|| *Comments on the 1994 Food City 500:* View the most recent comment <#33> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Matt posted: 07.25.2005 - 4:10 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) The final top 10 for NASCAR legend Dave Marcis. 2. Darrell posted: 12.11.2005 - 11:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Only Cup pole for former Busch Series champ Chuck Bown. 3. underdogfan posted: 02.25.2006 - 10:34 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Go Dave Marcis Woo-Hoo!!! 4. Darrell posted: 03.04.2006 - 8:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dave Marcis was the man! Why were so many a cars a lap down though? Was there a lot of crashes or were Earnhardt and Bodine really dominant? 5. Matthew Sullivan posted: 03.12.2006 - 5:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) There were several crashes in this race. One pileup was started by Bown who got loose and spun in front of the field. Earnhardt, Schrader and Speed were able to stay on the lead lap when Joe Nemecheck made a bonehead move and got into Rick Mast, causing a yellow in the middle of green flag pit stops. Also of note, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon got into some shock fluid laid down by Hut Stricklin and both hit the back stretch wall a TON. 6. Steve posted: 05.31.2006 - 12:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I just watched this race on ESPN Classic. On Lap 188 Ricky Rudd took a hard hit into the inside wall. On Lap 210 Chuck Bown got loose in front of Dale Earnhardt, Dale hit him, and Chuck spun off Turn 2. Ted Musgrave got hit by Terry Labonte as Ted slowed for Chuck's spin. Kyle Petty hit Terry Labonte, Rick Mast was in the crash, as well as Brett Bodine, Michael Waltrip, and Bobby Labonte. On Lap 298 Bobby came to pit road with a flat tire. This probably cost him his first Top 5 finish, which he would get at Michigan in August. On Lap 321 rookie Joe Nemechek was slow on the apron and he got loose in some Speedi-Dri, and as Rick Mast was going by, Joe's right front went up the hill into Rick Mast's left rear, and Rick crashed. This happened in the middle of green flag pit stops. Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Geoffrey Bodine, and Jeff Gordon had already pitted. And on Lap 428 Hut Stricklin had an unusual problem. The right rear shock came apart, and it leaked fluid on the backstretch. Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon ran through the fluid and slammed the outside wall. And now, a few facts. As an owner, Bobby Allison won 14 poles. Bobby personally won 13 of those poles. Portland, Oregon's Chuck Bown won the other one, for this race. Dave Marcis scored his final Top 10 in this race; his best finish after this would be an 11th place finish at Talladega in July of 1996. Dale Earnhardt took the point lead form Ernie Irvan with his first short track win since September of 1991 at North Wilkesboro. 7. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.20.2006 - 4:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt scored his 200th top 5 at the same track he got his 100th top 5. 8. Matt posted: 03.23.2007 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ: John Andretti, Loy Allen, Brad Teague, Jeremy Mayfield, and Jimmy Hensley. 9. kenneywallace posted: 06.12.2007 - 11:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bown got bumped by Rusty Wallace on lap 31 or so while running 2nd, and slapped the turn 1 wall. When he spun to cause the big crash, I think he was like 15 laps down or so. He never even led the race! 10. #71=Awesome posted: 08.05.2007 - 5:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marcis was sponsored by a local company, Tri-State Aviation, for this race. The engine didn't start, so they had to hurry and change engines before the race. It was well worht it! 11. #71=Awesome posted: 08.06.2007 - 4:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Woops, I meant Tri-City Aviation. 12. Anonymous posted: 09.03.2007 - 7:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 3rd DNF for Dick Trickle 2nd DNF for Harry Gant 3rd DNF for Jimmy Spencer 13. Anonymous posted: 09.22.2007 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) For the 2nd time in '94, Loy Allen DQed a race just 2 races after winning a pole. 14. Anonymous posted: 09.22.2007 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, John Andretti DQed this race, and so did Jeremy Mayfield and Brad Teague. I'm not sure who else but I think there was another one. 15. Anonymous posted: 09.29.2007 - 6:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I found out. Jimmy Hensley also missed this race. Right at the start, Rusty Wallace moved right around Chuck Bown and just pulled away. Bown was able to hold onto 2nd. On lap 11, Harry Gant got clipped on the backstretch and spun into the inside wall. His heavily battered car was unable to continue. On the restart, Rusty took off again. Bown held onto 2nd, but it was obvious his car was not very strong, because he was holding up the cars behind him. Around lap 30, Mark Martin bumped Bown on the frontstretch to try to get him up the track and pass him. Bown spun out and slapped the Turn 1 wall. His car was not heavily damaged, but his fender was bent up and he lost several laps in the pits, ending his chance for a good run. With Bown out of the way, Martin made his way up to the front to battle Rusty, bringing Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan with him. Martin and Gordon began to seriously challenge Wallace. Mark got around Rusty for a few laps, but Gordon was the one who was stronger, pulling around Rusty and leading until Dale Jarrett spun and hit the wall, bringing out the caution. After the restart, Gordon and Wallace continued their battle, with Martin and Irvan not far behind. But around lap 100 or so, Irvan had a problem. He slowed on the backstretch and came to his pit stall, as the Texaco crew checked under the hood. He had broken a timing chain, and went behind the wall. He eventually returned the race more than 200 laps down, gained 2 positions, then retired for the day. On lap 113, Derrike Cope cut a tire and slammed the wall, bringing out the 4th caution. Wallace and Gordon remained up front after the caution, but Ken Schrader, Dale Earnhardt, and Geoffrey Bodine were also moving up towards the front. Another caution came out when Dick Trickle blew his engine and crashed into the wall. Earnhardt and Bodine continued their charge to the front. Another caution came out on lap 188 when Ricky Rudd slammed the inside wall on the backstretch. Most of the cars pitted, but Bodine stayed out, giving him the lead. Earnhardt would end up 2nd on the restart. Just 1 lap after the green flew again, Jeff Burton spun in turn 1 and was hit by Bill Elliott and Morgan Shepherd. The race went green again on lap 210, with Bodine 1st, Earnhardt 2nd, and Wallace 3rd. But coming off Turn 2 on that lap, Chuck Bown's car, who was already many laps down, broke loose in front of Eanrhardt and spun into the inside wall on the backstretch. A multi-car crash occured afterward, involving 4 cars that were on the lead lap. Brett Bodine, Rick Mast, Terry Labonte, and Kyle Petty were all on the lead lap when they were involved in the crash. Also involved were Todd Bodine, Ted Musgrave, and Sterling Marlin. A long green flag run occured afterward, and Bodine built a huge lead over Earnhardt. Martin, Wallace, and Gordon suffered tire problems. Bodine led 160 laps and seemed to have the best car, when he came to pit road under green for a scheduled stop. Because he had such a big lead and had a good pit stop, he was able to lose only 1 lap instead of 2. Earnhardt, now the leader, was just about to come into the pits wehn Joe Nemechek suffered a problem, pulled onto the apron in Turn 3, then came back up the track into Rick Mast's battered car, causing a caution. Only Earnhardt, Schrader, and Lake Speed were left on the lead lap. Bodine later made his lap back up to make it 4 cars on the lead lap, but he lost it back later on. Hut Stricklin broke his shock on lap 426, and Martin and Gordon slid in the oil and slammed the wall, bringing out the last caution. Earnhardt went on to win, but, personally, if Bodine could have pitted a few laps later, I believe Bodine would have won this race. 16. WillG46 posted: 10.24.2007 - 4:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember watching this race on ESPN classic a while back. Late in the race, Dave Marcis was running about 7th when he started having an engine problem. he ended up spending a lengthy amount of time in the pits, but got back out and managed his final top 10. The announcers were really worried too because at the time, Dave Marcis was a real sentimental favorite to do well since his career was winding down. 17. Anonymous posted: 04.06.2008 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) As a fan for the past 9 years from 1999-2008, why can't NASCAR have less cautions like they used to in the 1990s. 18. JCS posted: 10.13.2008 - 7:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Strong finish for Lake Speed and a top-10 for Dave Marcis. 19. RR posted: 04.25.2009 - 11:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Awesome run by Dave! Did they speak with him after the race? My dad tells me that they did, but I don't know for sure. 20. Clayton posted: 11.04.2009 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RR- I do remember them talking to him. I was only 5 but I remember how happy the announcers were when Dave climbed out of the car and Dave was sitting there. I don't remember what was said, but they definatly did talk to him! 21. Anonymous posted: 07.24.2011 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dave was running 9th with a few laps to go when he had to make an unscheduled pit stop. I remember Bob, Benny, and Ned were worried he was going to lose his top 10 finish, but luckily he was able to hang on to 10th place. 22. RaceFanX posted: 01.01.2012 - 1:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Labonte's 6th-place finish here was his career best in Cup at the time. It was the first of two top-10 finishes in 1994 for the #22 Maxwell House Coffee Pontiac driver in 1994, he'd have to wait until the August race at MIS to score his first top-5. 23. RaceFanX posted: 01.01.2012 - 1:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #71 Dave Marcis: Tri-City Aviation 24. Ed posted: 01.10.2012 - 12:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Odd fact: Every time Loy Allen won a pole in 1994, he missed the second race after winning the pole. Never have I seen such an inconsistent qualifier 25. jp posted: 04.29.2012 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You know it's bad when the tenth place car is 14 laps down....... 26. AndyS posted: 07.21.2012 - 6:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Interesting note: Many of the DNQ's for Loy did not have a full 43 car field, especially the short tracks with 36-37 cars in the field. I don't know his times, but he likely would have had made several more races in 1994. 27. Ivan Balakhonov posted: 01.09.2016 - 5:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Additional notes: - At the time 24th starting position was the farthest to produce a race winner in Bristol; - The car which Earnhardt drove wasn't build by RCR but purchased from Martin Birrane in 1992. in RCR it had been used for testing purposes and Bristol was its debut in competition; - After his crash Ricky Rudd had to be transported to the local hospital. However when the ambulance was leaving the track during a caution flag period one of the medical workers fell from a side door right on the apron. The dude was okay. - Some concerns were raised by Goodyear performance in the race. Leo Mehl admitted that low air pressure caused tire deflections and consequent failures. Mark Martin had a couple of tire failures and some other competitors hit the wall during the race because of tire punctures. - Truck driver and chief engine builder in Bobby Allison Motorsports promised to paint their hair with shoe polish if Chuck Bown would win a pole during the season. And yes, Saturday morning they showed up at the track with their hair black. 28. Bramblegrunt posted: 10.12.2016 - 12:28 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Very slight correction to the above post (love the story about the shoe polish!), but according to Andy Petree interview immediately following taking the checkers, he said this car was actually run once before...at Atlanta with Neil Bonnett, which coincides with it being a test car since Bonnett in that race was merely for R&D and to ensure Earnhardt got the 1993 title. Also of note, Geoff Bodine's #7 car was stated in his post race interview as the last car Alan Kulwicki drove. They certainly had a great car but got caught out by the cautions and Dale Earnhardt went on to dominate from there 29. Gabriel posted: 05.24.2018 - 12:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dave Marcis' final career Top 10 30. Nadeau91 posted: 09.28.2019 - 5:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Along with the previously mentioned wreck with Mast, Nemecheck almost did the exact same thing earlier in the race with Mark Martin. 31. Slash posted: 05.13.2020 - 7:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of my favorite Bristol races.. so much drama around it. The wrecks made it into a demolition derby by the end of it. Irvan had a bad engine and he wasn't even a factor so it made it a little more fun. Shame what happened to Gant and Bown; they both got took out before they could even do anything. ESPN Classic I remember ran this one twice; in Drive Thru in the condensed hr version and the regular 2hr version. The shortened one had cheesy disaster movie style music playing in the background before the start of every break showing the wrecks. It's always made me chuckle.. sounded like a mix of the Robocop theme and something out the Towering Inferno. Is it me or did Dave's car intentionally look like his old Lifebuoy car from the 80's? It was a lighter shade of blue but it reminded me so much of that car. 32. SweetRich21/43 posted: 08.01.2020 - 2:27 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. 33. RaceFanX posted: 11.19.2020 - 10:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt's win here made him the first driver to start outside the top-20 at Bristol and still win here in a Cup race. The prior record for worst start by a winner belonged to the late Davey Allison, who won this same race in 1990 after starting 19th. Earnhardt would later reset this record in 1999 when he won the night race here after starting 26th via rattling Terry Labonte's cage on the last lap. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: