The 1991 Coca-Cola 600 was the tenth stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 26, 1991, before an audience of 160,000 in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. On the final restart with nine to go, Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison would manage to hold off the field to complete a dominant run in the race, earning him his ninth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader and Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 10 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1991 Coca-Cola 600 program cover, with artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | May 26, 1991 | ||
| Official name | 32nd Annual Coca-Cola 600 | ||
| Location | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965.606 km) | ||
| Average speed | 138.951 miles per hour (223.620 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 160,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Roush Racing | ||
| Time | 30.889 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Laps | 263 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Neil Bonnett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Performance Racing Network | ||
Background
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Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
*Before the race, owner Junior Johnson, along with the team's crew chief, Tim Brewer, were suspended for 12 weeks. As a result, the team would change ownership for the race, changing the owner to Flossie Johnson, Junior's wife, along with changing the car's number to 97.[5][6]
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, May 22, at 3:00 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 Thursday, May 23, at 1:00 PM 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,[7] 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.
Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.889 and an average speed of 174.820 miles per hour (281.346 km/h) in the first round.[8][9]
Eight drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editStandings after the race
edit
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References
edit- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 27, 1991). "Another 600, another Allison (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 11. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 27, 1991). "Another 600, another Allison (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 17. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Foreman Jr., Tom (May 27, 1991). "Allison's Ford flies at Charlotte (Part 1)". The Herald-Sun. p. 25. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
- ^ Foreman Jr., Tom (May 27, 1991). "Allison's Ford flies at Charlotte (Part 2)". The Herald-Sun. p. 28. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
- ^ Johnson, Mark (May 25, 1991). "New racing twist: Go, Flossie, go!". Sun-News. p. 20. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 26, 1991). "Johnson's crew looking for win for 'Team Floss'". The Charlotte Observer. p. 55. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Charlotte race week schedule". The Charlotte Observer. May 22, 1991. p. 103. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 23, 1991). "600 pole is set (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 28. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 23, 1991). "600 pole is set (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 32. Retrieved February 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
