1989 Coca-Cola 600
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 10 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1989 Coca-Cola 600 program cover, featuring Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, and Fred Lorenzen. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | May 28, 1989 | ||
| Official name | 30th 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 | 144.077 miles per hour (231.869 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 161,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | AK Racing | ||
| Time | 31.210 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | |
| Laps | 138 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Johnny Hayes | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Performance Racing Network | ||
The 1989 Coca-Cola 600 was the 10th stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 30th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 28, 1989, before an audience of 161,000 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. With the help of a fast final pit stop, Hendrick Motorsports driver Darrell Waltrip would manage control the final laps of the race, leading the final 80 laps to take his 77th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fourth victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Hagan Racing driver Sterling Marlin and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader would finish second and third, respectively.
Background
[edit]
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.
Qualifying
[edit]Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, May 24, 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 25, at 2:00 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,[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.
Alan Kulwicki, driving for his own AK Racing team, would win the pole, setting a time of 31.210 and an average speed of 173.021 miles per hour (278.450 km/h) in the first round.[6][7]
Nine drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
[edit]Race results
[edit]Standings after the race
[edit]
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References
[edit]- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 29, 1989). "Waltrip Runs Off With 5th 600 (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 17. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 29, 1989). "Waltrip Runs Off With 5th 600 (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 21. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mulhern, Mike (May 29, 1989). "Wallace Streaks to 4th Victory of Season (Part 1)". Winston-Salem Journal. p. 17. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mulhern, Mike (May 29, 1989). "Wallace Streaks to 4th Victory of Season (Part 2)". Winston-Salem Journal. p. 22. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Speedway Calendar". The Charlotte Observer. May 19, 1989. p. 16. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 25, 1989). "Kulwicki Quick On 600 Trigger (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 47. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (May 25, 1989). "Kulwicki Quick On 600 Trigger (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 52. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
