1992 Champion Spark Plug 400

1992 Champion Spark Plug 400

Race details[1]
Race 19 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Michigan International Speedway grandstands; picture taken in the 1990s
Date	August 16, 1992
Official name	Champion Spark Plug 400
Location	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi (3.218 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather	Mild with temperatures approaching 72 °F (22 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed	145.056 miles per hour (233.445 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Alan Kulwicki	Alan Kulwicki Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	73
Winner
No. 33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons

The 1992 Champion Spark Plug 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on August 16, 1992, at Michigan International Speedway in the American community of Brooklyn, Michigan.

Harry Gant would set a record for being the oldest winner of a NASCAR Cup Series racing at 52 years and 219 days. Oldsmobile would get their final victory as an active manufacturer and would be sidelined in favor of Pontiac (who left NASCAR after 2003) and Dodge (who left NASCAR after 2012). Davey Allison would die within months of this race while his younger brother and Clifford would eventually be killed in a racing accident in 1992.

Then-current IndyCar driver Lyn St. James was the grand marshal of the race who shouted "Gentlemen, start your engines!"

Background

Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long.^[2] Opened in 1968, the track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the 3,600-foot-long front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees.^[2] The back stretch, has a five degree banking and is 2,242 feet long.^[2]

Summary

Approximately 13% of this 200-lap race was run under a caution flag; each green flag lasted for an average of 30 laps. There were four accidents in this event; a total of nine different cars were involved in the wreckage. Greg Sacks was credited as the last-place finisher on the fourth lap due to three-car pileup that also took Jimmy Means out of the race and severely affected Bobby Hamilton. It took nearly two hours and fifty minutes to decide the race; Harry Gant would defeat an aging Darrell Waltrip by a distance of nearly five seconds.^[3] Gant would never win a NASCAR Cup Series racing event again after this one.^[4] The win turned out to be entirely based on fuel mileage; as Gant was barely running in the middle of the racing pack before somehow picking up speed and acquiring the first-place position.

Alan Kulwicki earned the pole position for this race by driving up to 178.156 miles per hour or 286.714 kilometres per hour during qualifying while the average race traffic speed would be a meager 145.056 miles per hour or 233.445 kilometres per hour during the actual event. Seven drivers failed to qualify for the race; including Delma Cowart. All of the drivers in this event were born in the United States of America.^[3] Michigan International Speedway has been a Ford dominated track starting in 1984, and a Mercury track before that from 1969-78. It was also a track that suited a smooth driver or a driver that could change his driving tactics for Michigan International Speedway.

At the end of the event, only twelve drivers remained on the lead lap. Jeff McClure was the lowest finishing driver to complete the race; even though he was 33 laps behind the people on the lead lap.^[3] Individual prize winnings for the driver varied from the winner's share of $71,545 ($120,847.77 when considering inflation) to the last-place finishers' share of $7,140 ($12,060.28 when considering inflation). The combined prize purse for this racing event was $641,610 ($1,083,753.39 when considering inflation).^[5]

Finishing order

1. Harry Gant (No. 33)
2. Darrell Waltrip (No. 17)
3. Bill Elliott (No. 11)
4. Ernie Irvan (No. 4)
5. Davey Allison (No. 28)
6. Kyle Petty (No. 42)
7. Sterling Marlin (No. 22)
8. Dale Jarrett (No. 18)
9. Mark Martin (No. 6)
10. Morgan Shepherd (No. 21)
11. Ken Schrader (No. 25)
12. Brett Bodine (No. 26)
13. Rick Mast (No. 1)
14. Alan Kulwicki (No. 7)
15. Bobby Hamilton (No. 68)
16. Dale Earnhardt (No. 3)
17. Chad Little (No. 9)
18. Richard Petty (No. 43)
19. Dick Trickle (No. 8)
20. Wally Dallenbach, Jr. (No. 16)
21. Rusty Wallace (No. 2)
22. Michael Waltrip (No. 30)
23. Terry Labonte (No. 94)
24. Hut Stricklin (No. 12)
25. Ted Musgrave (No. 55)
26. Bobby Hillin, Jr. (No. 31)
27. Jeff Purvis (No. 51)
28. Eddie Bierschwale (No. 23)
29. Jimmy Hensley (No. 66)
30. Mike Potter (No. 77)
31. Jeff McClure (No. 27)
32. Dave Marcis* (No. 71)
33. Derrike Cope* (No. 10)
34. Lake Speed* (No. 83)
35. Stanley Smith* (No. 49)
36. Ricky Rudd* (No. 5)
37. Stan Fox* (No. 13)
38. Jimmy Horton* (No. 32)
39. Jimmy Means* (No. 52)
40. Geoffrey Bodine* (No. 15)
41. Greg Sacks* (No. 51)

* Driver failed to finish race

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points[3]	Differential
1	Bill Elliott	2796	0
2	Davey Allison	2759	-37
3	Harry Gant	2661	-135
4	Alan Kulwicki	2653	-143
5	Mark Martin	2511	-285
6	Kyle Petty	2431	-365
7	Ernie Irvan	2429	-367
8	Morgan Shepherd	2415	-381
9	Terry Labonte	2401	-395
10	Dale Earnhardt	2400	-396

References

1. Weather information for the 1992 Champion Spark Plug 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. "Michigan International Speedway". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
3. Racing information for the 1992 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Racing Reference
4. Racing information for the 1992 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Race Database
5. Race information for the 1992 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet