The 1993 Mountain Dew Southern 500 was the 22nd stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 44th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 5, 1993, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometre) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race was shortened from its scheduled 367 laps to 351 laps due to rain delays, which caused the race to be cut short due to darkness. When the final ten-lap warning was given out, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would manage to pull away from the field to take his 11th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fourth victory of the season, and his fourth consecutive victory.[1][2] To fill out the top three, King Racing driver Brett Bodine and Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would finish second and third, respectively.
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 3, at 3:00 PM EDT. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 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, September 4 at 11:30 AM EDT. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be decided on time,[3] 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. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.495 and an average speed of 161.259 miles per hour (259.521km/h) in the first round.[4]
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