The 1991 Hardee's 500 was the 29th and final stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, November 17, 1991, before an audience of 125,000 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. At race's end, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would manage to dominate the majority of the race to take his fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1][2][3][4]
By starting the race, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would clinch his fifth NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship. With the championship, he was two championships away from tying Richard Petty for the record of the most NASCAR Winston Cup Series championships, with Petty having seven.[5]
Background
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
- (R) - denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, November 15, at 2:00 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, November 16, 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,[6] 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.
Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.793 and an average speed of 177.937 miles per hour (286.362 km/h) in the first round.[7]
Five drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Standings after the race
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References
- ^ Higgins, Tom (November 18, 1991). "Martin finishes tough season a winner (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 11. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (November 18, 1991). "Martin finishes tough season a winner (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 16. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Branham, H. A. (November 18, 1991). "Pressure off as Martin wins finale (Part 1)". The Tampa Tribune. p. 13. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Branham, H. A. (November 18, 1991). "Pressure off as Martin wins finale (Part 2)". The Tampa Tribune. p. 17. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Pearson, Harold (November 18, 1991). "Earnhardt says third straight title not out of question". Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. 27. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. November 15, 1991. p. 22. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (November 16, 1991). "Elliott takes Atlanta pole in farewell race with Melling". The Charlotte Observer. p. 17. Retrieved March 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.