1992 AC Delco 500


The 1992 AC Delco 500 was the 27th stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 25, 1992, before an audience of 62,300 in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Speedway, a permanent high-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 492 laps to complete. At race's end, SABCO Racing driver Kyle Petty would dominate the race to take his sixth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd would finish second and third, respectively.
In the overall driver's championship standings, championship leader Bill Elliott, assisted by a fourth-place finish, would manage to increase his points lead over second-place driver Davey Allison to 70 points after three consecutive poor finishes for Elliott. The winner of the race, Kyle Petty, would move to fourth in the standings, 94 points behind Elliott, and nine points behind third-place driver Alan Kulwicki, who was 85 points behind Elliott in the standings.

Background

North Carolina Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School.

Entry list

' denotes rookie driver.
#DriverTeamMakeSponsor
1Rick MastPrecision Products RacingOldsmobileSkoal
2Rusty WallacePenske Racing SouthPontiacMiller Genuine Draft
3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletGM Goodwrench Service Plus
4Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevroletKodak
5Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTide
6Mark MartinRoush RacingFordValvoline
7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordHooters
8Dick TrickleStavola Brothers RacingFordSnickers
9Chad LittleMelling RacingFordMelling Racing
10Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevroletPurolator Filters
11Bill ElliottJunior Johnson & AssociatesFordBudweiser
12Jimmy SpencerBobby Allison MotorsportsChevroletRaybestos
15Geoff BodineBud Moore EngineeringFordMotorcraft
16Wally Dallenbach Jr.Roush RacingFordKeystone
17Darrell WaltripDarrell Waltrip MotorsportsChevroletWestern Auto
18Dale JarrettJoe Gibbs RacingChevroletInterstate Batteries
21Morgan ShepherdWood Brothers RacingFordCitgo
22Sterling MarlinJunior Johnson & AssociatesFordMaxwell House
25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevroletKodiak
26Brett BodineKing RacingFordQuaker State
28Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFordTexaco, Havoline
30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiacPennzoil
32Jimmy HortonActive MotorsportsChevroletActive Trucking
33Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobileSkoal Bandit
41Greg SacksLarry Hedrick MotorsportsChevroletKellogg's Frosted Flakes
42Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiacMello Yello
43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP
52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacHurley Limo
53John McFaddenJimmy Means RacingPontiacVoyles Auto Salvage
55Ted MusgraveRaDiUs MotorsportsFordJasper Engines & Transmissions
65Jerry O'NeilAroneck RacingOldsmobileAroneck Racing
66Jimmy Hensley 'Cale Yarborough MotorsportsFordPhillips 66 TropArtic
68Bobby HamiltonTriStar MotorsportsFordCountry Time
71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletSoutheastern Technology Group
77Mike PotterJimmy Means RacingPontiacJimmy Means Racing
80Dave BlaneyHover MotorsportsPontiacDaffron's Body Shop
83Lake SpeedSpeed RacingFordPurex
85Mike SkinnerMansion MotorsportsChevroletGlidden
88Mike WallaceOwen RacingFordFDP Brakes
94Terry LabonteHagan RacingOldsmobileSunoco

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, October 22, at 2:30 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 Friday, October 23, at 1:00 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. 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.
Kyle Petty, driving for SABCO Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.461 and an average speed of in the first round.
No drivers would fail to qualify.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings
  • Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.