|| *Comments on the 1992 Mountain Dew Southern 500:* View the most recent comment <#55> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake posted: 01.22.2005 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was a race no one would forget. There's a little story behind it all. Davey Allison dominated the event. As he continued to dominate, the sky started to look ominious. Crew chief Larry McReynolds sent a pit crew member to the radar computer. There was green all on the radar, which meant heavy rain was coming. The guy thought it was good news, so Larry decided to bring Davey into the pits and it cost him the race. DW was the beneficiary from the mistake and was leading when the rain came out. As it turned out, the race was called and it DW's only Southern 500 win and his last career win. He also did in a great way as the Waltrip's swept both events that weekend with Mikey winning the Busch race. 2. James Reisdorf posted: 03.13.2005 - 5:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The mistake also cost Davey the Winston Million. 3. Jeff posted: 05.05.2006 - 12:00 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I believe DW said the win was "worth a million dollars" to him. just another point in the Waltrip/Allison rivarly. 4. Kevin posted: 08.19.2006 - 12:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) In 1989 DW lost the Winston Million, I guess it is fitting the DW wins the race costing Davey the Million! 5. Anonymous posted: 03.12.2007 - 7:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Me and my dad could feel rain drops and we were extremely puzzled when Davey came down pit road! 6. myself posted: 03.15.2007 - 7:12 pm Rate this comment: (2) (5) One could make a convincing argument that Darrell Freakin' Waltrip cost Davey Allison the 92' championship. 7. Dan posted: 03.29.2007 - 8:33 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) How? Did Darrell tell Larry to bring Davey down pit road? I don't think so. 8. Bill posted: 04.27.2007 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Um, this race didn't cost Davey the Championship. 9. Steve.M. posted: 05.01.2007 - 9:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) daveys championship went down the drain when he got caught up in Ernie Irvans wreck in Atlanta when Irvan was a lap down 10. myself posted: 05.17.2007 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) I'm just saying.... 1-Waltrip crashed Davey @ Pocono 2-Waltrip winning @ Darlington Several other arguements are valid as well. 11. stricklinfan82 posted: 07.04.2007 - 6:13 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Mark Martin actually had the best car in this race, but pitting on the backstretch kept him deep in the pack all day. They finally had a long green flag run and he passed Davey Allison for the lead, but Darrell Waltrip stretched his fuel and got the win when the rains came. Martin finished 2nd, actually finishing ahead of Bill Elliott and Brett Bodine who also stretched their gas like Waltrip did. This race has been remembered as the race where D.W. stole the Winston Million from Davey Allison, but Davey actually finished 2nd to Mark Martin among the cars that pitted under green before the rain. 12. Bill posted: 07.07.2007 - 2:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Waltrip didn't crash Davey at Pocono. Davey came down on him. I just clipped some footage of it 13. Chris posted: 11.15.2007 - 3:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davey was 30 points in front going to Atlanta. If he had stayed out when the rain came out, he would have gained 20 more points, putting him 50 in front going to Atlanta. He finished 26th at Atlanta and Kulwicki finished 2nd, a difference of about 90 points. So, how did the Southern 500 finish cost Davey the championship? 14. myself posted: 02.15.2008 - 3:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tools! I never said the Southern 500 cost Davey the title. I was just theorizing that Waltrip could have cost him. 15. Bill posted: 02.15.2008 - 7:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Easy does it Myself. We're all just chatting here. 16. Ryan posted: 05.08.2008 - 6:44 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Yeah, Larry McReynolds likes to blame a lot of people. He should blame himself. He was the crew chief. He is the one that read the radar wrong. 17. CFob posted: 07.21.2008 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sterling Marlin sweeps the pole position at Darlington in 1992. 18. Bryan Blanton posted: 11.30.2008 - 11:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hi i have this race on tape and was just curious if anyone would know if after espn left if they cameback to update the situation and if they cameback to do a winners interview with darrell? I've seen footage of him doing the dance he did when he won a race he was dancing in the rain that's why i was just curious if espn cameback to update the situation or do a winners interview with darrell. I know when espn left the air that day they said nascar would not make a decision on whether or not to call the race until 5:30 I've read that it stopped raiing for a short period of time or a little while and nascar tried to make an attempt to dry the track but it rained again. I know darrell has said when he was getting ready to leave the track that evening the sky had cleared and the sun had come out again. 19. RaceFanX posted: 12.18.2008 - 10:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Allison's #12 team ran a Ford in this racce instead of their usual Chevy. It was a sign of things to come, they fielded Chevys in the next four races then went to Ford full-time and stayed with the blue ovals until the team folded before the 1997 season. This was also the last race for Hut Stricklin in the #12, he was replaced by Jeff Purvis and later Jimmy Spencer for the rest of the season 20. 18fan posted: 02.27.2009 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think McReynolds was overrated. He was supposed to resurrect Dale Earnhardt's career, and it only sent him into a 1-100 drought. 21. bigjohnson posted: 05.13.2009 - 9:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Jake's story (at top) is about how Waltrip tells it in his book. Did Martin, Jarrett and Rudd all have to pit because they were going to run out of fuel? They all pitted after lap 278 which is when it started to rain. Would D.Allison been able to make it all the way until lap 298? It looks like he pitted on lap 229 under caution. He would have had to run 61 green flag laps plus 9 caution laps to the end. Was that within his pit window? I remember the Fords not getting as good of mileage back then as the Chevrolets did? Waltrip's win was right after second daughter was born and that's why he was so happy. Actually he said that as he was standing in victory lane a rainbow came out. Mark Martin also mentioned a that he was leading, then pitted and ended up losing it to Waltrip. He didn't say where it was but it was after his win at Darlington that he mentioned it . bj 22. stricklinfan82 posted: 06.02.2009 - 7:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The last caution flag for rain lasted from laps 295-298 (the same typo was made in the '93 UMI Preview and Press Guide). That should clear up the questions surrounding the timing of the rain. Mark Martin was leading before he made a green flag stop. Dale Jarrett led a couple laps then pitted, Ricky Rudd led a couple laps then pitted, then the rain fell and brought out the yellow on lap 295 while DW was leading due to stretching his fuel mileage. 23. jr88fan posted: 07.16.2009 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah, Larry McReynolds likes to blame a lot of people. He should blame himself. He was the crew chief. He is the one that read the radar wrong. Ryan | Email | 05.08.08 - 6:44 pm Actually a crew member screwed up and here's the proof. Crew chief Larry McReynolds sent a pit crew member to the radar computer. There was green all on the radar, which meant heavy rain was coming. The guy thought it was good news, so Larry decided to bring Davey into the pits and it cost him the race. DW was the beneficiary from the mistake and was leading when the rain came out. As it turned out, the race was called and it DW's only Southern 500 win and his last career win. He also did in a great way as the Waltrip's swept both events that weekend with Mikey winning the Busch race. Jake | Email | 01.22.05 - 6:18 pm 24. Anonymous posted: 12.17.2009 - 5:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Qualifying Results 22 Sterling Marlin 162.249 mph 4 Ernie Irvan 161.992 mph 25 Ken Schrader 161.923 mph 11 Bill Elliott 161.705 mph 17 Darrell Waltrip 161.662 mph 28 Davey Allison 161.572 mph 66 Jimmy Hensley 161.328 mph 26 Brett Bodine 161.111 mph 7 Alan Kulwicki 160.985 mph 15 Geoff Bodine 160.885 mph 33 Harry Gant 160.811 mph 16 Wally Dallenbach Jr. 160.748 mph 3 Dale Earnhardt 160.475 mph 8 Dick Trickle 160.475 mph 94 Terry Labonte 160.454 mph 31 Bobby Hillin Jr. 160.449 mph 18 Dale Jarrett 160.402 mph 5 Ricky Rudd 160.313 mph 10 Derrike Cope 160.219 mph 1 Rick Mast 160.115 mph 2 Rusty Wallace 159.849 mph 30 Michael Waltrip 159.579 mph 12 Hut Stricklin 159.564 mph 68 Bobby Hamilton 159.502 mph 21 Morgan Shepherd 158.958 mph 6 Mark Martin 158.806 mph 9 Chad Little 158.351 mph 41 Dave Marcis 157.808 mph 42 Kyle Petty 157.700 mph 55 Ted Musgrave 157.605 mph 43 Richard Petty 156.856 mph 71 Jim Sauter 155.247 mph 83 Lake Speed 154.215 mph 52 Jimmy Means 153.029 mph 59 Andy Belmont 148.232 mph 77 Mike Potter No Time 53 John McFadden No Time 48 James Hylton No Time 25. Floridaman1985 posted: 02.08.2010 - 1:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Went to this race with my parents and I am so glad they took me to it. I knew that Davey had a shot at the Winston Million and it was one of Richard Petty's last races, but the significance of the race itself was not known to me at the time. The rainout at the end was pretty disappointing and unexpected. Still a great experience and I cannot wait to go back for the first time since 1992 in May of 2010. 26. Unser1 posted: 04.06.2010 - 10:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DW's second win in a row and third of 1992 27. b4il3y posted: 04.17.2011 - 2:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) LOL. Are any of you crew chiefs? Have any of you drove? No...so hush...hush hush hush that mouth. 28. Dave posted: 05.27.2012 - 4:14 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) At the guy who spells his name with numbers, no we're not crew chiefs but I'm sure most of us can read a weather radar. And as far as DW costing Davey Allison the title? Alan Kulwicki won the title because he earned the most points, all other arguments are irrelevant. Not to mention Davey caused that wreck at Pocono WHEN HE CAME DOWN ON DW & TRIED TO BLOCK HIM. Did you even see the wreck "myself"??? 29. Chris posted: 10.26.2012 - 8:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Who are you to assume that we're not crew chiefs or racecar drivers? 30. Ben posted: 12.11.2012 - 7:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) I don't necessarily think Larry McReynolds was overrated. He was a very solid crew chief that won a lot of races and contended for championships. His drivers and teams seemed a victim of circumstances quite a bit with that cursed 28 team. He also won a race with Brett Bodine. I think that speaks volumes to what that man do on the pit box. 31. myself posted: 05.21.2013 - 12:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Hundreds of times. Waltrip wrecked him. 32. 83andJoe posted: 06.24.2013 - 11:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #55 crew chief: Sandy Jones (same for all races following this one; he replaced Parrott starting at this race) 33. 83andJoe posted: 06.24.2013 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ Correction: Parrott was released prior to this race, but Jones did not assume the position until after this race. So (barring further info) the crew chief posision for the #55 at this race should be blank. 34. Ryan W posted: 07.24.2013 - 1:04 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) "Actually a crew member screwed up and here's the proof. Crew chief Larry McReynolds sent a pit crew member to the radar computer. There was green all on the radar, which meant heavy rain was coming. The guy thought it was good news, so Larry decided to bring Davey into the pits and it cost him the race. DW was the beneficiary from the mistake and was leading when the rain came out. As it turned out, the race was called and it DW's only Southern 500 win and his last career win. He also did in a great way as the Waltrip's swept both events that weekend with Mikey winning the Busch race." That's not "proof" Mac was the crew chief. He should have checked it. All crew chiefs then checked the weather and radar. He just wants to place blame on someone else. It was his fault. He messed it up. 35. Zackary Shawn posted: 07.29.2013 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "This was a race no one would forget. There's a little story behind it all. Davey Allison dominated the event. As he continued to dominate, the sky started to look ominious. Crew chief Larry McReynolds sent a pit crew member to the radar computer. There was green all on the radar, which meant heavy rain was coming. The guy thought it was good news, so Larry decided to bring Davey into the pits and it cost him the race. DW was the beneficiary from the mistake and was leading when the rain came out. As it turned out, the race was called and it DW's only Southern 500 win and his last career win. He also did in a great way as the Waltrip's swept both events that weekend with Mikey winning the Busch race." Is this race the reason why Larry Mac has such an obsession with being a weather man and weather in general, then? 36. David posted: 11.06.2013 - 11:32 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) ^Speaking of which, I'll bet ol' DW was glad that his vortex theory didn't work for this race. 37. Evan posted: 12.08.2013 - 3:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have heard that they actually had paper Davey Allison Million Dollar Bills printed out for this race if Davey won the Million Dollar Bonus. It was not to be and I saw a few of the Davey Allison dollar bills for sale on ebay, I don't know if they gave them out during the race or not but it is worth mentioning. 1992's whole season was epic. A lot of twists and turns and it all happened naturally, no need for a Chase, just solid racing, hard work, a little luck and history being made all in one season. 38. RaceFanX posted: 04.01.2016 - 5:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was DW's first win at the "Lady in Black" in more than eight years. It's still hard to believe that for all of Waltrip's success that he only won the Southern 500 once. He won five races at Darlington but only took the big one in the fall here right at the end of his winning days. 39. Anonymous posted: 01.24.2017 - 7:26 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Some fan wrote a letter to Stock Car Racing magazine and thought that it was unfair that NASCAR called the race rather than finishing it the next day so Davey Allison could still have a chance at the Winston Million. The fan was likely unaware of the rule that a race is official after it's past the halfway point. Stock Car Racing did post that explanation after the letter the fan wrote, mentioning that the "halfway point" rule had been in effect for many years. 40. MattJ posted: 05.30.2017 - 8:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bill Clinton, the then-governor of Arkansas and presidential candidate, was the grand marshall and starter for this race. 41. Tears of The Sun posted: 06.16.2017 - 6:54 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Under caution while sitting on pit road, in a camping chair while raining. When asked how much gas do you have left.. Darrell Waltrip simply smiled and said "A million dollars worth" 42. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 08.14.2018 - 7:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Musgrave's status should be "crash", he hit the Turn 4 wall hard in the accident triggered when Geoff Bodine spun and destroyed the car. 43. Jacob posted: 02.11.2019 - 6:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #40 So in the middle of one of the wildest years in both NASCAR and politics, we have the sitting President (George H.W. Bush) visit Daytona for the Pepsi 400; the eventual winner (Bill Clinton) serving as grand marshal for this race. Too bad there wasn't a race in Texas or we'd have probably seen independent candidate Ross Perot (assuming it wasn't during the summer period where he temporarily dropped out) serve as grand marshal once. 44. GH05TY posted: 04.12.2019 - 2:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There were far too many dramatic events over the course of the 1992 season, and the final outcome far too narrow, to say that the actions of any one driver were solely (or even primarily) responsible for the outcome. I think it would be fairly uncontroversial to suggest that Kyle Petty played a larger role in crashing Allison in the Winston than the role Darrell played in crashing Allison at Pocono. But even that was just one of the many incidents throughout the year affecting all the drivers in contention. Had Ernie Irvan not taken the dominant car of Bill Elliott three wide for the lead at Daytona and started the Big One, Elliott would likely have finished much better than 27th and Allison would not have had the opportunity to win the 500. But what the Swerver giveth to begin the year, the Swerveth taketh to end the year. Had Alan Kulwicki not crashed off the lap car of Chad Little at Dover, or broken an axle at Martinsville, or been trapped a lap down behind Elliott by Mike Wallace's spin in the first race at Atlanta, he would have had a sizeable advantage going into Atlanta. No one person is "the reason" that Kulwicki won and Elliott didn't and Allison didn't and Petty didn't and Gant didn't and Martin didn't. 45. Corey posted: 04.12.2019 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think people also forget that Elliott had a sizable points lead with 6 races to go. 4 of those 6 races saw him finish 26th, 30th, 30th, and 31st. For every incident that cost Allison points, Elliott has one to match. 46. RaceFanX posted: 08.06.2019 - 9:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @40, @43 During this race weekend IIRC NASCAR recruited Mark Martin to show Bill Clinton around the pits using the sound logic of "they're both from Arkansas so that's a great idea." There's other evidence that shows that Martin invited him. Since Martin is generally a conservative guy that would have been fun to see but according to contemporary accounts their went well. Martin and his team showed Clinton a mock up of the pre-race inspection process and Martin told the media he was planning on voting for Clinton. Clinton also jokingly said he'd love to take the Valvoline #6 Ford for a spin but the Roush Racing team wasn't about to let him do that. Meanwhile reigning NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt outright refused to show the Democrat Clinton around stating openly stating he was a Republican. Richard Petty, who actually dabbled in lower level politics on the Republican side, also wasn't too thrilled by Clinton. Geoff Bodine however was thrilled and got his picture taken with Clinton. With a presidential election looming politics was big deal at this race as both parties came to Darlington to campaign. Republican Vice President Dan Quayle was also in South Carolina campaigning and served as the grand marshal for the Southern 500's traditional parade. Clinton gave the command and got booed for it but at the time that was expected. South Carolina is a conservative state and Clinton was backing initiatives that would have limited tobacco advertising and environmental policies that made him rather unpopular with race fans at the time. nascarman had a great blog about this... https://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=2669 47. GoPM21 posted: 08.06.2019 - 10:12 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @46 You know, it is possible to differ politically and still be a good host. 48. Mile501 posted: 08.06.2019 - 10:27 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) @47 - We used to see a lot more respectful disagreement between people of varying political viewpoints in the past than we do nowadays. 49. ScottB posted: 08.06.2019 - 11:00 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @47/48 Agreed, but Geoff Bodine and Dale Earnhart taking opposite sides is pretty funny to me. 50. RaceFanX posted: 08.06.2019 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Adding to #19... Bobby Allison's team announced in July that they would be switching from Chevrolet to Ford full-time and running a T-Bird at a few races later in 1992 to get ready for the change. They initially planned to run one at MIS but instead the Ford made its debut here. The change to the Blue Oval drew the interest of fans and pundits at the time because there was a thought that perhaps it was the first step toward Allison recruiting his Ford-backed son Davey Allison to join his team in the future but Bobby downplayed it noting Davey's commitment to the strong Robert Yates Racing team. The Allison team initially planned to have Hut Stricklin return to race the #12 Ford again in 1993 but between that first announcement and this race the partnership went south as Stricklin lined up another ride. Bobby Allison fired Stricklin as the driver of the #12 two days after this race then hired Jeff Purvis for a few races before Jimmy Spencer finished out the season in the car in advance of a full-time campaign in 1993. The move caught Stricklin by surprise as he expected to end the year with Allison. Allison's team, which at the time had also been announced to be losing sponsor Raybestos at season's end, openly courted Geoff Bodine to take its ride but Bodine untimely decided to stick with Bud Moore and the #15 Ford team for the start of the 1993 season. Stricklin was moving to Junior Johnson's team for 1993 and finished out the rest of 1993 with tenures paired in Junie Donlavey's #90 Ford and Larry Hedrick's #41 Chevrolet plus a one-off for Johnson at Charlotte, missing only one race. 51. SweetRich posted: 07.01.2020 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip's 84th and final career win. After years and years of trying, always coming up short and yes, maybe not the way Darrell would have wanted to win this race, but regardless, this win was years in the making for D.W. A huge D.W. fan both as a driver and as a commentator, I was happy to see one of the all time greats win one of the biggest events of the year. If there was ever a driver at the time to win this race after trying for so darn long, D.W. had more than earned this win, albeit with the rain, but hey, rather Darrell winning it than never at all, just like The Daytona 500 three years earlier. 52. SweetRich21/43 posted: 07.29.2020 - 3:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons. The pit road reporters were Dr. Jerry Punch and John Kernan. 53. Mile501 posted: 11.23.2020 - 10:56 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) To add a bit of context...while this was DW's only Southern 500 win, as a few others have pointed out, it is worth noting that both Darlington races used to be 500 miles, and he won the spring "Rebel 500" 4 times. Oddly, since this race was rain-shortened, DW's only Southern 500 win ended up being a shorter race distance than each of the 4 spring Darlington races that he won, which all went the full 500 miles. So, DW's last 2 wins were big events: the first night race on concrete at Bristol and the Southern 500. 54. QFH posted: 11.26.2020 - 6:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davey's team put the number on the roof the opposite way for this race. 55. possum posted: 11.26.2020 - 9:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @54 - technically a rules violation, altho back in that era NASCAR was a bit more chill about harmless infractions than they are now (the "we're in charge and we're going to make sure you know it" attitude didn't appear until Mike Helton took over a few years later). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: