1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300

The 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that occurred on June 9, 1991, at Sears Point International Raceway in the American community of Sonoma, California.

1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300
Race details[1]
Race 12 of 29 in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Track map for Sonoma Raceway. The course used for this event is emphasized in this version.
Date June 9, 1991 (1991-June-09)
Location Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California
Course Permanent racing facility
1.99 mi (3.2 km)
Distance 74 laps, 172.88 mi (308.69 km)
Weather Warm with temperatures reaching up to 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Hendrick Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South
Laps 45
Winner
No. 28 Davey Allison Yates Racing

Scott Gaylord would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in this racing event.[2] Butch Gilliland, the father of current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitor David Gilliland, failed to qualify for this race along with three other drivers.

Kyle Petty would break his leg at a crash in Talladega and was unable to compete; Tommy Kendall took over the #42 Mello Yello machine while Petty was recuperating.[3] Petty's first race after his injury would end up being the 1991 Heinz Southern 500; a fall race at Darlington Raceway.

Summary

While the average green flag run would be 10 laps, 19% of this 74-lap race would be run under some sort of caution flag. A grid of 43 American-born drivers qualified for this road course racing event; R.K. Smith would blow his engine on the second lap, making him the last-place finisher. John Krebs would be the lowest-finishing driver to complete the race while Hershel McGriff would see his ambitions ruined by a crash on lap 61. Ford, Chevrolet and Pontiac vehicles would form the clear majority of the manufacturers involved.[4]

After more than two and a half hours of racing, Davey Allison would defeat the first winner of the annual event Ricky Rudd by a margin of one second after Rudd was black-flagged at the checkers for a previous contact with Allison in the race. Their intense rivalry at this racing event proved their expertise on road courses when most of the other NASCAR drivers in the 1990s were more concerned about racing on oval tracks and struggled to survive in places like Sonoma and Watkins Glen.[5] While Rudd was originally considered to be the winner since he finished first, NASCAR officials spotted a flagrant incident involving him and second-place driver Davey Allison. Rudd's tapping of Davey Allison at the White flag earned him a black-flag of 5 seconds added to his total time; enough to put Allison as the winner.[6] National media would cover the closing moments of this controversial race. As a result, Sonoma Raceway would forever be put on the map of motorsports history.[7]

Three accidents and an oil spill on the track would cause most of the yellow flag occurrences. While Rusty Wallace would lead the most laps in this race, his lack of consistency kept him from besting either Rudd or Allison. The cars in this racing event averaged speeds of nearly 73.000 miles per hour (117.482 km/h).[4] Dale Earnhardt would keep his NASCAR Winston Cup championship points lead but would lead Ricky Rudd by a mere 53 points after this race.[4] Tommy Kendall was not going to surrender the lead when Martin got alongside him, hence why they made contact and Mark went around.[4] Tommy Kendall got the worst end of it, though, cutting a tire and finishing last car on the lead lap after having to pit for new left sides.[4]

Individual race earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's portion of $61,950 ($174,217.37 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's portion of $3,475 ($6,522.95 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR officials at this race were authorized to hand out a grand total of $458,960 to all the qualifying drivers of this event ($861,517.15 when adjusted for inflation).[8]

Results

Timeline

Section reference: [4]

  • Start: Ricky Rudd was leading the racing grid to the start/finish line as the green flag was waved.
  • Lap 4: Caution due to R.K. Smith's accident, ended on lap 6.
  • Lap 12: Rusty Wallace took over the lead from Ricky Rudd.
  • Lap 17: John Krebs took over the lead from Rusty Wallace.
  • Lap 18: Robert Sprague took over the lead from John Krebs.
  • Lap 19: Rusty Wallace took over the lead from Robert Sprague.
  • Lap 23: Caution due to oil on track, ended on lap 25.
  • Lap 39: Morgan Shepher's engine stopped working on this lap.
  • Lap 46: Dale Jarrett took over the lead from Rusty Wallace.
  • Lap 47: Rusty Wallace took over the lead from Dale Jarrett.
  • Lap 53: Transmission problems ended Mike Chase's hopes of winning the event.
  • Lap 54: Robert Sprague's engine stopped working on this lap.
  • Lap 58: The rear end of Irv Hoevv's vehicle came off in a very unsafe manner.
  • Lap 60: Tommy Kendall took over the lead from Rusty Wallace.
  • Lap 61: Hershel McGriff had a terminal crash.
  • Lap 64: Caution due to Richard Petty's accident, ended on lap 67.
  • Lap 72: Davey Allison took over the lead from Tommy Kendall.
  • Lap 73: Ricky Rudd took over the lead from Davey Allison.
  • Lap 74: Davey Allison took over the lead from Ricky Rudd.
  • Finish: Davey Allison was officially declared the winner of the event.

Race results

Pos Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
11328Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord74180
215Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet74175
342Rusty WallacePenske Racing SouthPontiac74175
4114Ernie IrvanMorgan-McClure MotorsportsChevrolet74160
5625Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet74155
6294Terry LabonteHagan RacingOldsmobile74150
733Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet74146
81297Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord74142
9146Mark MartinRoush RacingFord74138
10830Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac74134
112826Brett BodineKing RacingBuick74130
12966Lake SpeedCale Yarborough RacingPontiac74127
132573Bill SchmittSchmitt RacingFord74124
143224Mickey GibbsTeam III RacingPontiac74121
152976Bill SedgwickSpears MotorsportsChevrolet74118
16198Rick WilsonStavola Brothers RacingBuick74115
1777Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord74112
18542Tommy KendallTeam SabcoPontiac74114
19411Rick MastPrecision Products RacingOldsmobile73106
20269Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord73103
213352Bobby Hillin, Jr.Jimmy Means RacingPontiac73100
223568Bobby Hamilton #Tri-Star MotorsportsOldsmobile7397
233449Stanley Smith #Stanley Smith MotorsportsBuick7394
241671Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet7291
251017Darrell WaltripDarWal Inc.Chevrolet7188
261522Sterling MarlinJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord7185
272333Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile7082
282719Chad LittleLittle RacingFord6779
293898Jimmy SpencerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet6576
303010Derrike CopeBob Whitcomb RacingChevrolet6473
311775Joe RuttmanRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile6470
322204Hershel McGriffLipseia RacingPontiac6167
333100Scott GaylordOliver RacingOldsmobile6164
343943Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac5961
352412Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick5958
361844Irv HoerrLabonte MotorsportsOldsmobile5855
373755Ted MusgraveRaDiUs MotorsportsPontiac5852
384099John KrebsKrebs RacingPontiac5749
394391Robert SpragueRouse RacingFord5446
404223Mike ChaseFreymiller RacingFord5343
412121Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord4640
422015Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord3937
433609R. K. SmithMidgley MotorsportsPontiac234
# Rookie of the Year candidate / † Driver change following qualifying
Source:[4]

References

Preceded by
1991 Budweiser 500
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1991
Succeeded by
1991 Champion Spark Plug 500
Preceded by
1990
Banquet Frozen Foods 300 races
1991
Succeeded by
1992
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