1994 Pepsi 400

Race details
Race 15 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1994 Pepsi 400 program cover.
Date	July 2, 1994
Official name	36th Annual Pepsi 400
Location	Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Scheduled Distance	160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km)
Average speed	155.558 miles per hour (250.346 km/h)
Attendance	100,000
Pole position
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Time	47.037
Most laps led
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
Laps	86
Winner
No. 27	Jimmy Spencer	Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1994 Pepsi 400 was the 15th stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, July 2, 1994, in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 160 laps to complete. In a last-lap battle to the finish, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Jimmy Spencer would manage to best out Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan in one of the closest NASCAR Winston Cup Series finishes in history, besting Irvan by eight one-thousandths of a second. The win was Spencer's first career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish third.

Background

The layout of Daytona International Speedway, the venue where the race was held.

Daytona International Speedway is one of three superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the other two being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.^[3] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.^[4]

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, June 30, at 2:30 PM EST. 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 Friday, July 1, at 1:00 PM EST. 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,^[5] 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.

Dale Earnhardt, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 47.037 and an average speed of 191.339 miles per hour (307.930 km/h) in the first round.^[6]

Six drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ernie Irvan 2,424 2 Dale Earnhardt 2,336 (-88) 3 Rusty Wallace 2,105 (-319) 4 Mark Martin 2,096 (–328) 5 Ken Schrader 2,085 (–344) 6 Morgan Shepherd 1,920 (–504) 7 Ricky Rudd 1,858 (–566) 8 Michael Waltrip 1,844 (–580) 9 Jeff Gordon 1,814 (–609) 2 10 Lake Speed 1,744 (–680) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References