1989 Goodwrench 500

1989 Goodwrench 500

Race details
Race 2 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 GM Goodwrench 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	March 5, 1989
Official name	24th Annual Goodwrench 500
Location	Rockingham, North Carolina, North Carolina Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.637 km)
Distance	492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km)
Average speed	115.122 miles per hour (185.271 km/h)
Attendance	44,300
Pole position
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Time	24.606
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Laps	222
Winner
No. 27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Gary Nelson, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 Goodwrench 500 was the second stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 24th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 5, 1989, before an audience of 44,300 in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Speedway, a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. On the final restart with six laps left in the race, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace would manage to pull away to a sizable lead to take his 11th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, owner-driver Alan Kulwicki and Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish second and third, respectively.

North Carolina Motor 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.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, March 2, at 2:30 PM EST. Originally, the first 20 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 21-40 meant to be determined the following day on Friday, March 3.^[5] However, due to rain, the second round was cancelled. As a result, the rest of the starting lineup was set using the results from the first round. 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.^[6]

Rusty Wallace, driving for Blue Max Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.606 and an average speed of 148.793 miles per hour (239.459 km/h) in the first round.^[7][8]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 2 1 Dale Earnhardt 335 2 2 Geoff Bodine 330 (-5) 4 3 Alan Kulwicki 326 (-9) 14 4 Rusty Wallace 294 (–41) 6 5 Sterling Marlin 276 (–59) 5 6 Ken Schrader 268 (–67) 1 7 Rick Wilson 259 (–76) 7 8 Darrell Waltrip 256 (–79) 3 9 Rick Mast 255 (–80) 1 10 Terry Labonte 252 (–83) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.