1992 Hooters 500

The 1992 Hooters 500 was the 29th and final race of the 1992 NASCAR season. It was held on November 15, 1992, at Atlanta Motor Speedway and is widely considered the greatest NASCAR race of all time, with three stories dominating the race: the debut of Jeff Gordon in the Winston Cup Series, the final race of seven-time champion Richard Petty's thirty-five-year career,  and the battle for the series points championship with six drivers mathematically eligible to win the title.

The race was won by Bill Elliott in the No. 11 Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson and Associates. Owner-driver Alan Kulwicki, driving the No. 7 Hooters Ford, finished second behind Elliott, and secured the series title. Kulwicki remarkably won the title by virtue of accumulating the championship points based on his second-place finish, and more importantly having led the most laps during the race, which awarded him 5 bonus points. It was the closest points championship battle in NASCAR history at the time (10 points), and Kulwicki's margin of most laps led compared to Elliott's total was a mere single lap.

The 1992 Hooters 500 represented the 33rd running of the Atlanta fall race, and the sixth time the event was held as the NASCAR season finale.

Background
Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of nine current intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte, Chicagoland, Darlington, Homestead, Kansas, Kentucky, Las Vegas, and Texas. However, at the time, only Charlotte and Darlington were built.

The layout at Atlanta Motor Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.522 mi long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.

This race, and its subsequent championship outcome, took place in the era before NASCAR started using a playoff system in 2004. In this system, which debuted in 1975, the drivers competed to accumulate the most points over the course of the entire season and the driver that did so was awarded the series championship.

Since each driver's point total was cumulative, this meant that if a driver had a particularly successful season leading up to the final race, he could have already guaranteed himself the championship either by having an insurmountable points lead or enough of one that all he needed to do was start the final race to guarantee himself the title. For example, Dale Earnhardt, at that time a five-time series champion, had done this three times in his career already; his 1986 and 1987 points championships were both clinched before the season's last race and in 1991 he was only required to start the finale to win.

Other seasons might see two or three drivers mathematically eligible for the championship, as Earnhardt in 1990 and Rusty Wallace in 1989 finished with narrow margins over the second place runners. Such a high number as six was a rarity, and as noted above that number had set a series record.

Pre-race
Coming into the race, six drivers had a mathematical chance to win the title, the most ever. The points standings were led by Davey Allison, driving the #28 Texaco/Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing, who had experienced a roller-coaster season. Allison had won the season opening Daytona 500, and four other races. However, his season was nearly halted on more than one occasion, after bad wrecks at Bristol in April, The Winston in May and at Pocono in June. In August, he mourned the death of his brother Clifford, who was killed practicing for the Busch Series race at Michigan. Disappointment also met Allison at Darlington in September. A win at the Southern 500 would clinch him the coveted Winston Million. However, a crew member misread a weather radar screen, and the crew brought Allison in for a pit stop. Moments later, an approaching rain storm ended the race early, and Allison settled for 5th place.

Allison rebounded, and won the second to last race of the season at Phoenix. Allison was attempting to become the second second-generation driver to win the Winston Cup Championship - his father Bobby won the title in 1983. At the time, Lee and Richard Petty were the only father-son duo to have won the championship.

Bill Elliott, driving for Junior Johnson, had departed from his longtime ride at Melling Racing's #9 car to join the six-time champion team and pilot the #11 Budweiser Ford. Elliott won the spring race at Atlanta earlier in the season, part of a four-race winning streak, tying a modern era NASCAR record for consecutive Cup Series wins in a single season. Altogether, he earned 16 top-ten finishes. Experiencing a generally more consistent season up to that point, Elliott led by as many as 154 points in the season championship on September 20. But he began to falter, and had three bad races in a row, dropping his lead to 39 points with three races left. At the second to last race of the season at Phoenix, Elliott's car suffered a cracked cylinder head and overheating problems, which relegated him to a 31st-place finish. He slipped from first to third in the points standings going into the final race.

Alan Kulwicki, who ran the #7 Hooters for AK Racing which he owned outright, was considered the third and final primary contender, and the underdog to win the championship. While he had only won two races in 1992 up to that point, he had 11 top-5s and 16 top-10s. He was running at the finish at all but two races so far. Despite a crash at Dover in September, he rebounded to post finishes of 12th or better in the five races leading up to Atlanta. Kulwicki received approval from NASCAR and Ford to change the "Thunderbird" lettering on his bumper by putting two Mighty Mouse patches on the "TH" in "THUNDERBIRD" because he felt like the underdog for winning the championship, and Kulwicki admired the character, which symbolized him and his team (many of whom later became champions themselves long after his death).

Allison would mathematically clinch the championship if he finished sixth or better, regardless of the other five drivers' performances. If Allison were to lead a single lap during the race, all he had to do was finish 7th or better; if he had led the most laps, he needed only to finish 8th or better. Numerous other championship scenarios generally favored Allison, provided he finished ahead of, or close to his competitors, and led a lap during the race. Kulwicki entered the race needing to make up thirty points, while former points leader Elliott needed to make up forty.

After Kulwicki, three other drivers had an outside chance to win the championship. Harry Gant, driving the #33 Skoal Oldsmobile for Leo Jackson Motorsports, entered the race 97 points behind Allison, and had won two races during the season. Kyle Petty, driving the #42 Mello Yello Pontiac for Team SABCO, was one point behind Gant, having also won twice. Kyle Petty's opportunities were particularly noteworthy. He would be the first third-generation Winston Cup Champion (behind grandfather Lee and father Richard), and he would also have the chance to win the title on the same day his father Richard was retiring. The last driver with a chance was Mark Martin, in the #6 Valvoline Ford for Roush Racing, who was 113 points behind Allison. Attention during the day focused on Gant, Petty, and Martin, but all three basically needed to win the race, lead the most laps, and hope for the other championship contenders to drop out. Martin's attempt, in particular, would have been the most difficult to pull off.

Of the six championship contenders, the only one that was a former Winston Cup champion was Elliott, who was the 1988 series champion. The closest former champion to Elliott in points was eighth place Darrell Waltrip, the owner-driver of the #17 Western Auto Chevrolet who was not mathematically able to win the title.

Richard Petty's Fan Appreciation Tour
Since this was the last event of the season, it also marked the final stop on Richard Petty's "Fan Appreciation Tour." On October 1, 1991, Petty announced he would retire at the end of the 1992 season. He planned on running the entire season, not just selected events, and to that point, had managed to qualify for all 28 of the events in 1992. Media coverage of Petty's final race was extensive, and the weeks leading up to the race saw considerable pre-race hype and anticipation. Ticket sales were brisk, and a record sell-out crowd was expected at Atlanta to see "King Richard" in his final event.

Under the spotlight of attention during the 1992 season, Petty's on-track results had been so far unimpressive. He had scored zero top tens, and had a best finish of 15th (three times). His most notable race of the season came at Daytona during the July 4 Pepsi 400. With President George H. W. Bush in attendance, Petty was honored during the pre-race ceremonies. He qualified on the outside of the front row, and led the first five laps of the race.

At Atlanta, facing the intense pressure of a hectic schedule of appearances and honors, not to mention the actual on-track activities, Petty barely managed to qualify for the Hooters 500. He posted the 39th-fastest speed out of 41 cars. He would not have been eligible for the provisional starting position, and had to qualify on speed. Petty stood on his first round time, and sweated out second round qualifying. He slipped from 36th to 39th on the grid, but was not bumped from the lineup. With Petty safely in the field, the stage was set for a huge sendoff. Ceremonies to honor Petty were planned in the pre-race and post-race, and Petty was expected to take a ceremonial final lap around the track after the race to formally conclude his career. On the night before the race, Alabama held a concert honoring Petty at the Georgia Dome, with 45,000 in attendance.

On the night before pole qualifying, Richard Petty's cousin and longtime crew chief and team manager Dale Inman was robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Atlanta airport. The robber tried to grab a necklace from Inman's neck, but failed. He pointed his gun and pulled the trigger, but it did not fire, and no one was injured.

Pole qualifying
The first round of qualifying was held on Friday November 13. Rick Mast won his first career pole position in the No. 1 car. His qualifying speed of 180.183 mi/h was the first-ever NASCAR qualifying speed over 180 mph at an intermediate length circuit. Previously that speed had only been achieved at Daytona and Talladega. It would be the final NASCAR pole for Oldsmobile as they were leaving the Cup series after this race.

Under the rules at the time, the first round of qualifying locked in only the top twenty cars. In first round qualifying, all of the six championship contenders except for Harry Gant qualified. Mark Martin (4th) was the highest of the six contenders. Richard Petty was not among the top twenty. A field of 40 cars (plus at least one provisional) was expected to comprise the starting grid. With Petty sitting 36th-fastest after Friday's first round, he was precariously close to being bumped from the field on Saturday.


 * Others
 * No. 48 James Hylton
 * No. 85 Mike Skinner
 * No. 91 Kerry Teague


 * Source: The (Lexington, NC) Dispatch, Saturday, November 14, 1992, p. 2B.

Second round qualifying
Second round qualifying was held on Saturday November 14. Under the rules at the time, drivers who did not qualify during the first round moved on to second round qualifying. Each driver could elect to stand on his time from the first round, or erase their time and make a new attempt. Rookie Jeff Gordon bettered his time from the day before, and became the fastest qualifier of the second round. That entered him into the wild card drawing for the 1993 Busch Clash.

Most drivers stood on their times, including Richard Petty, who held on to qualify 39th. Jimmy Hensley elected to try again, and wound up losing eleven spots on the grid. Stanley Smith, who did not even make top 40 on Friday, made a big improvement, qualifying 33rd. Likewise, Jimmy Horton went from only 47th-fastest on Friday, to qualify 36th.

* Stood on Friday time

Failed to qualify
 * No. 77 Mike Potter
 * No. 80 Dave Blaney
 * No. 85 Mike Skinner
 * No. 91 Kerry Teague
 * No. 82 Mark Stahl
 * No. 48 James Hylton
 * No. 50 Clay Young
 * No. 65 Jerry O'Neil
 * No. 56 T. W. Taylor
 * No. 08 Jeff Fuller

Start
A record 160,000 fans, some with seats in temporary grandstands, arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway to witness Richard Petty's final ride, and to watch the exciting championship battle. Country Western Band Alabama sang the national anthem, then Richard Petty's son Kyle along with his sisters gave Richard the command to fire his engine one final time. Before the start of the race, four Apache helicopters did a fly-by and circled the track to salute the field.

The green flag then flew with polesitter Rick Mast in the #1 Skoal Oldsmobile for Richard Jackson Motorsports and Brett Bodine in the #26 Quaker State Ford for King Racing, battling into turn one, with Bodine leading the first lap. On lap 2, the two cars tangled, and crashed in turn one. Dale Earnhardt, the defending series champion whose reign was ending that day and who was running third in his familiar #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, slipped by, and took over the lead. Several other cars were collected in the crash, and five of the championship contenders got through unscathed. Davey Allison, however, slowed to avoid the crash, and was tagged from behind in the left rear by Hut Stricklin's #41 Chevrolet. The left rear fender was badly bent, but did not puncture the tire. Allison stayed out on the track, and the crew would be able to bend the bodywork away from the tire on the next pit stop. The cars of Rich Bickle, Wally Dallenbach Jr., and Bob Schacht were also involved but sustained only minor damage and were able to continue.

During the caution, Mark Martin ducked into the pits to change all four tires, because he was afraid he ran over debris from the incident, as well as flat-spotting the tires when he locked up the brakes and slid sideways to avoid it.

Early race
Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, driving the #4 Kodak Chevrolet, traded the lead for the first 60 laps. Championship contenders Elliott, Allison, and Kulwicki ran near the top 10, while Gant, Martin, and Kyle Petty ran near the back of the pack. Richard Petty worked up to 30th.

By lap 60, entering the first round of green flag pit stops, the highest running of the championship contenders was Elliott in fifth. With the leaders in for service, Michael Waltrip spun out in the #30 Pennzoil Pontiac and brought out the caution. Earnhardt and several other front runners lost a lap after being stuck on pit road. After the cycle completed under caution, four of the top five positions were filled by championship contenders. Elliott assumed the lead with Kulwicki second, Martin fourth, and Gant fifth.

The news was not all good for the #7 team. After his service was complete, Kulwicki stalled the engine and could not get the car moving. His crew was forced to push him out of their pit box, where he was able to start the engine back up. The problem was in the transmission's gearbox, causing the #7 to lose first gear. Kulwicki would be forced to run his engine in high gear for the entire race which meant that he would lose additional time on pit stops and restarts due to getting back up to speed would be significantly slower.

Richard Petty crash
On lap 85, Bob Schacht stalled in turn 1 & another series of yellow flag pit stops had shuffled the field, bringing Allison to the lead. Martin took the lead on lap 91, which meant that now four of the championship contenders (Martin, Allison, Elliott, and Kulwicki) has secured five bonus points for leading a lap. Five of the six contenders were running well, with Gant running third behind Martin and Allison and Elliott and Kulwicki running in the top ten. Despite his gearbox problem, the #7 car had been running particularly well and would continue to do so for the rest of the day. Kyle Petty, however, was not as fortunate. The #42 developed terminal engine trouble that took him out of contention for the championship (as he would have needed to win the race and get help) and would result in his finishing near the rear of the field, multiple laps down.

On lap 95, the #25 Kodiak Chevrolet of Ken Schrader and the #8 Snickers Ford of Dick Trickle tangled on the frontstretch. The cars spun wildly to the inside. Darrell Waltrip's #17 Western Auto Chevrolet spun to avoid the crash, and ran into the #16 Keystone Beer Ford driven by Wally Dallenbach, Jr.. The #45 Terminal Trucking Ford of Rich Bickle was also collected, which led to Richard Petty running into him and destroying the front end of the car, breaking the oil cooler. The oil started a fire, and Petty's car coasted to the infield in flames. Petty (who was overheard on ESPN's in-car camera shouting to the rescue crews "BRING THE F***ING FIRE EXTINGUISHER!" ) was uninjured, however the car was badly damaged, and his return to the race was in question.

At the 100 lap mark, Allison continued to hold the hypothetical lead in the points standings, with Kulwicki second, and Elliott close behind in third.

Second half
Around lap 118, rookie Jeff Gordon brought the #24 DuPont Chevrolet down pit road for service. The Ray Evernham-led "Rainbow Warriors" crew, which would become famous for its efficiency in keeping Gordon in contention as he became a star in the Cup Series, were nowhere near that level in this race and their errors caused Evernham to refer to them as the “Keystone Kops”.

In fact, one of those errors nearly cost one of the championship contenders. During that stop on la 118, a roll of duct tape was left on the hood of the #24. As Gordon left, the roll of tape rolled out of the pits and onto the track, where Davey Allison ran over it. The #28 suffered damage to the front air dam, which caused Allison to drop back from second place where he had been running; he would continue to battle handling issues for the rest of the race. Gordon would eventually crash out of the race on lap 164, finishing 31st.

As the race neared its halfway point, the battle for the championship began to consolidate. On lap 160, Martin was forced to retire from the event after the engine blew on the #6. Gant would also fall back in the field as the race progressed and never was able to get back up to the front. With Petty’s car barely running, this left the #28, #11, and #7 as the only cars that could still contend for the title. On lap 167, Elliott passed Ernie Irvan to retake the lead. Allison still managed to hold onto his points lead as he stayed up front, running seventh with an 11 point margin separating him from both Elliott and Kulwicki.

On lap 210, Kulwicki passed Elliott and took the point for the first time since lap 80, which was only the second lap he had led the entire day. Kulwicki took full advantage of this, beginning a long run at the front. Allison, however, was still running in the top ten in sixth place and as long as he was able to stay there, the #28 would be the champion for the year no matter how long Kulwicki stayed on point. Unfortunately, like Petty, Gant, and Martin before him, trouble would find Allison.

On lap 254, Irvan, who was now running three laps down, lost control of the #4 and spun out on the front stretch and into the path of his good friend Allison, who had nowhere to go and t-boned Irvan. tie rod and steering damage as both cars came to rest on the inside wall on the front straightaway. Allison would make it back onto the track after spending a significant amount of time in the garage, but would finish fifty-three laps down in 27th place, finishing the lowest of the six championship contenders.

Finish
With the race now under caution due to the Allison-Irvan wreck, race leader Kulwicki was now the points leader. Kulwicki and his crew chief Paul Andrews began to plot strategy for the remainder of the race. Initially, the idea was for him to come in for a pit stop during the caution and fill the fuel tank, but the two men decided not to because even taking into account the possibility of more caution periods, the crew would be counting on Kulwicki to run seventy laps on a single tank and that would prove unfeasible. Using his penchant for “thinking outside the box”, Kulwicki and Andrews decided the best bet was for them to maximize their position on the track and run for points. Since he and Elliott had already each gotten points for leading a lap, the goal was to lead enough laps to get the additional five points for leading the most laps. So, Kulwicki stayed on the track and when the green flag dropped on lap 258 he resumed his spot as the dominant car while the crew went to work on a late race strategy.

At lap 300, Kulwicki held about a two second lead on Elliott. Crew chief Andrews decided non. fuel-only stop and figured out that in order to get a full eleven gallon load of a fuel can into the car, six seconds were required. However, since they only needed to get Kulwicki to the checkered flag, a full can was not needed. Andrews calculated that just over five gallons, half a can, would get them to the end. The stop was supposed to occur on lap 306, and that Kulwicki needed to conserve fuel to make sure he reached that point. As Elliott began to catch him, Kulwicki was told to stay out for several more laps to give himself more of a cushion. Elliott tried and failed to pass Kulwicki, who finally pulled off track on lap 310. He had led the previous 101 laps, pushing his total to 103 for the race.

With the #11 now once again at the point, Kulwicki slowly brought the #7 to his pit stall. Car chief and gas man Tony Gibson stood waiting for his boss as he would be the only crew member over the wall. The rest stood by just in case Kulwicki stalled again as he had earlier. After 3.4 seconds, Kulwicki took off and headed back onto the track. However, there was an issue with the fuel relay and Gibson was unsure he got enough gas into the tank.

Meanwhile Elliott, who had been in control of the race for the five extra points before Kulwicki’s run at the front, suddenly found himself needing to do what Kulwicki did to keep his own championship hopes alive as the laps slowly ticked down. Since he too needed to top off his fuel, Elliott decided to stay out for several more laps and eventually came in after leading lap 313. He got back on track and, on lap 316, passed Terry Labonte for the lead again, but the decision to come in later ended up crippling his title chances. If he was to remain in the lead for the rest of the event and bring home the victory, his total laps led count would be 102, one short of Kulwicki’s total.

The word that Kulwicki had clinched the additional bonus points was relayed to him on lap 324. At the time, he had been running second and all he needed to do was hold his position to win the Winston Cup. However, Andrews told him that the fuel stop they made might not have gotten him enough to get to the end of the race and that Kulwicki had to conserve fuel while holding his position; if he fell even one position back in the final laps, Elliott would be champion. Luckily for the “Underbird”, the only car that could possibly be a threat was the #15 Motorcraft Ford driven by Geoff Bodine and he was not close enough to be a factor in the outcome. Kulwicki conceded the victory to Elliott and did his best to keep himself running ahead of the #15 while conserving fuel.

When the checkered flag fell, Elliott came across first and recorded his fifth victory of the season. Kulwicki's fuel held up, and he won the championship while finishing a distant second. Kulwicki's final lead in the standings was just ten points, the closest margin in NASCAR history until the 2011 season when Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards finished in a tie for first place, with the championship going to Stewart due to him winning 5 races to Edwards' 1.

Richard Petty's crew worked diligently all afternoon to get his car running again, and with two laps remaining, Petty pulled out of the pits. His car had no sheet metal on the front end and no hood. He finished 35th, and was credited as running at the finish in his final race. Commenting on the fire, Petty said, "I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory; I just forgot about the glory part." After the victory lane celebration, Petty climbed in the car for one final ceremonial lap to salute the fans. He waved out the window while the song "Richard Petty Fans" by Alabama was played on the public address system.

Immediately after taking the checkered flag, Alan Kulwicki drove back around to the frontstretch. He proceeded to stop at the flagstand and turn around, to drive what he referred to as a "Polish victory lap", clockwise (backwards) around the track, waving to fans. It mimicked a similar celebration he did at his first victory in 1988 at Phoenix.

Race statistics

 * Time of race – 3:44:20
 * Average speed – 133.322 mph
 * Margin of victory – 8.06 seconds
 * Lead changes – 20 among 9 drivers
 * Total purse: US$785,787 (winner's share $93,600)

Selected awards

 * Busch Pole Award: Rick Mast
 * Busch Beer Fastest Second round Qualifier: Jeff Gordon
 * Gillette Halfway Challenge: Ernie Irvan
 * Goody's Headache Award: Davey Allison
 * AP Parts Meet the Challenge Award:
 * True Value Hard Charger Award: Bill Elliott
 * Gatorade Circle of Champions Award: Bill Elliott
 * Plasti-kote Winning Finish Award: Tim Brewer (Elliott)
 * Western Auto Mechanic of the Race: Danny Glad (Kulwicki)
 * Unocal 76 Challenge: $22,800 available to polesitter Rick Mast – not won (rollover)

Final points standings

 * 1) Alan Kulwicki, 4078 points
 * 2) Bill Elliott, −10
 * 3) Davey Allison, −63
 * 4) Harry Gant, −123
 * 5) Kyle Petty, −133
 * 6) Mark Martin, −191
 * 7) Ricky Rudd, −343
 * 8) Terry Labonte, −404
 * 9) Darrell Waltrip, −419
 * 10) Sterling Marlin, −475

Legacy
This race is considered the transition from the old age of NASCAR to the new age. As veteran Richard Petty retired, future champion Jeff Gordon made his debut. Gordon is one of the most successful and popular drivers NASCAR's modern era. This is also the only race in NASCAR history to feature Petty, Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt taking the green flag together. All three are considered among the best NASCAR drivers of all time. In total, nine former or future NASCAR Winston Cup champions drove in the race; Morgan Shepherd was a former Late Model Sportsman Series champion; and Mike Skinner (who failed to qualify) would eventually win the Truck Series championship – accounting for 11 NASCAR touring series champions entered in the event.

The race took place on the old "classic oval" configuration of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Later, Atlanta was re-configured to a quad-oval layout, and the start/finish line was moved to the old backstretch.

After coming up short in the championship battle, Bill Elliott's crew chief Tim Brewer was fired from Junior Johnson Motorsports. Had Elliott led the most laps, the season championship would have ended in a tie between Elliott and Kulwicki. Thus, Elliott would have been awarded the championship due to his having more wins during the season than Kulwicki (five to Kulwicki's two). This was perhaps Johnson's last hurrah as a team owner, as his cars never contended for a championship again. Despite Jimmy Spencer driving the team's #27 to two wins and Elliott recording a victory during the 1994 season, the team recorded more failure than success. Following the loss of his primary driver, Elliott, and his two sponsors, Budweiser and McDonald's, after the 1994 season, Johnson released Spencer and signed Lowe's to sponsor the #11 for one more season. He sold the operation to driver Brett Bodine in 1996 and retired.

The 1992 season was also considered Dale Earnhardt's worst season of his career, finishing outside of the top ten in points, with only one win all season. He led the race early, but pitted at a yellow and fell a lap down. After battling back to the lead lap, he brushed the wall and finished 26th.

Capping off the season with an 8th-place finish, Jimmy Hensley locked up the 1992 Rookie of the Year award. The rookie race for 1992 was mostly uncompetitive, however, as Hensley won by a large margin. All of the eligible rookies ran only partial schedules in 1992.

This was also the final race Dick Beaty served as the NASCAR director, as he retired after the 1992 season. It was also Eddie Bierschwale's final career start.

The race broke the existing ESPN auto racing television audience record, registering a 4.1 rating and 2.5 million households. It fell just short of ESPN's all-time auto racing rating record (4.2 rating/1.8 million households for the 1987 Winston 500).

Alan Kulwicki stood as the last owner-driver to win a series championship until Tony Stewart accomplished the feat in 2011. Like in 1992, the championship came down to the final race and was decided by a tiebreaker when Stewart won the race to tie Carl Edwards for the points lead and was awarded the title by virtue of his five victories versus Edwards' single victory.

Tragedy strikes in 1993
Two of the principals in the championship chase that the Hooters 500 resolved would not survive the next season. On April 1, 1993, three days before the Food City 500 at Bristol, Alan Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash along with Hooters executives, while they were flying back from an appearance at a Hooters restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee.

A little over three months later on July 12, 1993, Davey Allison was flying his helicopter to Talladega Superspeedway to watch his friend David Bonnett (Neil Bonnett's son) test a Busch Series car. While trying to land the helicopter in a closed-in section of the Talladega infield, Allison crashed and suffered grave head injuries. He died the next morning.

Both Kulwicki and Allison were in the top five of the Cup series points at the time of their deaths, with Allison recording a victory at Richmond. Allison and Kulwicki were also invited to participate in IROC XVII based on their performances, with Kulwicki automatically qualifying as the NASCAR Winston Cup champion, and at the time of their deaths, both drivers were in the top five in IROC points. Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt took over for the deceased drivers and Labonte's effort in the final IROC race gave the series title to Allison posthumously.

Fifteenth anniversary
To commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the race, Jeff Gordon served as grand marshal and Richard Petty the honorary starter for the 2007 Pep Boys Auto 500 that took place on October 28, 2007.