The 1989 NASCAR Winston West Series was the 36th season of the series. The title was won by Bill Schmitt, his third and the series and first since 1979.
Bill Sedgwick started the season with a win, leading 118 of the 200 laps. Hershel McGriff was the only other driver to lead during the race, but Sedgwick was able to regain the lead due to McGriff suffering from handling problems.
In winning the race, Hershel McGriff became the oldest driver to win a major NASCAR series race, aged 61 years and 4 months. It was the 34th and final win of his West Series career.
Mark Martin actually rolled his car during the race due to an error by a new tire changer (only two of the five lug nuts were properly fastened on the car). Right after the car left the pits, the right rear came off, the car spun, hit the tire barrier and rolled onto its roof. However, he came back to finish the race in 31st, 5 laps down.
This would be Buick's penultimate victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Hershel McGriff took the West Series points lead by 36 points over Bill Schmitt, with title contender Bill Sedgwick failing to make the race. McGriff was the highest finishing West Series driver and therefore was awarded points equivalent to a win.
The race was Bill Schmitt's first win of the season, and he would take over the points lead from Hershel McGriff, who was now 27 points behind.
Schmitt led only 3 of the 200 laps; Mark Walbridge led the most laps in the event at 74, but was 6 laps down by the finish. McGriff led 50 laps during the event, but was the last car running, finishing 17th and 25 laps off the pace.
Making his only West Series standalone appearance of the year, Chad Little scored his 5th and final career win in the series. He led for 375 of the 500 laps, however only winning by just over 1 second.
The race distance of 500 laps was the longest all season, and only 12 of the 29 competitors were able to finish the race. Among those failing to finish was polesitter Bill Elliott, who was making his only standalone West Series appearance of the year but retired from the event after 48 laps due to head gasket issues.
Bill Schmitt retained his points lead over Roy Smith, but Smith, on the strength of a second-place finish, cut the gap to just 6 points.
The race was Roy Smith's second win of the season, and he would cut the deficit to points leader Bill Schmitt to just 1 point. Smith nearly lost a lap on pit road during a caution, but was able to get by polesitter Troy Beebe and Bill Schmitt in the closing laps to score the win. Schmitt's brakes began failing late, and Bill Sedgwick was able to climb to 2nd.
The race was the third and final win of the season for Bill Sedgwick. Despite smoke seeping from his car in the closing laps, Sedgwick held on to score the win over Hershel McGriff.
Roy Smith would take over the points lead, leaving the race with a 4 point advantage over Bill Schmitt.
This was the second race of the year to be titled "Winston 200."
Winston 200 (Sonoma)
The Winston 200 was held on October 1 at Sears Point International Raceway, the second time the series visited the track during the season, although this time it was a standalone West race. Bill Sedgwick won the pole.
The race was the second and final win of the season for Bill Schmitt, who would take the points lead from Roy Smith, who finished 17th due to clutch problems, and go into the season finale with a 64 point advantage.
This was the third race of the year to be titled "Winston 200." It was also the final standalone West Series race of the season.
Two cars entered by Hendrick Motorsports (the No. 46 City Chevrolet driven by Greg Sacks and the No. 51 Exxon Chevrolet driven by Bobby Hamilton) were entered to get in-race footage for the 1990 film Days of Thunder. Hamilton actually led the race with 100 laps to go (in his first career start) before the engine blew. A third movie car (the No. 18 Hardee's Chevrolet driven by Tommy Ellis) failed to make the race.
Bill Schmitt was the highest finishing West Series driver, and the only one to make the race who was running at the finish. He was able to close out his third championship season and first since 1979, ending the season 79 points ahead of Bill Sedgwick.
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