1986 Winston 500
The 1986 Winston 500 was the ninth stock car race of the 1986 [NASCAR Winston Cup Series] and the 17th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 4, 1986, before an audience of 130,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Alabama International Motor Speedway, a 2.66 miles permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete.
In the final laps of the race, Stavola Brothers Racing's Bobby Allison made a late-race charge to the lead, passing with six laps left in the race. Allison then defended a last-lap move by Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt in the final turns of the race, securing his 82nd career NASCAR [Winston Cup Series] victory and his only victory of the season. To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Earnhardt and owner-driver Buddy Baker finished second and third, respectively.
The race is notable for an incident in which a fan stole the pace car for the event, resulting in a short lived police chase occurring on the track. The fan was later arrested for the incident.
Background
Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway , is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the NASCAR [Camping World Truck Series|Camping World Truck Series]. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, a tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a tri-oval.Entry list
- ' denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, May 1, at 1:00 PM EST. Each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round were 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 Friday, May 2, at 1:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 were 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.Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, won the pole, setting a time of 45.121 and an average speed of in the first round.
Seven drivers failed to qualify.
Standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings- Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.