1989 Winston 500
The 1989 Winston 500 was the ninth stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 20th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 7, 1989, before an audience of 140,000 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, Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison would make a late-race charge to the lead, passing for the lead with nine laps left in the race to take his fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Terry Labonte and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.
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 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 originally scheduled to be held on Thursday, May 4, at 2:00 PM EST. However, after only nine drivers had made first-round attempts, rain would postpone the first round until the following day on Friday, May 5. 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 Friday, May 5, at 2:00 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.Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.601 and an average speed of in the first round.
Five drivers would fail to qualify.