1994 Slick 50 500

1994 Slick 50 500
Race details[1]
Race 30 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

Layout of Phoenix International Raceway
Date October 30, 1994 (1994-October-30)
Official name Slick 50 500
Location Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale, Arizona
Course Permanent racing facility
1.000 mi (1.609 km)
Distance 312 laps, 312 mi (502 km)
Weather Hot with temperatures approaching 88 °F (31 °C); wind speeds up to 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h)
Average speed 107.463 miles per hour (172.945 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 112
Winner
No. 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network TNN
Announcers Mike Joy
Buddy Baker
Dick Berggren

The 1994 Slick 50 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 30, 1994, at Phoenix International Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. This race would be the final race in 1994 that Chevrolet would win; with the Chevrolet Lumina representing their manufacturing brand in the top-level professional stock car series at that time.

Never again would the aluminium chassis of the Chevrolet Lumina win another race in the NASCAR Cup Series;[2] the Chevrolet Monte Carlo would take over in 1995 and would race until the beginning of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. With the winner's average speed being slightly below 108 miles per hour (174 km/h), stock car manufacturers realized that aluminium no longer made the fastest vehicles and started to research for lighter materials to use for the exterior of the NASCAR vehicles. In today's NASCAR, a simple steel tube frame with safety roll cage (serving as a space frame chassis) is used for the racing vehicles. A 24-gauge sheet metal body covers the body for safety reasons.[3]

Summary

A lineup of 43 drivers made the starting grid for this 312-lap racing event; John Andretti finished in last-place on lap 31 due to a crash on lap 31. The yellow flag didn't come until lap 34 and lasted until lap 41. About 9% of the race was run under a caution flag while the green flag was maintained for an average of 57 laps.[4] Individual winnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $67,885 ($108,564.18 when considering inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $6,825 ($10,914.79 when considering inflation). The total prize purse for this racing event was $690,315 ($1,103,977.04 when considering inflation).[5]

Eleven drivers failed to qualify for this event; including Jeff Purvis. There were four caution flags for this event; most of them were caused by in-race accidents. Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Gordon and Ron Hornaday, Jr. would dominate the race during the first 100 laps while Terry Labonte and Sterling Marling would dominate the final 100 laps of this event. Terry Labonte would eventually defeat Mark Martin by slightly more than three seconds after two hours and fifty-four minutes of racing. All 43 of the drivers were born in the United States of America.[4] Jeff Gordon was in the spotlight for the 1994 NASCAR Cup Series season with a pre-season engagement to his now ex-wife Brooke and 13 finishes in the "top ten" prior to this event. His fourth-place finish would add another "top ten" finish to Jeff Gordon's NASCAR racing résumé.[6]

Rick Carelli would be the highest-finishing driver not to finish the race while Michael Waltrip would be the lowest-finishing driver to finish the race. Most of the drivers in this event would either be driving Ford or Chevrolet vehicles during the race.[4] Dale Earnhardt would eventually go on to clinch the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship by more than 440 points after this event; although his day ended on lap 91 with engine problems.

Finishing order

Timeline

Retirements from NASCAR

Carelli and Mike Chase would end their respective NASCAR Cup Series careers after this event.[7]

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[4] Differential
1 Dale Earnhardt 4519 0
2 Rusty Wallace 4140 -379
3 Mark Martin 4065 -454
4 Ken Schrader 3930 -589
5 Ricky Rudd 3929 -590
6 Morgan Shepherd 3879 -640
7 Terry Labonte 3734 -785
8 Jeff Gordon 3658 -861
9 Darrell Waltrip 3588 -931
10 Bill Elliott 3568 -951

References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1994 Slick 50 500 at the Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. ↑ Track profile about Phoenix International Raceway at Athlon Sports
  3. ↑ NASCAR.com "Waltrip race team finds important asset in partner" 2/15/08
  4. 1 2 3 4 1994 Slick 50 500 racing information at Racing Reference
  5. ↑ 1994 Slick 50 500 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  6. ↑ 1994 statistics for Jeff Gordon at Jeff Gordon Online
  7. ↑ 1994 Slick 50 500 racing information at Race Database
Preceded by
1994 AC-Delco 500		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1994 		Succeeded by
1994 Hooters 500
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