1976 in NASCAR

1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
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The 1976 NASCAR Grand National Winston Cup Series season began on Sunday, January 18 and ended on Sunday, November 21. Cale Yarborough, driving the #11 Junior Johnson Holly Farms Chevrolet scored his first of three consecutive NASCAR Grand National Series Winston Cup Championships. Skip Manning was named NASCAR Rookie of the Year.

Season recap

Date	Event	Circuit	Winner
January 18	Winston Western 500	Riverside International Raceway	David Pearson
February 15	Daytona 500	Daytona International Speedway	David Pearson
February 29	Carolina 500	North Carolina Speedway	Richard Petty
March 7	Richmond 400	Richmond International Raceway	Dave Marcis
March 14	Southeastern 400	Bristol Motor Speedway	Cale Yarborough
March 21	Atlanta 500	Atlanta International Raceway	David Pearson
April 4	Gwyn Staley 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway	Cale Yarborough
April 11	Rebel 500	Darlington Raceway	David Pearson
April 25	Virginia 500	Martinsville Speedway	Darrell Waltrip
May 2	Winston 500	Talladega Superspeedway	Buddy Baker
May 8	Music City USA 420	Nashville Speedway	Cale Yarborough
May 16	Mason-Dixon 500	Dover Downs International Speedway	Benny Parsons
May 30	World 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	David Pearson
June 13	Riverside 400	Riverside International Raceway	David Pearson
June 20	Cam 2 Motor Oil 400	Michigan International Speedway	David Pearson
July 4	Firecracker 400	Daytona International Speedway	Cale Yarborough
July 17	Nashville 420	Nashville Speedway	Benny Parsons
August 1	Purolator 500	Pocono Raceway	Richard Petty
August 8	Talladega 500	Talladega Superspeedway	Dave Marcis
August 22	Champion Spark Plug 400	Michigan International Speedway	David Pearson
August 29	Volunteer 400	Bristol Motor Speedway	Cale Yarborough
September 6	Southern 500	Darlington Raceway	David Pearson
September 12	Capital City 400	Richmond International Raceway	Cale Yarborough
September 19	Delaware 500	Dover Downs International Speedway	Cale Yarborough
September 26	Old Dominion 500	Martinsville Speedway	Cale Yarborough
October 3	Wilkes 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway	Cale Yarborough
October 10	National 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Donnie Allison
October 24	American 500	North Carolina Speedway	Richard Petty
November 7	Dixie 500	Atlanta International Raceway	Dave Marcis
November 21	Los Angeles Times 500	Ontario Motor Speedway	David Pearson

Notable races

• Daytona 500 – From disallowance of qualifying times for A.J. Foyt, Dave Marcis, and Darrell Waltrip to the crashing of race leaders Richard Petty and David Pearson a half-mile from the checkered flag, the 1976 500 became one of the most celebrated races in history.

• Carolina 500 – Richard Petty won going away in a race marred by a huge melee on the backstretch where Bobby Allison tumbled.

• Atlanta 500 – David Pearson spent 225 laps to get back onto the lead lap and took his third win of the season.

• Virginia 500 – Darrell Waltrip took the win, his first with Gatorade sponsorship.

• Winston 500 – Buddy Baker became the first driver to win a 500-miler in less than three hours.

• World 600 – Pearson edged Petty and Cale Yarborough as Bruton Smith made his official return to Charlotte Motor Speedway.

• Purolator 500 – The lead changed 47 times as Pearson's blown tire coming to the white flag gave Petty only his second win of the season.

• Talladega 500 – Dave Marcis took his only Talladega win and the first for crew chief Harry Hyde. The lead changed a season-high 57 times.

• Yankee 400 – David Pearson took his eighth win of the season, but first since the June event at Michigan International Speedway.

• Southern 500 – Pearson took the one race he had sought his entire career. A big wreck occurred after Buddy Baker blew up and spun; behind him Skip Manning spun and was hit in the left side door by Joe Frasson.

• Delaware 500 Cale Yarborough made up two laps on two separate occasions and won his second straight race.

• National 500 Donnie Allison surprised the field in a backup Hoss Ellington Monte Carlo; the engine measured a tick over the legal displacement in immediate post race inspection but after cooling down the engine was within limits.

• American 500 Richard Petty took the win, only his third of the season. Lennie Pond finished second. Green flag pitstops became frequent as Petty spent a total of 125 seconds in the pits to Pond's 54 seconds.

• Dixie 500 – Dave Marcis took his final superspeedway win. Dale Earnhardt made his third career start in this race and survived a vicious tumble after hitting the spinning Ford of Dick Brooks.

• LA Times 500 – Pearson posted his eighth superspeedway win and tenth overall of the season.

Daytona 500

Main article: 1976 Daytona 500

Dixie 500

Main article: 1976 Dixie 500

Firecracker 400

Main article: 1976 Firecracker 400

Final Points Standings

1. Cale Yarborough – 4644
2. Richard Petty – 4449
3. Benny Parsons – 4304
4. Bobby Allison – 4097
5. Lennie Pond – 3930
6. Dave Marcis – 3875
7. Buddy Baker – 3745
8. Darrell Waltrip – 3505
9. David Pearson – 3483
10. Dick Brooks – 3447

External links

• Racing-Reference.info (links to race results)