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1979 Atlanta 500

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NASCAR Winston Cup race number 5 of 31
Sunday, March 18, 1979 at Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton, GA
328 laps on a 1.522 mile paved track (499.216 miles)

Time of race: 3:41:47
Average speed: 135.136 mph
Pole speed: 165.951 mph

Cautions: 5 for 42 laps
Margin of victory: 18 sec
Attendance: 62000
Lead changes: 29

Glossary 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup results / 1979 standings

Pos	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Car	Laps	Money	Status	Led	Pts
1	1	28	Buddy Baker	Spectra (Harry Ranier)	Oldsmobile	328	35975	running	88	180
2	2	15	Bobby Allison	Hodgdon / Moore (Bud Moore)	Ford	328	32875	running	167	180
3	6	88	Darrell Waltrip	Gatorade (DiGard Racing)	Chevrolet	328	15400	running	3	170
4	4	11	Cale Yarborough	Busch (Junior Johnson)	Oldsmobile	327	11725	running	22	165
5	3	27	Benny Parsons	Griffin Marine (M.C. Anderson)	Chevrolet	327	5775	running	0	155
6	15	02	Dave Marcis	Shoney's (Dave Marcis)	Chevrolet	327	4775	running	0	150
7	14	1	Donnie Allison	Hawaiian Tropic (Hoss Ellington)	Chevrolet	326	7075	running	0	146
8	13	72	Joe Millikan	Appliance Wheels (L.G. DeWitt)	Oldsmobile	326	8925	running	0	142
9	8	90	Ricky Rudd	Truxmore (Junie Donlavey)	Mercury	325	5720	running	0	138
10	12	05	Dick Brooks	Bearfinder (Nelson Malloch)	Oldsmobile	325	3025	running	0	134
11	11	43	Richard Petty	STP (Petty Enterprises)	Oldsmobile	324	6025	running	0	130
12	17	2	Dale Earnhardt	Osterlund Enterprises (Rod Osterlund)	Buick	321	4835	running	0	127
13	22	48	James Hylton	Palatine Automotive Parts (James Hylton)	Chevrolet	321	4390	running	0	124
14	24	40	D.K. Ulrich	Airport Howard Johnson's (D.K. Ulrich)	Buick	321	4155	running	0	121
15	16	50	Bruce Hill	Ballard Racing (Walter Ballard)	Oldsmobile	321	1825	running	0	118
16	9	68	Chuck Bown	Kings Mountain Truck Plaza (Jim Testa)	Buick	315	1600	running	0	115
17	32	70	J.D. McDuffie	Bailey Excavating (J.D. McDuffie)	Oldsmobile	314	3640	running	0	112
18	5	21	David Pearson	Purolator (Wood Brothers)	Mercury	299	1990	engine	42	114
19	37	45	Baxter Price	Price Racing (Baxter Price)	Chevrolet	295	3410	running	0	106
20	26	3	Richard Childress	CRC Chemicals (Richard Childress)	Oldsmobile	295	3295	running	0	103
21	23	64	Tommy Gale	Sunny King Ford & Honda (Elmo Langley)	Ford	282	2705	running	0	100
22	30	79	Frank Warren	Native Tan (Frank Warren)	Dodge	273	2470	engine	0	97
23	29	24	Cecil Gordon	Gordon-Barnicle (Cecil Gordon)	Oldsmobile	249	2285	running	0	94
24	27	19	Dick May	Belden Asphalt (Henley Gray)	Chevrolet	221	2000	overheating	0	91
25	7	44	Terry Labonte	Stratagraph (Billy Hagan)	Chevrolet	211	1965	engine	0	88
26	36	17	Roger Hamby	Hamby-Ellis (Roger Hamby)	Chevrolet	172	1880	crash	0	85
27	35	6	Claude Ballot-Lena	JMS (G.C. Spencer)	Oldsmobile	168	950	crash	0
28	34	41	Grant Adcox	Adcox-Kirby (Herb Adcox)	Chevrolet	133	925	crash	0	79
29	38	67	Buddy Arrington	Sam Dell (Buddy Arrington)	Dodge	129	1785	engine	0	76
30	20	39	Blackie Wangerin	Wangerin Incorporated (Blackie Wangerin)	Mercury	126	875	transmission	0	73
31	31	98	Ralph Jones	Jones Racing (Ralph Jones)	Ford	126	1835	clutch	0	70
32	18	37	Dave Watson	Ams Oil (Phil Howard)	Chevrolet	123	1075	quit	6	72
33	25	52	Jimmy Means	Mr. Transmission (Jimmy Means)	Chevrolet	82	1315	transmission	0	64
34	39	25	Ronnie Thomas	1st National City Travelers Checks (Don Robertson)	Buick	71	1305	handling	0	61
35	21	47	Geoffrey Bodine	Race Hill Farm (Jack Beebe)	Oldsmobile	66	795	handling	0	58
36	10	9	Bill Elliott	Dahlonega Ford Sales (George Elliott)	Mercury	61	765	steering	0
37	28	30	Tighe Scott	Russ Togs (Walter Ballard)	Buick	54	1255	steering	0	52
38	19	14	Coo Coo Marlin	Cunningham-Kelley (H.B. Cunningham)	Chevrolet	53	745	crash	0	49
39	33	0	John Kennedy	Avanti CB (John Kennedy)	Chevrolet	50	735	crash	0	46
40	40	53	Keith Davis	Davis Racing (Keith Davis)	Chevrolet	15	725	rear end	0	43

Condition	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps	Reason
Caution flag breakdown:
	1	43	43
	44	50	7	#43 accident turn 2
	51	53	3
	54	62	9	#0,14,30 accident turn 2
	63	184	122
	185	196	12	#6,17 accident turns 2/4
	197	277	81
	278	282	5	#41 accident turn 4
	283	297	15
	298	306	9	#50 accident turn 2
	307	328	22
Percent of race run under caution: 12.8% Average green flag run: 47.7 laps

Leader	From Lap	To Lap	# Of Laps
Lap leader breakdown:
Buddy Baker	1	2	2
Bobby Allison	3	29	27
Buddy Baker	30	41	12
Bobby Allison	42	47	6
David Pearson	48	48	1
Bobby Allison	49	114	66
Cale Yarborough	115	116	2
Buddy Baker	117	117	1
Dave Watson	118	123	6
Cale Yarborough	124	140	17
Bobby Allison	141	141	1
Cale Yarborough	142	142	1
Bobby Allison	143	169	27
Cale Yarborough	170	171	2
Buddy Baker	172	179	8
David Pearson	180	195	16
Darrell Waltrip	196	198	3
Buddy Baker	199	220	22
Bobby Allison	221	242	22
David Pearson	243	246	4
Bobby Allison	247	256	10
David Pearson	257	261	5
Buddy Baker	262	263	2
David Pearson	264	277	14
Buddy Baker	278	278	1
Bobby Allison	279	283	5
David Pearson	284	285	2
Buddy Baker	286	301	16
Bobby Allison	302	304	3
Buddy Baker	305	328	24

Rank	Driver	Points	Diff
Points Standings after this race:
1	Darrell Waltrip	807
2	Bobby Allison	791	-16
3	Cale Yarborough	789	-18
4	Donnie Allison	682	-125
5	Joe Millikan	672	-135
6	Benny Parsons	653	-154
7	D.K. Ulrich	650	-157
8	Dale Earnhardt	625	-182
9	Richard Petty	599	-208
10	Richard Childress	573	-234
11	Dave Marcis	562	-245
12	Frank Warren	551	-256
13	J.D. McDuffie	546	-261
14	Buddy Arrington	536	-271
15	James Hylton	527	-280
16	Dick Brooks	524	-283
17	Terry Labonte	521	-286
18	Buddy Baker	520	-287
19	David Pearson	440	-367
20	Ronnie Thomas	437	-370
21	Dave Watson	413	-394