 112 Engine
18 Cecil Gordon 109 5 114 Engine
19 Donnie Allison 106 106 Oil Pump
20 Walter Ballard 103 103 Ignition
21 Darel Dieringer 100 100 Overheating
22 Cale Yarborough 97 97 Brakes
23 Jim Vandiver 94 94 Engine
24 Terry Link 91 91 Engine
25 James Hylton 88 88 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
26 Frank Warren 85 85 Engine
27 Randy Tissot 82 82 Steering/Handling/Vibrat.
28 Marty Robbins 79 79 Engine
29 Dick Brooks 76 76 Engine
30 Bobby Allison 73 73 Engine
31 Richie Panch 70 70 Engine
32 Dean Dalton 67 67 Engine
33 J. D. McDuffie 64 64 Engine
34 Darrell Waltrip 61 61 Engine
35 David Sisco 58 58 Engine
36 John Ray 55 55 Overheating
37 Benny Parsons 52 52 Engine
38 Salt Walther 49 49 Engine
39 Neil Bonnett 46 46 Engine
40 Richard Petty 43 43 Engine
41 A. J. Foyt 40 40 Engine
42 Red Farner 37 37 Engine
43 Gordon Johncock 34 34 Overheating


The standings saw big changes. Another bad run by Richard Petty (40th) saw him lose the points lead to Bobby Allison. Allison leads by just 5 points over Richard Childress, who turned a 43rd place start at Alabama to a 6th place finish. Seven drivers are within 100 points of Allison for the lead.

Meanwhile, two new drivers are in the top 20 in points. Harry Jefferson's wn boosted him to 15th in points, guarenteeing him a starting spot next week. Frank Warren also snuck into 20th place in points to get a guarenteed spot. Cale Yarbourough and Donnie Allison are now out of the top 20 and must qualify on time.

Next week we go to the longest race of the year, the World 600 at Charlotte.