# 1994 AC Delco 500

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/1994_AC_Delco_500
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/1994_AC_Delco_500.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_AC_Delco_500
> Source revision: 1353797942
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

The **1994 AC Delco 500** was the 29th [stock car race](/source/Stock_car_racing) of the [1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series](/source/1994_NASCAR_Winston_Cup_Series) season and the 30th iteration of the [event](/source/AC_Delco_500). The race was held on Sunday, October 23, 1994, in [Rockingham, North Carolina](/source/Rockingham,_North_Carolina), at [North Carolina Speedway](/source/North_Carolina_Speedway), a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 492 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, [Richard Childress Racing](/source/Richard_Childress_Racing) driver [Dale Earnhardt](/source/Dale_Earnhardt) would manage to defend against [Precision Products Racing](/source/Precision_Products_Racing) driver [Rick Mast](/source/Rick_Mast) to take his 63rd career [NASCAR Winston Cup Series](/source/NASCAR_Winston_Cup_Series) victory and his fourth and final victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Rick Mast and [Wood Brothers Racing](/source/Wood_Brothers_Racing) driver [Morgan Shepherd](/source/Morgan_Shepherd) would finish second and third, respectively.

With the victory, Earnhardt would manage to mathematically clinch and win a record-tying seventh NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship, which at the time was an achievement only achieved by [Richard Petty](/source/Richard_Petty). Earnhardt had only needed to gain 50 points on second-place driver in the driver's standings, [Rusty Wallace](/source/Rusty_Wallace). With Earnhardt's win and an early engine issue from Wallace, Earnhardt had managed to gain 127 points on Wallace, thus clinching the championship.[3] The feat would not be matched until 2016, when [Jimmie Johnson](/source/Jimmie_Johnson) managed to win his seventh championship at the [2016 Ford EcoBoost 400](/source/2016_Ford_EcoBoost_400).

## Background

[North Carolina Speedway](/source/North_Carolina_Motor_Speedway) is a 1 mile (1.6 km) flat oval track in [Rockingham, North Carolina](/source/Rockingham,_North_Carolina).

### Entry list

- **(R)** denotes rookie driver.

Driver Team Make 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Ford 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 02 Brad Noffsinger Taylor Racing Ford 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 8 Jeff Burton (R) Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 11 Bill Elliott Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 14 Randy MacDonald Hagan Racing Chevrolet 15 Lake Speed Bud Moore Engineering Ford 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 18 Dale Jarrett Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 19 Loy Allen Jr. (R) TriStar Motorsports Ford 21 Morgan Shepherd Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Bobby Labonte Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 23 Hut Stricklin Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Brett Bodine King Racing Ford 27 Jimmy Spencer Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 28 Kenny Wallace Robert Yates Racing Ford 29 Steve Grissom Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 30 Michael Waltrip Bahari Racing Pontiac 31 Ward Burton A.G. Dillard Motorsports Chevrolet 32 Dick Trickle Active Motorsports Chevrolet 33 Harry Gant Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 40 Bobby Hamilton SABCO Racing Pontiac 41 Joe Nemechek (R) Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 42 Kyle Petty SABCO Racing Pontiac 43 John Andretti (R) Petty Enterprises Pontiac 47 Billy Standridge (R) Johnson Standridge Racing Ford 52 Brad Teague Jimmy Means Racing Ford 55 Butch Miller RaDiUs Motorsports Ford 61 Rick Carelli Chesrown Racing Chevrolet 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 75 Todd Bodine Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 77 Greg Sacks U.S. Motorsports Inc. Ford 84 Norm Benning Norm Benning Racing Ford 90 Mike Wallace (R) Donlavey Racing Ford 98 Jeremy Mayfield (R) Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford

## Qualifying

Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Thursday, October 20, at 3:00 PM [EST](/source/Eastern_Time_Zone). However, after 35 drivers had taken times for qualifying, first-round qualifying was rained out and postponed until Friday, October 21, at 2:00 PM [EST](/source/Eastern_Time_Zone).[4] As a result of the rain delay, qualifying was decided to be combined into only one round. For this specific race, positions 1-40 would be 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 provisionals 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.

[Ricky Rudd](/source/Ricky_Rudd), driving for his own [Rudd Performance Motorsports](/source/Rudd_Performance_Motorsports) team, won the pole, setting a time of 23.305 and an average speed of 157.099 mph (252.826 km/h) in the first round.[6]

Three drivers would fail to qualify.

### Full qualifying results

Pos. Driver Team Make Time Speed 1 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 23.305 157.099 2 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.334 156.904 3 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 23.346 156.823 4 12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 23.348 156.810 5 26 Brett Bodine King Racing Ford 23.380 156.595 6 21 Morgan Shepherd Wood Brothers Racing Ford 23.401 156.455 7 31 Ward Burton (R) A.G. Dillard Motorsports Chevrolet 23.411 156.388 8 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Ford 23.418 156.341 9 33 Harry Gant Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 23.424 156.301 10 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 23.456 156.088 11 77 Greg Sacks U.S. Motorsports Inc. Ford 23.467 156.015 12 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 23.496 155.822 13 41 Joe Nemechek (R) Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.501 155.789 14 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 23.545 155.498 15 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.563 155.379 16 29 Steve Grissom (R) Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 23.564 155.373 17 19 Loy Allen Jr. (R) TriStar Motorsports Ford 23.567 155.353 18 11 Bill Elliott Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 23.597 155.155 19 22 Bobby Labonte Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 23.616 155.030 20 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 23.624 154.978 Failed to lock in Round 1 21 32 Dick Trickle Active Motorsports Chevrolet 23.621 154.998 22 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 23.626 154.965 23 28 Kenny Wallace Robert Yates Racing Ford 23.646 154.834 24 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 23.654 154.781 25 47 Billy Standridge (R) Johnson Standridge Racing Ford 23.662 154.729 26 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 23.664 154.716 27 18 Dale Jarrett Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 23.692 154.533 28 75 Todd Bodine Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 23.702 154.468 29 42 Kyle Petty SABCO Racing Pontiac 23.709 154.422 30 8 Jeff Burton (R) Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 23.716 154.377 31 90 Mike Wallace (R) Donlavey Racing Ford 23.768 154.039 32 27 Jimmy Spencer Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 23.798 153.845 33 30 Michael Waltrip Bahari Racing Pontiac 23.857 153.464 34 23 Hut Stricklin Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 23.859 153.452 35 14 Randy MacDonald Hagan Racing Chevrolet 23.863 153.426 36 43 John Andretti (R) Petty Enterprises Pontiac 23.878 153.329 37 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 23.911 153.118 38 55 Butch Miller RaDiUs Motorsports Ford 23.915 153.092 39 98 Jeremy Mayfield (R) Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 23.920 153.060 40 61 Rick Carelli Chesrown Racing Chevrolet 23.943 152.913 Provisionals 41 15 Lake Speed Bud Moore Engineering Ford -* -* 42 40 Bobby Hamilton SABCO Racing Pontiac -* -* Failed to qualify 43 02 Brad Noffsinger Taylor Racing Ford -* -* 44 52 Brad Teague Jimmy Means Racing Ford -* -* 45 84 Norm Benning Norm Benning Racing Ford -* -* Official starting lineup

## Race results

Fin St Driver Team Make Laps Led Status Pts Winnings 1 20 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 492 108 running 185 $60,600 2 8 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Ford 492 58 running 175 $45,425 3 6 21 Morgan Shepherd Wood Brothers Racing Ford 492 34 running 170 $32,100 4 1 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 492 2 running 165 $28,076 5 2 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 492 80 running 160 $28,750 6 18 11 Bill Elliott Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 492 2 running 155 $20,650 7 10 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 492 0 running 146 $23,850 8 21 32 Dick Trickle Active Motorsports Chevrolet 492 1 running 147 $15,625 9 7 31 Ward Burton (R) A.G. Dillard Motorsports Chevrolet 491 3 running 143 $12,450 10 41 15 Lake Speed Bud Moore Engineering Ford 491 0 running 134 $25,650 11 30 8 Jeff Burton (R) Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 490 0 running 130 $18,450 12 27 18 Dale Jarrett Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 489 0 running 127 $21,850 13 26 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 488 0 running 124 $17,450 14 37 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 488 5 running 126 $20,050 15 23 28 Kenny Wallace Robert Yates Racing Ford 488 0 running 118 $20,225 16 31 90 Mike Wallace (R) Donlavey Racing Ford 488 0 running 115 $12,750 17 13 41 Joe Nemechek (R) Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 484 0 running 112 $12,450 18 5 26 Brett Bodine King Racing Ford 484 0 running 109 $20,150 19 39 98 Jeremy Mayfield (R) Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 483 0 running 106 $11,750 20 38 55 Butch Miller RaDiUs Motorsports Ford 483 0 running 103 $9,450 21 28 75 Todd Bodine Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 481 0 running 100 $11,100 22 40 61 Rick Carelli Chesrown Racing Chevrolet 475 0 running 97 $8,400 23 22 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 474 0 crash 94 $16,900 24 35 14 Randy MacDonald Hagan Racing Chevrolet 466 0 running 91 $8,200 25 36 43 John Andretti (R) Petty Enterprises Pontiac 466 0 running 88 $10,500 26 33 30 Michael Waltrip Bahari Racing Pontiac 460 0 running 85 $14,300 27 34 23 Hut Stricklin Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 459 0 running 82 $13,200 28 19 22 Bobby Labonte Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 458 0 engine 79 $13,900 29 15 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 437 101 handling 81 $26,300 30 16 29 Steve Grissom (R) Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 430 0 running 73 $9,600 31 9 33 Harry Gant Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 398 0 crash 70 $13,400 32 24 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 381 40 running 72 $13,300 33 42 40 Bobby Hamilton SABCO Racing Pontiac 341 0 handling 64 $11,200 34 12 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 334 0 handling 61 $7,100 35 14 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 300 0 engine 58 $19,200 36 29 42 Kyle Petty SABCO Racing Pontiac 233 0 crash 55 $20,575 37 4 12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 230 0 engine 52 $10,950 38 32 27 Jimmy Spencer Junior Johnson & Associates Ford 202 0 crash 49 $6,925 39 11 77 Greg Sacks U.S. Motorsports Inc. Ford 112 0 crash 46 $6,925 40 3 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 95 58 engine 48 $12,500 41 25 47 Billy Standridge (R) Johnson Standridge Racing Ford 39 0 crash 40 $6,950 42 17 19 Loy Allen Jr. (R) TriStar Motorsports Ford 25 0 crash 37 $6,900 Official race results

## Standings after the race

**Drivers' Championship standings**

Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 4,476 2 Rusty Wallace 4,028 (-448) 3 Mark Martin 3,890 (-586) 4 Ken Schrader 3,812 (–664) 5 Ricky Rudd 3,778 (–698) 6 Morgan Shepherd 3,752 (–724) 1 7 Terry Labonte 3,549 (–927) 2 8 Bill Elliott 3,505 (–971) 2 9 Jeff Gordon 3,493 (–983) 1 10 Darrell Waltrip 3,454 (–1,022) Official driver's standings

- **Note**: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

## References

1. Higgins, Tom (October 24, 1994). ["Earnhardt's seventh Cup matches Petty"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115124685/earnhardts-seventh-cup-matches-petty/). *Lancaster New Era*. p. 24. Retrieved December 24, 2022. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. Harris, Mike (October 24, 1994). ["Earnhardt wins race and his 7th Winston Cup title"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115124856/earnhardt-wins-race-and-his-7th-winston/). *Intelligencer Journal*. p. 19. Retrieved December 24, 2022. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. McKee, Sandra (October 24, 1994). ["Earnhardt new King?"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115125095/earnhardt-new-king/). *Florida Today*. p. 15. Retrieved December 24, 2022. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. Nowell, Paul (October 21, 1994). ["Weather postpones AC Delco 500 qualifying"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115125473/weather-postpones-ac-delco-500/). *The Beaufort Gazette*. p. 19. Retrieved December 24, 2022. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. ["NASCAR today"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115125398/nascar-today/). *[The Charlotte Observer](/source/The_Charlotte_Observer)*. October 20, 1994. p. 28. Retrieved December 24, 2022. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

1. Harris, Mike (October 22, 1994). ["Record ravaged by Rudd, 42 more at Rockingham"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115125605/record-ravaged-by-rudd-42-more-at/). *Centre Daily Times*. p. 33. Retrieved December 24, 2022. – via [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [1994 AC Delco 500](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_AC_Delco_500) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_AC_Delco_500?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.