1989 Miller High Life 500

1989 Miller High Life 500

Race details
Race 13 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 Miller High Life 500 program cover, featuring Dick Trickle. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Date	June 18, 1989
Official name	8th Annual Miller High Life 500
Location	Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Pocono Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Average speed	131.32 miles per hour (211.34 km/h)
Attendance	100,000
Pole position
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Time	57.147
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Laps	100
Winner
No. 11	Terry Labonte	Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network	Viewer's Choice (PPV)
Announcers	Dave Despain, Lyn St. James, Gary Nelson
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 Miller High Life 500 was the 13th stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the eighth iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 18, 1989, before an audience of 100,000 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, at Pocono Raceway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) triangular permanent course. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Terry Labonte would manage to hold off a late-race charge from Jackson Bros. Motorsports driver Harry Gant, leading the final 14 laps of the race to take his 10th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2][3] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Harry Gant and Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish second and third, respectively.

The race was held at Pocono International Raceway, which is a three-turn superspeedway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The track hosts two annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, as well as one Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series event. Until 2019, the track also hosted an IndyCar Series race.

Pocono International Raceway is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation. It is operated by the Igdalsky siblings Brandon, Nicholas, and sister Ashley, and cousins Joseph IV and Chase Mattioli, all of whom are third-generation members of the family-owned Mattco Inc, started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli.

Outside of the NASCAR races, the track is used throughout the year by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and motorcycle clubs as well as racing schools and an IndyCar race. The triangular oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack – North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track. During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together – such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 16, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 15 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, June 17, at 10:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 16-40 would be decided on time,^[4] 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 provisionals were given.

Rusty Wallace, driving for Blue Max Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 57.147 and an average speed of 157.489 miles per hour (253.454 km/h) in the first round.^[5][6]

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 1,945 1 2 Rusty Wallace 1,755 (-190) 1 3 Darrell Waltrip 1,738 (-207) 1 4 Mark Martin 1,731 (–214) 1 5 Geoff Bodine 1,695 (–250) 2 6 Sterling Marlin 1,652 (–293) 4 7 Ken Schrader 1,625 (–320) 2 8 Bill Elliott 1,623 (–322) 9 Davey Allison 1,611 (–334) 10 Ricky Rudd 1,589 (–356) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.