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1992 Mello Yello 500
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Race 26 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |
| The 1992 Mello Yello 500 program cover, featuring Richard Petty. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |
| October 11, 1992 | |
| 33rd Annual Mello Yello 500 | |
| Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | |
| Permanent racing facility | |
| 1.5 miles (2.41 km) | |
| 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | |
| 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | |
| 153.537 miles per hour (247.094 km/h) | |
| 162,500 | |
| .mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing |
| 30.163 | |
| Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing |
| 129 | |
| Mark Martin | Roush Racing |
| TBS | |
| Ken Squier, Neil Bonnett | |
| Performance Racing Network |
The 1992 Mello Yello 500 was the 26th stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 33rd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 11, 1992, before an audience of 162,500 in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 334 laps to complete. At race's end, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would manage to make a late-race pass on eventual second-place finisher, owner-driver Alan Kulwicki with 32 laps to go to take his seventh career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season. To fill out the top three, SABCO Racing driver Kyle Petty would finish third.
With poor finishes from the top two in the driver's championship standings, those being Bill Elliott and Davey Allison, the points battle had tightened to extreme margins, with the top five in the driver's championship all being within 100 points within the leader with three races left in the season, the first time of such an occurrence in NASCAR history.
Bobby Hillin Jr. was disqualified after the race after his car was found to have illegal engine in post-race inspection. It was the last time a disqualification was levied in the Cup Series for technical infringement until 2019, when Erik Jones was disqualified from the 2019 Federated Auto Parts 400. The disqualification affected the team Hillin drove for, which opted to shut down after it was unable to pay for the fines levied for the inspection failure.
The layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway, the venue where the race was held.
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 Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
| # | Driver | Team | Make |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rick Mast | Precision Products Racing | Oldsmobile |
| 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South | Pontiac |
| 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 4 | Ernie Irvan | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Ricky Rudd | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 05 | Ed Ferree | Ferree Racing | Chevrolet |
| 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford |
| 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford |
| 8 | Dick Trickle | Stavola Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 9 | Chad Little | Melling Racing | Ford |
| 10 | Derrike Cope | Whitcomb Racing | Chevrolet |
| 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford |
| 12 | Jeff Purvis | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Geoff Bodine | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford |
| 16 | Wally Dallenbach Jr. | Roush Racing | Ford |
| 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet |
| 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 22 | Sterling Marlin | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford |
| 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Ford |
| 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | Ford |
| 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac |
| 31 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Team Ireland | Chevrolet |
| 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Oldsmobile |
| 41 | Dick Trickle | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac |
| 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac |
| 45 | Rich Bickle | Terminal Trucking Motorsports | Ford |
| 48 | James Hylton | Hylton Motorsports | Pontiac |
| 49 | Stanley Smith | BS&S Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac |
| 55 | Ted Musgrave | RaDiUs Motorsports | Ford |
| 57 | Bob Schacht (R) | Stringer Motorsports | Oldsmobile |
| 65 | Jerry O'Neil | Aroneck Racing | Oldsmobile |
| 66 | Jimmy Hensley (R) | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Ford |
| 68 | Bobby Hamilton | TriStar Motorsports | Ford |
| 71 | Jim Sauter | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet |
| 77 | Mike Potter | Balough Racing | Buick |
| 82 | Mark Stahl | Stahl Racing | Ford |
| 83 | Lake Speed | Speed Racing | Ford |
| 85 | Mike Skinner | Mansion Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 90 | Pancho Carter | Donlavey Racing | Ford |
| 94 | Terry Labonte | Hagan Racing | Oldsmobile |
| 97 | Hut Stricklin | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford |
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, October 7, at 5:00 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, October 8, at 1:30 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, 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. 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.
Alan Kulwicki, driving for his own AK Racing team, won the pole, setting a time of 30.163 and an average speed of 179.027 mph (288.116 km/h) in the first round.
Five drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 30.163 | 179.027 | |
| 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.204 | 178.784 | |
| 4 | Ernie Irvan | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.429 | 177.462 | |
| 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford | 30.438 | 177.410 | |
| 5 | Ricky Rudd | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.578 | 176.598 | |
| 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 30.590 | 176.528 | |
| 18 | Dale Jarrett | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet | 30.623 | 176.338 | |
| 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Ford | 30.657 | 176.142 | |
| 66 | Jimmy Hensley (R) | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Ford | 30.673 | 176.051 | |
| 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.703 | 175.879 | |
| 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 30.742 | 175.655 | |
| 15 | Geoff Bodine | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 30.749 | 175.615 | |
| 94 | Terry Labonte | Hagan Racing | Chevrolet | 30.772 | 175.484 | |
| 10 | Derrike Cope | Whitcomb Racing | Chevrolet | 30.777 | 175.456 | |
| 83 | Lake Speed | Speed Racing | Ford | 30.780 | 175.439 | |
| 11 | Bill Elliott | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 30.789 | 175.387 | |
| 8 | Dick Trickle | Stavola Brothers Racing | Ford | 30.799 | 175.330 | |
| 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 30.821 | 175.205 | |
| 22 | Sterling Marlin | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 30.878 | 174.882 | |
| 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 30.885 | 174.842 | |
| 2 | Rusty Wallace | Penske Racing South | Pontiac | 30.924 | 174.622 | |
| 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 30.964 | 174.396 | |
| 1 | Rick Mast | Precision Products Racing | Oldsmobile | 30.964 | 174.396 | |
| 12 | Jimmy Spencer | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Ford | 30.992 | 174.239 | |
| 9 | Chad Little | Melling Racing | Ford | 31.019 | 174.087 | |
| 68 | Bobby Hamilton | TriStar Motorsports | Ford | 31.079 | 173.751 | |
| 97 | Hut Stricklin | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 31.130 | 173.466 | |
| 31 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Team Ireland | Chevrolet | 31.138 | 173.422 | |
| 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 31.166 | 173.266 | |
| 55 | Ted Musgrave | RaDiUs Motorsports | Ford | 31.177 | 173.205 | |
| 90 | Pancho Carter | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 31.275 | 172.662 | |
| 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 31.283 | 172.618 | |
| 45 | Rich Bickle | Terminal Trucking Motorsports | Ford | 31.626 | 172.381 | |
| 65 | Jerry O'Neil | Aroneck Racing | Oldsmobile | 31.371 | 172.133 | |
| 16 | Wally Dallenbach Jr. | Roush Racing | Ford | 31.468 | 171.603 | |
| 49 | Stanley Smith | BS&S Motorsports | Chevrolet | 31.514 | 171.352 | |
| 57 | Bob Schacht (R) | Stringer Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 31.556 | 171.124 | |
| 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 31.582 | 170.983 | |
| 71 | Jim Sauter | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 31.591 | 170.935 | |
| 41 | Dave Marcis | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 31.645 | 170.643 | |
| 77 | Mike Potter | Balough Racing | Buick | -* | -* | |
| 05 | Ed Ferree | Ferree Racing | Chevrolet | -* | -* | |
| 85 | Mike Skinner | Mansion Motorsports | Chevrolet | -* | -* | |
| 82 | Mark Stahl | Stahl Racing | Ford | -* | -* | |
| 48 | James Hylton | Hylton Motorsports | Pontiac | -* | -* |
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