The 1991 Valleydale Meats 500 was the sixth stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 31st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 14, 1991, before an audience of 58,300 in Bristol, Tennessee, at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In a chaotic race, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to come back from a two-lap deficit and hold off Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan to take his 19th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Ernie Irvan and Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMake1Rick MastPrecision Products RacingOldsmobile2Rusty WallacePenske Racing SouthPontiac3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet5Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Mark MartinRoush RacingFord7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord8Rick WilsonStavola Brothers RacingBuick9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord10Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet11Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord12Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick15Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord17Darrell WaltripDarrell Waltrip MotorsportsChevrolet19Chad LittleLittle RacingFord20Bobby Hillin Jr.Moroso RacingOldsmobile21Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord22Sterling MarlinJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord24Mickey GibbsTeam III RacingPontiac25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26Brett BodineKing RacingBuick28Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac33Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile34Dick TrickleAAG RacingBuick42Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac55Ted Musgrave (R)U.S. RacingPontiac66Lake SpeedCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac68Bobby Hamilton (R)TriStar MotorsportsOldsmobile70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet75Joe RuttmanRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile94Terry LabonteHagan RacingOldsmobile98Jimmy SpencerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet

Qualifying Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 12, at 3:00 PM EST. Originally, the first 15 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 16-30 meant to be determined the following day on Saturday, April 13. However, due to rain, the second round was cancelled. As a result, the rest of the starting lineup was set using the results from the first round. 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 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.

Rusty Wallace, driving for Penske Racing South, would win the pole, setting a time of 16.254 and an average speed of .

Three drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed12Rusty WallacePenske Racing SouthPontiac16.254118.05123Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet16.369117.222328Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord16.374117.18645Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet16.385117.10757Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord16.391117.06466Mark MartinRoush RacingFord16.407116.950726Brett BodineKing RacingBuick16.409116.93684Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet16.418116.87291Rick MastPrecision Products RacingOldsmobile16.428116.8011033Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile16.435116.7511111Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord16.443116.6941242Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac16.453116.6231312Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick16.468116.5171425Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet16.468116.5171522Sterling MarlinJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord16.482116.418Failed to lock in Round 1168Rick WilsonStavola Brothers RacingBuick16.503116.2701724Mickey GibbsTeam III RacingPontiac16.512116.2061821Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord16.524116.1221920Bobby Hillin Jr.Moroso RacingOldsmobile16.584115.7022098Jimmy SpencerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet16.596115.6182134Dick TrickleAAG RacingBuick16.598115.6042217Darrell WaltripDarrell Waltrip MotorsportsChevrolet16.602115.5762375Joe RuttmanRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile16.635115.3472466Lake SpeedCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac16.635115.3472530Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac16.665115.1402615Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord16.697114.9192755Ted Musgrave (R)U.S. RacingPontiac16.704114.8712868Bobby Hamilton (R)TriStar MotorsportsOldsmobile16.710114.829299Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord16.729114.6993094Terry LabonteHagan RacingOldsmobile16.780114.350Provisionals3119Chad LittleLittle RacingFord16.835113.9773210Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet16.853113.855Champion's Provisional3343Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac16.917113.424Failed to qualify3471Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet16.820114.0783552Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac17.359110.5363670J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac17.626108.862Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings112Rusty WallacePenske Racing SouthPontiac500104running180$51,300284Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet50073running175$26,0003328Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord50091running170$18,950545Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet500145running165$37,950466Mark MartinRoush RacingFord50042running165$18,95062217Darrell WaltripDarrell Waltrip MotorsportsChevrolet5000running150$7,52571821Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord5000running146$10,77582098Jimmy SpencerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet5000running142$10,17593094Terry LabonteHagan RacingOldsmobile5000running138$9,575102615Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord4980running134$14,275111033Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile49832running135$9,375122755Ted Musgrave (R)U.S. RacingPontiac4980running127$8,275132375Joe RuttmanRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile4980running124$8,150143119Chad LittleLittle RacingFord4976running126$6,400151920Bobby Hillin Jr.Moroso RacingOldsmobile4970running118$6,800161312Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick4960running115$7,475173343Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac4960running112$7,2251891Rick MastPrecision Products RacingOldsmobile4920running109$7,025191724Mickey GibbsTeam III RacingPontiac4920running106$4,6652023Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4840running103$15,525211242Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac4800running100$10,12522726Brett BodineKing RacingBuick4710running97$6,675232530Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac4630running94$6,550241111Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord4610running91$11,750252466Lake SpeedCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac4550running88$6,4802657Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord4340running85$9,875271522Sterling MarlinJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord4210crash82$5,15028299Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord4060running79$9,800291425Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet3147crash81$6,220302134Dick TrickleAAG RacingBuick3140ignition73$4,025312868Bobby Hamilton (R)TriStar MotorsportsOldsmobile1240engine70$4,275323210Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet800crash67$11,12533168Rick WilsonStavola Brothers RacingBuick780overheating64$5,850Official race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ricky Rudd 973 1 2 Ernie Irvan 854 (-119) 1 3 Dale Earnhardt 831 (-142) 2 4 Mark Martin 813 (–160) 4 5 Rusty Wallace 805 (–168) 1 6 Morgan Shepherd 778 (–195) 6 7 Darrell Waltrip 761 (–212) 7 8 Davey Allison 758 (–215) 5 9 Ken Schrader 751 (–222) 5 10 Sterling Marlin 749 (–224)Official driver's standings

Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References