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1979 American 500

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NASCAR Winston Cup race number 29 of 31
Sunday, October 21, 1979 at North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, NC
492 laps on a 1.017 mile paved track (500.364 miles)

Time of race: 4:37:04
Average speed: 108.356 mph
Pole speed: 141.315 mph

Cautions: 12 for 82 laps
Margin of victory: .17 sec
Attendance: 45000
Lead changes: 23

Glossary 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup results / 1979 standings

Pos	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Car	Laps	Money	Status	Led	Pts
1	7	43	Richard Petty	STP (Petty Enterprises)	Chevrolet	492	20960	running	139	180
2	2	27	Benny Parsons	Griffin Marine (M.C. Anderson)	Chevrolet	492	15950	running	168	180
3	9	11	Cale Yarborough	Busch (Junior Johnson)	Chevrolet	492	11800	running	50	170
4	6	1	Donnie Allison	Hawaiian Tropic (Hoss Ellington)	Chevrolet	490	5000	running	6	165
5	10	2	Dale Earnhardt	Rod Osterlund	Chevrolet	488	8300	running	0	155
6	3	88	Darrell Waltrip	Gatorade (DiGard Racing)	Chevrolet	484	7100	running	29	155
7	15	3	Richard Childress	CRC Chemicals (Richard Childress)	Chevrolet	476	5400	running	0	146
8	20	25	Ronnie Thomas	Stone's Cafeteria (Don Robertson)	Chevrolet	476	5950	running	0	142
9	16	71	Dave Marcis	Shoney's (Dave Marcis)	Chevrolet	475	2575	running	0	138
10	30	51	Slick Johnson	J.D. Johnson	Chevrolet	474	2300	running	0	134
11	22	48	James Hylton	Palatine Automotive Parts (James Hylton)	Chevrolet	470	4080	running	0	130
12	32	64	Tommy Gale	Sunny King Ford & Honda (Elmo Langley)	Ford	456	3670	running	0	127
13	29	24	Cecil Gordon	Cecil Gordon	Oldsmobile	456	3440	running	0	124
14	36	75	Bill Elswick	Rahmoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	453	2100	running	0
15	11	05	Dick Brooks	Comp Con (Nelson Malloch)	Chevrolet	452	1750	engine	0	118
16	34	00	Freddy Smith	Petty's of Spartanburg (Marvin Petty)	Chevrolet	452	1400	running	0
17	25	67	Buddy Arrington	Reid Trailer Sales (Buddy Arrington)	Dodge	434	2890	running	0	112
18	5	72	Joe Millikan	Appliance Wheels (L.G. DeWitt)	Chevrolet	426	4900	running	0	109
19	8	15	Bobby Allison	Hodgdon / Moore (Bud Moore)	Ford	422	4800	crash	0	106
20	13	90	Ricky Rudd	Truxmore (Junie Donlavey)	Ford	420	2480	crash	0	103
21	12	47	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm (Jack Beebe)	Chevrolet	416	825	running	0	100
22	28	45	Baxter Price	Iron Peddlers (Baxter Price)	Oldsmobile	412	2170	crash	0	97
23	19	17	Bill Elliott	Kings Inn (Roger Hamby)	Chevrolet	391	2035	running	0	94
24	33	79	Frank Warren	Native Tan (Frank Warren)	Dodge	376	1850	overheating	0	91
25	37	70	J.D. McDuffie	Bailey Excavating (J.D. McDuffie)	Chevrolet	354	1615	rear end	0	88
26	31	99	Dick May	Bill Hollar	Chevrolet	267	700	overheating	0
27	14	44	Terry Labonte	Technicraft (Billy Hagan)	Chevrolet	259	1555	engine	1	87
28	21	40	D.K. Ulrich	U.S. Army (D.K. Ulrich)	Buick	253	1500	running	0	79
29	4	21	Neil Bonnett	Purolator (Wood Brothers)	Mercury	233	1120	crash	95	81
30	27	18	Randy Ogden	Jack Ogden	Chevrolet	227	610	fatigue	0
31	23	52	Jimmy Means	Mr. Transmission (Jimmy Means)	Chevrolet	227	1450	overheating	0	70
32	18	19	Glenn Jarrett	Belden Asphalt (Henley Gray)	Chevrolet	164	1115	oil pressure	0	67
33	1	28	Buddy Baker	W.I.N. (Harry Ranier)	Chevrolet	141	2580	rear end	4	69
34	24	46	Travis Tiller	Ring Enterprises (Travis Tiller)	Buick	76	570	rotor	0	61
35	35	76	Mike Potter	Mike Potter	Chevrolet	73	560	engine	0
36	26	61	Bub Strickler	Budweiser (Jim Norris)	Oldsmobile	67	550	crash	0	55
37	17	30	Tighe Scott	Russ Togs (Walter Ballard)	Buick	17	1100	oil cooler	0	52

Condition	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps
Caution flag breakdown:
	1	6	6
	7	11	5
	12	17	6
	18	30	13
	31	70	40
	71	76	6
	77	79	3
	80	83	4
	84	227	144
	228	232	5
	233	237	5
	238	244	7
	245	297	53
	298	311	14
	312	394	83
	395	400	6
	401	425	25
	426	436	11
	437	443	7
	444	448	5
	449	451	3
	452	456	5
	457	457	1
	458	461	4
	462	492	31
Percent of race run under caution: 17.3% Average green flag run: 31.3 laps

Leader	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps
Lap leader breakdown:
Buddy Baker	1	4	4
Benny Parsons	5	5	1
Neil Bonnett	6	71	66
Richard Petty	72	72	1
Terry Labonte	73	73	1
Neil Bonnett	74	102	29
Richard Petty	103	158	56
Darrell Waltrip	159	160	2
Benny Parsons	161	163	3
Donnie Allison	164	169	6
Cale Yarborough	170	219	50
Richard Petty	220	229	10
Darrell Waltrip	230	230	1
Richard Petty	231	240	10
Darrell Waltrip	241	266	26
Richard Petty	267	300	34
Benny Parsons	301	338	38
Richard Petty	339	345	7
Benny Parsons	346	444	99
Richard Petty	445	445	1
Benny Parsons	446	464	19
Richard Petty	465	475	11
Benny Parsons	476	483	8
Richard Petty	484	492	9

Rank	Driver	Points	Diff
Points Standings after this race:
1	Richard Petty	4520
2	Darrell Waltrip	4512	-8
3	Bobby Allison	4293	-227
4	Cale Yarborough	4259	-261
5	Benny Parsons	3993	-527
6	Joe Millikan	3749	-771
7	Richard Childress	3502	-1018
8	Dale Earnhardt	3431	-1089
9	Buddy Arrington	3371	-1149
10	Ricky Rudd	3361	-1159
11	D.K. Ulrich	3356	-1164
12	Terry Labonte	3345	-1175
13	J.D. McDuffie	3271	-1249
14	James Hylton	3205	-1315
15	Buddy Baker	3033	-1487
16	Frank Warren	3011	-1509
17	Ronnie Thomas	2751	-1769
18	Tommy Gale	2637	-1883
19	Cecil Gordon	2597	-1923
20	Dave Marcis	2530	-1990
21	Dick Brooks	2516	-2004