1986 Sovran Bank 500

1986 Sovran Bank 500

Race details
Race 8 of 29 in the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1986 Sovran Bank 500 program cover, featuring Bill Elliott and Darrell Waltrip robbing a bank.
Date	April 27, 1986
Official name	37th Annual Sovran Bank 500
Location	Martinsville, Virginia, Martinsville Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Average speed	76.882 miles per hour (123.730 km/h)
Attendance	38,500
Pole position
Driver	Tim Richmond	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	20.728
Most laps led
Driver	Ricky Rudd	Bud Moore Engineering
Laps	163
Winner
No. 15	Ricky Rudd	Bud Moore Engineering
Television in the United States
Network	SETN (tape-delayed until June 21)[1]
Announcers	Mike Joy, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1986 Sovran Bank 500 was the eighth stock car race of the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 37th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 27, 1986, before an audience of 38,500 in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete.^[2]

In a race of attrition, Bud Moore Engineering's Ricky Rudd took advantage of numerous mechanical failures given to other drivers during the race, lapping the field and leading the final 149 laps. The victory was Rudd's fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, King Racing's Joe Ruttman and Hagan Enterprises' Terry Labonte finished second and third, respectively.^[3][4]

Background[edit]

Martinsville Speedway is an NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Entry list[edit]

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying[edit]

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, April 24, at 1:30 PM EST. Each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 10 drivers in the round were 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 Friday, April 25, at 1:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 11-30 were decided on time,^[5] 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.

Tim Richmond, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, won the pole, setting a time of 20.893 and an average speed of 90.716 miles per hour (145.993 km/h) in the first round.^[6]

Two drivers failed to qualify.^[7]

Full qualifying results[edit]

Race results[edit]

Standings after the race[edit]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Darrell Waltrip 1,247 2 Dale Earnhardt 1,242 (-5) 2 3 Terry Labonte 1,113 (-134) 1 4 Rusty Wallace 1,092 (–155) 1 5 Kyle Petty 1,082 (–165) 2 6 Bill Elliott 1,040 (–207) 1 7 Bobby Allison 1,018 (–229) 1 8 Tim Richmond 1,008 (–239) 9 Geoff Bodine 1,000 (–247) 2 10 Ricky Rudd 987 (–260) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References[edit]