Rewriting NASCAR's Modern History, 1971 and Beyond

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1972 Miller High Life 500

Ontario Motor Speedway
Race 3 of 29

Homecoming Ends in Disappointment

The reigning Winston Cup Champion made the most of his California qualifying sessions, as he once again earned the pole for the Miller High Life 500, to go along with last week's pole at Riverside International Raceway. Richard Petty qualified second, and started alongside David Pearson for the 500 mile event. Hometown favorite, Shannon Faulkner timed in third, Pete Hamilton fourth, and Cale Yarborough rounded out the top 5 starters.

The second Crown Jewel event of the 1972 season started off as a fierce battle among "The Fox" and Petty as they swapped the lead over the first green-flag run, with Petty emerging as the leader due to a quick 4 tire and fuel stop. During the second round of green-flag pit-stops on laps 68-71, the first yellow flag of the day flew for a huge crash at the exit of turn two and claimed many of the race's contenders; Petty, Faulkner, Bobby Isaac, Buddy Baker, Pete Hamilton, Neil Castles and James Hylton were just a few that were done for the day with severely damaged cars.

Spoiler

Two more cautions were occur in the race, both for blown motors, lap 126 of 200 for Cecil Gordon, and lap 138 for Buddy Arrington. On the final restart, which came with 56 laps remaining, the battle for the lead raged among Pearson, Bobby Allison and A.J. Foyt. Coming up to the next fuel stop, the Holman-Moody team knew that they had to perform better than they had earlier in the race, when Petty had beaten them on pit road. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, as Allison and Foyt emerged from the final green-flag pit-stops with a 6 second lead over Pearson. The battle for the Ontario victory would come down to 0.33 seconds as A.J. Foyt was able to beat Allison's Dodge to the finish line!

Foyt Ontario Win.jpg
AJ celebrates with the Miller High Life 500 trophy.
foyt ontario win 2.jpg
AJ's wife, Lucy joins him in victory lane.
(IRL-AJ did win the 1972 Miller High Life 500 over Bobby Allison, these are actual photos from that day. As you can see, AJ was driving for the Wood Brothers then. For the sake of this Dynasty, he is still in the Jack Bowsher #11.)

Results:
1-Foyt claimed his first win of 1972, leading 37 of 200 laps.
2-Bobby Allison had another strong race, leading 31 laps.
3-"The Fox" came home third, leading the most laps of the race with 84.
4-Mario Andretti led 4 laps en route to a top 5 finish.
5-Cale Yarborough managed to dodge the lap 70 crash, and led 4 laps on the day.
6-Jabe Thomas led 1 lap, and was the first finisher 1 lap down.
7-Bill Champion capitalized on the lap 70 crash with a nice top-10 finish.
8-Dave Marcis limped to the finish with some damage from the big wreck.
9-Benny Parsons also finished with damage.
10-Charlie Glotzbach completed his California swing with 2 top-10's.

Notables:
12-Donnie Allison led 1 lap, but was caught up in the "Big One" and fought an ill-handling car.
13-Leeroy Yarbrough was 2 laps down.
The following drivers were all caught up in the "Big One" and had their race end on laps 68-71:
30-Elmo Langley, 31-Pete Hamilton, 32-Buddy Baker, 33-Bobby Isaac led 2 laps, 34-Shannon Faulkner, 35-Petty led 35 laps, 36-Neil Castles, 37-James Hylton, 38-Jim Vandiver, 39-Curtis Turner, 40-Bill Hollar, 41-Raymond Williams, 42-John McCoy.

The Winston Cup Series heads back home to the Southeast, and comes to you from the Richmond Fairgrounds Speedway in 2 weeks for the Richmond 400!

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1972 Richmond 400
Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway
Race 4 of 29

Petty Rebounds at Richmond!
Petty Richmond Win.jpg

Richard Petty celebrates win #1 in 1972

It was All Petty, all weekend at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway! Richard started on the pole and would lead 337 of the 400 laps! Although there were 18 lead changes among 9 drivers, Petty was the clear class of the field and drove his Plymouth to victory lane, capturing his first top-10 finish of the season!

"...I'd rather be lucky than good any day, but today we were both!" Petty announced from victory lane with his classic big-toothed grin. Petty was referring to being lucky as he narrowly missed a stream of oil left on the track from Bill Champion's Ford when his motor erupted on lap 355.

Results:
1-Petty, led 337 laps en route to his first win of 1972.
2-David Pearson led 8 laps, and has finished 4th, 1st and now 2nd in the 3 races run at Richmond in the Winston Cup era.
3-Shannon Faulkner led 4 laps, again, earning his first career top-10 at Richmond.
4-Charlie Glotzbach now has a string of 3 top-10's in a row.
5-Dave Marcis led 2 laps in his Dodge.
6-Benny Parson led 2 laps, and was the first finisher 1 lap off the pace.
7-Buddy Baker led 36 laps...at a short track!
8-Short-track standout, Eddie Yarboro made his first start of the season.
9-Mario Andretti led 1 lap.
10-Pete Hamilton held off Dick Brooks for a top-10 finish.

Notables:
13-Last year's winner, Bobby Isaac couldn't find the correct combination all weekend.
14-Neil Castles
15-Donnie Allison
18-Cale Yarborough led 7 laps, but was caught up in a minor caution, losing 2 laps in the pits for repairs.
19-Last week's winner, AJ Foyt was said to be looking forward to next week's race at Rockingham.
20-Leeroy Yarbrough
21-Bobby Allison led 3 laps before being involved with an accident with Cale.

The Carolina 500 from North Carolina Motor Speedway is up next week for the Winston Cup Series! Last year, Bobby Isaac won, while David Pearson took home the win in the fall. Who will topple "The Rock" next week?
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Sorry peeps, I ran into a corrupted file a while back! I was able to recover all the race results, but my files that contained points positions and stats after each race bit the dust. With that being said, the remainder of 1972 will have a slightly different format. I will not be able to post the points positions as we go...think of it as a surprise at the end of the season where your favorite finishes.

Let's get back to it!

See you at Z track!

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1972 Carolina 500
North Carolina Motor Speedway
Race 5 of 29

From Worst, to First!

The Winston Cup Series rolled into Rockingham, NC Thursday night on the heels of a dominant race by Richard Petty at the Richmond Fairgrounds last weekend! Petty would be looking to improve his finishing position from last year's races at NCMS, where he was second in each race respectively. This time around, Petty Enterprises figured "The Rock" owed them one! They were half right...

The winner of the 1971 Carolina 500 from NCMS, Bobby Isaac, displayed that he remembers how to get around the d-shaped oval in speedy fashion, by capturing the pole for Sunday's 500 mile event in his Dodge Charger!

Another Dodge would end up sharing the front row, as Bobby Allison put his #22 Charger alongside Isaac's #71. Bobby's brother, Donnie, would be the lone Ford product in the top six, as he would grab the third spot. The Petty Enterprises' Plymouth of Richard Petty, qualified fourth, followed by Dave Marcis' #30 Dodge and Neil Castles' #06 Plymouth in sixth. A.J. Foyt would put his Mercury seventh, alongside Shannon Faulkner's Plymouth. Benny Parsons and Cale Yarborough round out the top ten starters. Reigning Winston Cup Champion, David Pearson starts eleventh, and is the most recent winner at "The Rock," taking last year's American 500 in the fall.

Petty Enterprises had work to do after qualifying as...

Spoiler

...the #40 of Pete Hamilton lost a motor during his qualifying session. Pete was said to be very dejected, as the team put up the slowest time in qualifying. They will have to go to work to put another motor in the car for Sunday's race, that has zero practice time on it.

North Carolina Motor Speedway is known as a "tire-eater" racetrack. It may only be slightly larger than a mile in length, 1.017 miles, but speeds are high at the track. The track was resurfaced in 1965, just 7 years ago, but it's a very aggressive and slick track. The tires start to wear quickly, and it takes a smooth driver and excellent handling car to get around "The Rock!" Lap times fall off almost 4 seconds per lap over the course of a fuel run...on the good handling cars. Green flag pit stops are very common at NCMS, so you can have drivers on brand new sticker tires, lapping 3-4 seconds quicker than other drivers on the track, making it very treacherous. Strategy and luck, are important factors when you're competing at "THE ROCK."

Luck and Strategy, it all came together for Sunday's winner. 6 cautions waived for 22 laps of the 492 lap race, leaving 470 laps of green-flag racing! While there were only 6, they fell at the perfect times for the winning team. At the drop of the green flag, pole-sitter, Bobby Isaac jumped out to an early lead, and would battle with Donnie Allison, Foyt, Dave Marcis, Faulkner, Pearson and Petty for the first 265 laps.

The Petty Enterprises team looked great, as Richard Petty led 81 of the first 250 laps, most of all drivers, while Pete Hamilton charged from the 42nd starting position. Hamilton's team would elect to short-pit (pit earlier than you need to for fuel, to take advantage of new tires) throughout the race, and the cautions would fall just right! Over the course of the first 265 laps, Pete would catch a caution just as he was passing the leader to get back on the lead-lap, three times! Luck...or strategy...? Eventually, Hamilton would find himself in the lead, with a perfect handling car, and would go on to win, the Carolina 500! Petty Enterprises might have been right, "The Rock" might have "owed" them one, but it wasn't the driver they thought that would be winning. Pete cruised to victory, leading 217 of the final 227 laps, and beating Donnie Allison to the finish by 3.33 seconds. Only four drivers finished on the lead lap!

Results:
1-Pete Hamilton becomes the first driver to win from the last starting spot in Winston Cup history!
2-Donnie Allison led 56 laps on the day
3-Foyt rallied from a flat tire and being 2 laps down
4-Marcis led 46 laps, and was the final driver on the lead lap, 9 seconds behind Hamilton
5-Last year's winner, Bobby Isaac led 40 laps early
6-Neil Castles had a solid run after a solid qualifying effort
7-Cale Yarborough ran in the top ten all day, but never challenged for the lead
8-Shannon Faulkner led 27 laps on the day
9-Benny Parsons with another top 10
10-Leeroy Yarbrough was the last finisher 2 laps behind the leader

Notables:
14-David Pearson was 5 laps down, and led 25 laps early on
15-Petty, led 81 laps early, before the strategy and luck ran out
33-Mario Andretti lost a motor with 75 laps remaining
35 & 36-Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker crashed on lap 263 to bring out the final caution.

Join us next week, as the stars of the Winston Cup Series return to "Thunder Valley" for the Southeastern 500 from Bristol International Speedway!

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1972 Southeastern 500
Bristol International Speedway
Race 6 of 29

Two In a Row For First-Time Winners at Bristol!

Back to Bristol! Thunder Valley! For some, a daunting task to complete 500 laps at the high-banked half-mile bull-ring on the border of Northeast Tennessee, and Southwest Virginia, while others felt right at home on the tight track! For Shannon Faulkner, it was a return to his best memory thus far...the site of his first career Winston Cup victory last summer! So far, his only victory, and he was looking to double up! For others, they were just looking to survive and move on to the next race.

Cale Yarborough captured his second pole of the 1972 Winston Cup season, narrowly edging out "The Silver Fox," David Pearson by 14 thousandths of a second! Faulkner wound up third, just 2 thousandths behind Pearson, and lined up next to bitter rival, Richard Petty. The field was set, it was going to be a slugfest, as the heavy hitters were all lined up near the front of the field. Contact is a regular occurrence whenever the cup series heads to the short-tracks, and Bristol is no different.

Spoiler

As the race got under way, in front of a capacity crowd on a beautiful day, the stars of the Winston Cup series put on a display of hard racing, trading the lead masterfully among Yarborough, Pearson and Petty, with Faulkner in the mix as well.

A caution waived on lap 62 for debris, and the field pit for fuel and fresh tires. The battle resumed for the top spot once the field took the green flag once again. A lot of give and take, as they raced around the bull-ring known for short tempers. The crowd cheered on their favorites! Cale would jump to the lead, then Pearson, then Petty! Faulkner would stalk from his fourth position. All this going on as relative unknown Cup driver, Eddie Yarboro steadily moved up the rankings from his 17th place start.

Eddie was well known in the Carolina's and Eastern Tennessee on local track circuits as a real "Shoe" that hadn't been given a chance in NASCAR's premiere circuit. He attempted most of the short track races in '71, with 9 starts to his credit, collecting two top-fives, and three top-tens. Now, with a solid piece, a discarded 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner from the Petty stable, Yarboro could show the "big leaguers" what he could do in good equipment!

On lap 165 a melee ensued when a couple lap cars got together, collecting Donnie Allison, who had just made a green-flag pit-stop, Buddy Baker and the fifth place driver, Shannon Faulkner. All three would be too damaged to return, relegating them to finishes of 38th-40th.

"Shannon, can we get your thoughts on what happen out there?" Pit reporter Chris Economaki asked over the radio broadcast.

"Well Chris," Shannon started over the roar of the engines, having to actually yell into the microphone to be able to hear himself, "I was just taking my time out there, while those boys were running the wheels off! It was a good show from my seat, until it all went sideways! I mean, Buddy and Donnie got all sideways from something, I dunno what, but man, I had no place to go, and whacked Buddy pretty good. That's Bristol! We were on top of the mountain last time we were here, now...we're done...this car is done, fire sale on Monday!" Shannon stepped away with a slight chuckle as he shook his head, and headed back to the garage area.

Bryan and Boyd were waiting in the garage with the car, they were visibly angry that they were out of the race. The car was good, really good, and they were going to be leaving Bristol with nothing to show for it! Their father walked up, smoke in one hand. He could see that they were seething.

"This car is junk! If anything was straight before, it's bent now. Damn Dad, even the damn steering wheel is bent!" Bryan griped, as his dad just nodded, only able to hear about half of what was being said. The rest of the crew got the car back into rolling order as Shannon pulled his two sons aside.

"Listen up." He pointed at the scoreboard, showing the #03 in fourth place, "Buddy's out. We're out. That Eddie, he's in the same position we were in a year ago. I've noticed each time he pits, he loses like 5 or 6 spots. He's got two pit guys, we're going to help him."

The race continued, with Yarboro slowly picking off the front three, Pearson, Petty and Cale. He eventually made his way to the lead, without the help of his "new" pit-crew. Caution flew on lap 322 for a blown motor which dropped oil all over the track. Yarboro, not knowing that Faulkner had joined his pit, was devastated. He knew, that with less than 170 laps to go once the caution was over, he'd have a hard time getting back by the sport's top drivers after losing spots in the pits.

He entered pit road, and saw a young blonde-haired boy jump the pit wall and started changing the right front tire. Eddie wasn't sure who it was. Shannon approached Eddie, white dixie cup of water in hand for him. He handed him the water, Eddie looked perplexed, but drank it. Shannon leaned into the cockpit and asked Eddie about the car. Eddie explained handling characteristics, Shannon agreed, and had Bryan make a wedge adjustment in the right rear. The young tire changer, (Boyd) finished his job, just as Bryan finished fueling the car, and Eddie peeled out of pit road, still leading the field.

Yarboro would go on to hold off a late charge from "The Silver Fox" and collect his first Winston Cup victory! In victory lane, Eddie praised and thanked the Faulkner team for helping out, and was sure to call for them to be in the victory lane photos.

"Without those guys, I'm not sure we could have won this race!" Yarboro explained with a mile-wide grin. [b]"Chris, can you believe it!?" He asked victory lane reporter Chris Economaki ecstatically. "We just won at Bristol! For what that team did, just speaks volumes for how they do things. I'll never forget it!"

Chris Economaki walked over to Shannon as he was celebrating with Eddie and his two crew members, tapped him on the shoulder. Shannon surprised, turned to him.
"Shannon, what made you come help Eddie? How could you adapt so quickly to help him seal the win?"

"Well Chris, first off, that boy was faster than goose s**t on a hot day! Let's not take anything away from him and his team. They prepared this car, and they did it right! It was bad fast! We've been there, under-manned, under-sponsored, underdogged! To compete with these top guys, you need a top pit crew too, not saying his guys aren't good, but they have two guys, while the rest of us have 7 or 8. All it takes is a chance, we brought over our guys, and just gave them a hand. Eddie had to drive the damn thing for 500 laps!" He chuckled, "These guys deserved to win Chris, I'm just glad we could help him out, I'm not glad that we were out of the race, but glad we could help him out for sure. All it takes is a chance sometimes Chris." He turned back to the Yarboro crew, and gave out a loud cheering holler, "Wooooo!"

Results:
1-Yarboro led 237 laps as he collected his first career win
2-Pearson led 93 laps and came across the line less than 1 second behind Yarboro
3-Charlie Glotzbach had a strong top five
4-Petty led 44 laps, and was said to be very upset about Yarboro winning in one of his former cars, and that the Faulkner crew had something to do with it
5-James Hylton was the first finisher 1 lap down
6-#34 Wendell Scott
7-Bobby Isaac
8-Dave Marcis was the first finisher 2 laps down
9-Cale Yarborough led 115 laps
10-Pete Hamilton

Notables:
11-Bobby Allison struggled all day with a loose car
12-Benny Parsons
20-Neil Castles was 4 laps down
22-Foyt led 1 lap
37-Mario Andretti blew a motor early on
38-Faulkner led 10 laps before the crash
39-Buddy Baker was said to be excited to be going to Atlanta next
40-Donnie Allison was at the wrong place at the right time.

Up next, the Atlanta 500 at the super fast, Atlanta International Raceway

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1972 Atlanta 500
Atlanta International Raceway
Race 7 of 29

1972 Atlanta 500 Program.JPG

Last Lap Pass Nets Faulkner 2nd Career Victory!

A late race charge by Bobby Allison was halted, as Shannon Faulkner was able to make a last lap pass on Allison and win the Atlanta 500! Allison and Faulkner were clearly the class of the field, as combined they would lead 252 of the 328 laps of the 500 mile event, (Faulkner 176, Allison 76). Bobby would run a very close second to Faulkner all race long, as only 4 cautions flew for 16 laps, meaning that there were 312 green-flag laps! On the final green-flag pit-stop, Allison's crew made a slight adjustment, enabling him to chase Faulkner down, and take the lead with 40 laps remaining. The #91 Plymouth slowly reeled Allison back in over the course of the final 15 laps, and made a last lap pass as the two entered turn one. Allison's Dodge lost momentum off of turn 2, and all he could do was watch as Faulkner crossed the line first!

"Shannon, congratulations on an exciting win today! What a battle you had with Bobby." Victory lane reporter Chris Economaki said as he put the microphone to Faulkner as he climbed out of his winning Plymouth.

"Thanks Chris! Yeah, Bobby and I battled all day, I had to drive my *ss off to keep him back there. Every time I looked in the mirror today, he was there! We raced each other all d*mn day, and not once did we touch! That's hard, respectable racing right there! It don't get much better than passing one of the best on the last lap for the win! Ya know Chris, I like seeing you in victory lane each week...especially with our car!" Shannon turned to his crew, slapped high fives with the team, lit a cigarette, and posed for pictures with the Unocal Girls for the second time in his career. Once again, Boyd was on cloud nine during the celebration.

Spoiler

Back in the garage area, more pit reporters scoured the garage for more thoughts on the race.

"Bobby," one reporter started solemnly, "you came just that close."

"Yeah, we had a very good Coca-Cola Dodge today. You know, it was a pretty good weekend, qualified second, and finished second, but I feel like I gave one away there. We made a little change on the last stop, and the car took off quick, but lacked speed in the long run. We took the white, (flag) and Shannon had a good run off four, and he got to my outside entering turn one. I'm not totally sure what happen, but when he was out there, my car, it just jumped sideways...got loose. He got around me, and I couldn't run him back down! He had the best car, overall, if we would have beat them, it would have been an upset. We had a great car, and there's not a scratch on it. We'll take it back home, and bring this one back for Darlington in a few weeks."

Results:
1-Faulkner collects second career win, first at Atlanta
2-Bobby Allison leads 76 laps, getting passed on the last lap for the win
3-AJ Foyt led 17 laps, and was the final lead-lap finisher
4-Pete Hamilton had a solid run for Petty Enterprises
5-Mario Andretti had a strong speedway run
6-Dave Marcis led 4 laps on the day
7-Richard Petty led 13 laps, but had a loose wheel early in the race, and spent all day trying to get a lap back from Faulkner
8-Benny Parsons with another quiet top-10
9-JD McDuffie had his best finish of the season
10-60's NASCAR Superstar, Fred Lorenzen collects a rare Winston Cup top-10

Notables:
11-Charlie Glotzbach completed all but 2 laps
12-Bobby Isaac started on the pole but would never lead during the 328 lap event
26-Cale Yarborough would lead 13 laps before being caught up in one of the four cautions on the day
30-Leeroy Yarbrough had a top-10 run going before losing a motor with 24 laps remaining
33-Donnie Allison led 11 laps before losing a motor with 65 laps left
36-Buddy Baker was involved in a big crash on lap 124, ending his day early
38-David Pearson was also involved in the big one, after leading 18 laps early on.

The Winston Cup Series heads back to the short tracks the next two weeks, starting with the Gwyn Staley 400 from North Wilkesboro Speedway!

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1972 Gwyn Staley 400
North Wilkesboro Speedway
Race 8 of 29

1972 Gwyn Staley 400.jpg

Wood Brothers and Yarborough Winners again at Wilkesboro!

1971 Gwyn Staley 400 winner; Cale Yarborough, made it back-to-back Gwyn Staley 400 wins, by also taking the '72 victory in spectacular fashion!

"It wasn't lookin' like we were gonna do it...Buddy and Donnie got together on the last lap...and we were able to get by. This one was a gift, thanks Donnie!" Cale sarcastically explained to a capacity crowd in victory lane, flanked by the Unocal 76 girls.

Spoiler

Surprisingly, on a short-track, Buddy Baker appeared to have the best car, and was looking for his first win in the Winston Cup era, but Donnie Allison had other ideas, as he was looking for winning for the second time in as many races at North Wilkesboro. (Donnie held off his brother Bobby last fall for the win.) Donnie gave Buddy an attempted 'bump and run' in turns 1 & 2 on the final lap, but the contact sent Donnie sliding out of the groove as well as Baker. Cale was able to sneak by unscathed, and cruise to victory!

The capacity crowd hollered and cheered as the field came to rest on pit road after the race, as "The Gentle Giant" Buddy Baker, made his presence known as he approached Donnie's crew and car. Baker ended up being the final finisher on the lead-lap, 9th, while Donnie still managed to finish second. A short scuffle ensued between the drivers before NASCAR officials were able to pull a seething Baker off of Allison. Once tempers were slightly cooled, and the teams were separated, a local pit reporter caught up with Buddy Baker.

"Buddy, what are your thoughts on today?" Asked the young reporter, stretching his arm and microphone out to the towering Baker.

"I'll tell ya how I feel! I'm pissed!" Buddy angrily stated. "I mean, we had an awesome car, and just got dumped on the last lap! I tell you one thing, I have a really long memory." Buddy was eluding the to idea that race car drivers always remember who wreck them, and that they eventually will get payback on that driver somewhere down the line.

This was a very competitive race, as seven drivers would lead more than 20 laps throughout the race. Cautions all played a major role, as on more than one occasion, the caution came out amid green-flag pit-stops, trapping some of the favorites a lap or more down to the leaders.

There were 12 cautions for 60 laps, and were 30 lead changes among 11 drivers.

Results:
1-Cale Yarborough led 24 laps, coming from the 33rd starting position
2-Donnie Allison led 31 laps, but may have larger issue with an angry Buddy Baker aiming for him now
3-Bobby Isaac led 50 laps and challenged late in the race
4-Neil Castles was the top finishing Plymouth, leading 31 laps
5-Mario Andretti led 2 laps, and collected his second top-5 in a row
6-Richard Brickhouse overcame a 42nd place starting spot for a solid top-10
7-JD McDuffie scored another top-10, could this team be flying under the radar?
8-Leeroy Yarbrough put together a full race and led 1 lap
9-Baker led a race-high, 110 laps but got wrecked on the final lap as the leader
10-Bobby Allison won the pole, but never would never lead a single lap


Notables:
11-Shannon Faulkner led 76 laps but fell victim to an ill-timed caution during pit-stops
12-Eddie Yarboro couldn't duplicate his Bristol win, but came home with another solid run for the part-time team
15-Richard Petty led 64 laps, but twice was on pit-road making a green-flag stop, when the caution came out.
19-AJ Foyt struggled most of the day
20-Dave Marcis led 1 lap, and was on the same strategy as Petty, unfortunately, having the same issues
42-David Pearson's motor blew on lap 151/400 after leading 10 laps

Next week the Winston Cup Series is at "The Paperclip" Martinsville Speedway for the Virginia 500!

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1972 Martinsville 500
Martinsville Speedway
Race 9 of 29

This week the stars and cars of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series head to the circuit's shortest track. At just .526 miles long, the Martinsville Speedway provides some of the hardest and closest racing of the season, where light contact is the norm, and tempers usually flare! Be there Sunday, the green flag waives at 1:00 pm!

He turned down the radio, and put a cigarette to his lips, taking in a long drag.

Spoiler

"Boys, you hear that?" He looked around the shop, the crew stopped what they were doing and looked over to him.

"We didn't get the finish we were looking for at Wilkes last week, and Martinsville is a tough place to rebound, but that's just what we need to do!" The team knew they had a good car, it had been updated since it raced at Martinsville last fall where it led 186 of the 500 laps, but ultimately finished second to Bobby Isaac.

"We know who'll be fast guys, Isaac is a short-track ace, Cale won this race last year and he's got momentum from last week, Bobby and Donnie are front runners everywhere, and Pearson can drive anywhere. Now, Yarboro is getting his foot in the door on the short tracks, we have to step up our game." He took another drag, and got a very serious look on his face.

"Then there's Petty! He's the guy to beat everywhere. He's just bursting to break-out, we need to be able to capitalize on his down weekends, and so far, we haven't. That needs to change!" He spoke sternly, and turned the radio back up as his crew got back to their projects.

Post-Qualifying

"I tell you guys what, this Cale Yarborough, he's on some roll as of late! Winning last week, now taking his third pole position of this young season here at Martinsville, oh and by-they-way, he won this race last season. I think he's the guy to beat this weekend!" Stated an excited Ken Squire after Friday afternoon's qualifying session.

"You may be right Ken, but Martinsville is as tough of a track as you get. It's tough on brakes, motors, front bumpers and tempers. 500 laps around this place is like no other. There's not another track on the schedule that's as hard on brakes as this place. Brake failures are fairly common here. Can Cale preserve his car for 500 laps again? I don't know, but it'll be fun to watch!" Ned Jarrett, a former NASCAR champion chimed in. This would be Ned's first season calling some races with Ken Squier for the radio broadcasts. His insight into the driver's side of racing made him a natural at calling races.

Qualifying Results:

Spoiler

1-Cale Yarborough
2-Leeroy Yarbrough
3-Shannon Faulkner
4-Dave Marcis
5-David Pearson
6-Bobby Isaac
7-Bobby Allison
8-Donnie Allison
9-Bill Champion...where did he come from??
10-Mario Andretti

Notables:
11-Richard Petty
15-Buddy Baker
16-A.J. Foyt
18-Eddie Yarboro
19-Benny Parsons

The Race:

Spoiler

Cale would jump out to the early lead with Faulkner following through on the bottom lane to take over second from Leeroy. (The outside lane at Martinsville in this day and age, is at a drastic disadvantage compared to the inside lane.) As the inside lane drivers continue to move by the outside lane,
tempers start to flare, contact is made early and often leading to a total of 11 cautions on the day. Every driver on the track was involved in a caution at one point or another.

Cale, Faulkner, and eventually Petty would battle throughout the race, trading the lead among themselves. Between the 3, they would lead all but 4 laps! Petty would have to run his car a bit harder as he surprisingly struggled in qualifying, starting 11th. By the end of the race,
his brakes were fading, and he couldn't charge the corners as well as Cale or Faulkner. He'd be forced to settle for fourth on this day.

This day however, belonged to Shannon Faulkner! For the third time in his career, he'd won a Winston Cup race, and second of the season! Bobby Isaac would follow in second, Cale third, Petty and Pearson fifth.

Chris Economaki approached Faulkner in victory lane after a long, hard fought battle on another beautiful Virginia afternoon. Shannon was celebrating with his team, his son's and the Unocal 76 girls once again.

"Shannon, congratulations on today's victory, this is becoming a common conversation." Chris stated with a slight smile.

Shannon put his arm up on Chris' shoulders and around his neck, and with a giant grin, took a quick drag from a smoke.

"Wow!" He started in, half leaning on the much smaller Economaki.

"That, was a rough race. Thanks Chris. Do any of us have a clean car?" He joked, looking the front end of his beat-up Plymouth.

"My guys did great preparing this car! We ran second to Isaac here last fall, and you never know when you'll have a chance to win, especially here at this tough little place. I'm so proud these guys stepped up. Next week marks one-year since we started our first race, I can't believe we've already won 3 times! This is why we came! To win! Yeah baby!" He shouted at his crew as he turned and continued celebrating with them.

Results:

Spoiler

1-Faulkner led 228 laps en route to his 3rd career win
2-Bobby Isaac led 2 laps on the day
3-Cale led 79 laps from the pole
4-Petty led 189 laps
5-Pearson was the final lead-lap finisher
6-Eddie Yarboro had another strong short-track race
7-Donnie Allison led 1 lap, but finished 3 laps off the pace
8-Bobby Allison was also 3 laps down
9-Buddy Baker, yes, another strong short-track run for the Cotton Owens team
10-Dick Brooks was 4 laps down.

Notables:
11-James Hylton led 1 lap, but was also 4 laps down
12-Marcis
13-Pete Hamilton
14-Benny Parsons
15-Leeroy Yarbrough faded to 15th after a great qualifying effort.
17-Andretti, 20-Neil Castles
30-Foyt's motor expired 283 laps from the finish
31-Charlie Glotzbach only completed 183 laps before losing brakes and pounding the turn 1 wall

3615

The Rebel 400 from Darlington Raceway is next up for the Winston Cup Stars

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