Race details [1] [2] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Race 11 of 30 in the 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
![]() | |||
Date | May 7, 1977 | ||
Official name | Music City USA 420 | ||
Location | Nashville Speedway, Nashville, Tennessee | ||
Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
Course length | 0.959 km (0.596 miles) | ||
Distance | 420 laps, 250.3 mi (402.8 km) | ||
Weather | Hot with temperatures of 86 °F (30 °C); wind speeds of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) | ||
Average speed | 87.490 miles per hour (140.802 km/h) | ||
Pole position | |||
Driver | DiGard Motorsports | ||
Most laps led | |||
Driver | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
Laps | 398 | ||
Winner | |||
No. 72 | Benny Parsons | DeWitt Racing | |
Television in the United States | |||
Network | untelevised | ||
Announcers | none |
The 1977 Music City USA 420 was a 420-lap race that took place on May 7, 1977, at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.
Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.[ citation needed ]
The race itself took two hours, fifty-one minutes, and forty seconds from the first green flag to the checkered flag. [2] Benny Parsons was the race winner with an average speed of 87.49 miles per hour (140.80 km/h) while the pole position winner Darrell Waltrip had a speed of 103.643 miles per hour (166.797 km/h) and finished the race in 3rd place. [2] Cale Yarborough led the race with most number of laps (275) and was the points leader after the race for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship. [2] However, Benny Parsons would defeat him by one second. [2]
Ricky Rudd made his fourth 4th career top-10 finish at this race. [3]
Twenty thousand people attended this race that had a total prize purse of $56,350 ($283,328.17 in current US dollars). [2] The winner would leave the event earning an incredible $9,565 ($48,092.88 in current US dollars) while the last-place finisher would walk away with a meager $255 in cash earnings ($1,282.14 in current US dollars). [4]
Other notable names among the drivers included Ricky Rudd, Coo Coo Marlin, Richard Petty, Elmo Langley, and Richard Childress. [2] Notable crew chiefs included Buddy Parrott, Jake Elder, Joey Arrington, Kirk Shelmerdine, and Dale Inman. [5]
Paul Dean Holt would retire from NASCAR after this race after competing in 85 races while Ralph Jones would make his introduction into NASCAR racing during this race. [6]
Grid [2] | No. | Driver | Manufacturer |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 88 | Darrell Waltrip | Chevrolet |
2 | 72 | Benny Parsons | Chevrolet |
3 | 11 | Cale Yarborough | Chevrolet |
4 | 43 | Richard Petty | Dodge |
5 | 12 | Bobby Allison | AMC Matador |
6 | 2 | Dave Marcis | Chevrolet |
7 | 15 | Buddy Baker | Ford |
8 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Chevrolet |
9 | 92 | Skip Manning | Chevrolet |
10 | 3 | Richard Childress | Chevrolet |
11 | 70 | J.D. McDuffie | Chevrolet |
12 | 22 | Ricky Rudd | Chevrolet |
13 | 81 | Terry Ryan | Chevrolet |
14 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Dodge |
15 | 14 | Coo Coo Marlin | Chevrolet |
Section reference: [2]
* Driver failed to finish race
Section reference: [2]
Pos | Driver | Points [2] | Differential |
---|---|---|---|
1 ![]() | Cale Yarborough | 1905 | 0 |
2 ![]() | Richard Petty | 1713 | -192 |
3 ![]() | Benny Parsons | 1677 | -228 |
4 ![]() | Darrell Waltrip | 1672 | -223 |
5 ![]() | Dave Marcis | 1460 | -445 |
6 ![]() | Buddy Baker | 1452 | -453 |
7 ![]() | Cecil Gordon | 1341 | -564 |
8 ![]() | Richard Childress | 1321 | -584 |
9 ![]() | James Hylton | 1286 | -619 |
10 ![]() | Dick Brooks | 1284 | -621 |