1994 SplitFire Spark Plug 500

{{Short description|25th race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series}}

{{Infobox NASCAR race report|Type=NASWINSTON|Scheduled_km=804.672|Official_name=24th Annual SplitFire Spark Plug 500|Caption=The 1994 SplitFire Spark Plug 500 program cover.|Radio=Motor Racing Network|Network=TNN|First_Team=Penske Racing South|Most_Team=Geoff Bodine Racing|First_Driver=Rusty Wallace|Most_Driver=Geoff Bodine|Pole_Team=Geoff Bodine Racing|Pole_Driver=Geoff Bodine|Most_laps=170|Car=2|Distance_km=804.672|Location=Dover, Delaware, Dover International Speedway|Scheduled_laps=500|Scheduled_mi=500|Distance_laps=500|Avg={{convert|112.556|mph|km/h}}|Date=September 18|Pole_Time=23.554|Course_km=1.6|Course_mi=1|Race_Name=SplitFire Spark Plug 500|Year=1994|Season_No=31|Race_No=25|Distance_mi=500|Announcers=Mike Joy, Buddy Baker|Image=1994 SplitFire Spark Plug 500.jpeg|Attendance=94,000}}

The 1994 SplitFire Spark Plug 500 was the 25th stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 24th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 18, 1994, in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. With a handful laps to go in the race, previous damage sustained from an earlier incident caused Roush Racing driver Mark Martin to blow his right front tire with six laps to go in the race, propelling Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace to the lead when the caution would come out for Martin. Running with barely any fuel and a punctured left rear tire, Wallace was able to coast to the finish line, running at {{Convert|20|mph|km/h}} under caution to take his 38th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his seventh victory of the season.{{Cite news |last=Snyder |first=Brad |date=September 19, 1994 |title=Cautious ending lifts Wallace |pages=61 |work=The Baltimore Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114877159/cautious-ending-lifts-wallace/ |access-date=December 19, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}{{Cite news |last=Higgins |first=Tom |date=September 19, 1994 |title=Rusty Wallace good to the last drop of gas at Dover |pages=12 |work=The Republic |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114877257/rusty-wallace-good-to-the-last-drop-of/ |access-date=December 19, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} To fill out the top three, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt and owner-driver Darrell Waltrip would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

File:Dover_International_Speedway.svg, the venue where the race was held.]]

Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

= Entry list =

(R) denotes rookie driver.

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!Driver

!Team

!Make

!Sponsor

1994 SplitFire Spark Plug 500

Background

= Entry list =

Qualifying

= Full qualifying results =

Race results

Standings after the race

References