1991 Winston 500

The 1991 Winston 500 was the ninth stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 22nd iteration of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, May 5, 1991, but was delayed to Monday, May 6, due to rain. The race was held before an audience of 105,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66 miles permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete. Running on a fuel strategy, Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant would manage to drive the last 56 laps of the race on one tank of fuel to take his 12th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his only won on a restrictor plate race and his first victory of the season.
On lap 72 of the race, a 20-car crash would occur when Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan's car hit both Kyle Petty and Mark Martin's cars, causing a chain reaction crash in the field. In the crash, Kyle Petty would suffer a broken left femur, causing Petty to miss the next several races due to his injury. Irvan would take most of the blame for causing the crash by drivers, with many of the drivers involved in the crash claiming that Irvan had been "out of control" for the entire race leading up to that point.

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.

#	Driver	Team	Make	Sponsor
1	Rick Mast	Precision Products Racing	Oldsmobile	Skoal
2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South	Pontiac	Miller Genuine Draft
3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench Service Plus
4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan–McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kodak
5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Tide
6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	Folgers
7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	Hooters
8	Rick Wilson	Stavola Brothers Racing	Buick	Snickers
9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Ford	Coors Light
10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing	Chevrolet	Purolator Filters
11	Geoff Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	Budweiser
12	Hut Stricklin	Bobby Allison Motorsports	Buick	Raybestos
15	Morgan Shepherd	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	Motorcraft
17	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip Motorsports	Chevrolet	Western Auto
19	Chad Little	Little Racing	Ford	Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce
20	Bobby Hillin Jr.	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile	Rob Moroso Memorial
21	Dale Jarrett	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	Citgo
22	Sterling Marlin	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	Maxwell House
24	Mickey Gibbs	Team III Racing	Pontiac	Team III Racing
25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kodiak
26	Brett Bodine	King Racing	Buick	Quaker State
28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	Texaco, Havoline
30	Michael Waltrip	Bahari Racing	Pontiac	Pennzoil
33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Skoal Bandit
41	Larry Pearson	Larry Hedrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	Mello Yello
43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	STP
47	Greg Sacks	Close Racing	Oldsmobile	Kanawha Insurance
49	Stanley Smith '	BS&S Motorsports	Buick	Interstate Batteries
51	Jeff Purvis '	Phoenix Racing	Oldsmobile	Phoenix Construction
52	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing	Pontiac	Alka-Seltzer
53	Donny Paul	Paul Racing	Chevrolet	Paul Racing
55	Ted Musgrave '	U.S. Racing	Pontiac	U.S. Racing
59	Mark Gibson	Gibson Racing	Pontiac	Gibson Racing
65	Dave Mader III	Bahre Racing	Pontiac	Jasper Engines & Transmissions
66	Lake Speed	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Pontiac	Phillips 66 TropArtic
68	Bobby Hamilton '	TriStar Motorsports	Oldsmobile	Country Time
70	J. D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing	Pontiac	Rumple Furniture
71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet	Big Apple Market
73	Phil Barkdoll	Barkdoll Racing	Oldsmobile	Barkdoll Racing
75	Joe Ruttman	RahMoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	Dinner Bell Foods
77	Ken Ragan	Branch-Ragan Racing	Ford	Jasper Engines & Transmissions
88	Buddy Baker	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile	Dipetane
90	Wally Dallenbach Jr. '	Donlavey Racing	Ford	Ford Motorsport Sportswear
94	Terry Labonte	Hagan Racing	Oldsmobile	Sunoco
98	Jimmy Spencer	Travis Carter Enterprises	Chevrolet	Banquet Foods

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, May 2, at 4:30 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 Saturday, May 3, at 4:30 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.
Ernie Irvan, driving for Morgan–McClure Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.061 and an average speed of in the first round.
Five drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.