1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
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The 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Series began on Sunday, January 13 and ended on Sunday, November 15. Dale Earnhardt won his first Winston Cup championship, winning by 19 points over Cale Yarborough. Jody Ridley was crowned NASCAR Rookie of the Year.

Contents 1 Season recap 2 Notable Races 3 Final Point Standings 4 External links

Season recap

Date	Event	Circuit	Winner
January 13 & 19	Winston Western 500	Riverside International Raceway	Darrell Waltrip
February 10	Busch Clash	Daytona International Speedway	Dale Earnhardt
February 17	Daytona 500	Daytona International Speedway	Buddy Baker
February 24	Richmond 400	Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway	Darrell Waltrip
March 9	Carolina 500	North Carolina Motor Speedway	Cale Yarborough
March 16	Atlanta 500	Atlanta International Raceway	Dale Earnhardt
March 30	Valleydale Southeastern 400	Bristol International Raceway	Dale Earnhardt
April 13	CRC Rebel 500	Darlington International Raceway	David Pearson
April 20	Northwestern Bank 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway	Richard Petty
April 27	Virginia 500	Martinsville Speedway	Darrell Waltrip
May 4	Winston 500	Alabama International Motor Speedway	Buddy Baker
May 10	Music City 420	Nashville Speedway	Richard Petty
May 18	Mason-Dixon 500	Dover Downs International Speedway	Bobby Allison
May 25	World 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Benny Parsons
June 1	NASCAR 400	Texas World Speedway	Cale Yarborough
June 8	Hodgdon 500	Riverside International Raceway	Darrell Waltrip
June 15	Gabriel 400	Michigan International Speedway	Benny Parsons
July 4	Firecracker 400	Daytona International Speedway	Bobby Allison
July 12	Busch Nashville 420	Nashville Speedway	Dale Earnhardt
July 27	Coca-Cola 500	Pocono Raceway	Neil Bonnett
August 3	Talladega 500	Alabama International Motor Speedway	Neil Bonnett
August 17	Champion Spark Plug 400	Michigan International Speedway	Cale Yarborough
August 23	Busch Volunteer 400	Bristol International Raceway	Cale Yarborough
September 1	Southern 500	Darlington International Raceway	Terry Labonte
September 7	Capital City 400	Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway	Bobby Allison
September 14	CRC Chemicals 500	Dover Downs International Speedway	Darrell Waltrip
September 21	Holly Farms 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway	Bobby Allison
September 28	Old Dominion 500	Martinsville Speedway	Dale Earnhardt
October 5	National 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Dale Earnhardt
October 19	American 500	North Carolina Motor Speedway	Cale Yarborough
November 2	Atlanta Journal 500	Atlanta International Raceway	Cale Yarborough
November 15	Los Angeles Times 500	Ontario Motor Speedway	Benny Parsons

Notable Races

• Daytona 500 – Buddy Baker ended a career-long drought in the 500 as he dominated. Darrell Waltrip blew his engine early and angrily ripped the DiGard Racing team in postrace interviews.

• Atlanta 500 – Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and Donnie Allison dominated the first 300 miles of the race as sophomore Dale Earnhardt clawed from 31st into contention; Allison and Earnhardt were side by side for the lead when Allison was hit by Terry Labonte and hit the wall in Turn Three. Cale broke in the final 60 laps as Earnhardt took the win; finishing second was rookie Rusty Wallace.

• Rebel 500 – Rain shortened the race after halfway as David Pearson, replacing Donnie Allison in Hoss Ellington's car, took his 105th career win.

• Winston 500 – On a newly repaved surface Buddy Baker ran down Dale Earnhardt with two laps to go for the win, but was informed on his way to postrace interviews he would be replaced in the Ranier Racing car in 1981.

• World 600 – The race ran over seven hours thanks to fourteen yellows for crashes on the newly-paved surface and two rain delays lasting two hours. The lead changed 47 times as Benny Parsons outdueled Darrell Waltrip; they swapped the lead eight times in the final twenty laps. Dale Earnhardt's crash at Lap 275 with David Pearson and Cale Yarborough combined with Richard Petty's fourth cut Earnhardt's point lead to under 50.

• Firecracker 400 – Bobby Allison edged Earnhardt and Pearson before a scary crash erupted off Turn Four as Phil Finney plowed into an earthen bank and flew twenty feet into the air before landing at the pit road entrance. The lead changed 41 times.

• Summer 500 – At Pocono Raceway Neil Bonnett survived a physical last lap with Buddy Baker and Yarborough, but the story of the race was a bad wreck on Lap 57 as Richard Petty, holding the lead, broke a wheel entering the track's Tunnel Turn, shot into the wall, and bounced into the path of traffic; Petty suffered a broken neck and his title chances ended.

• Southern 500 – In a wild final five laps David Pearson rocketed from midpack into the lead and held off Dale Earnhardt and Benny Parsons, then with two to go all three crashed in Turn Two in oil from a backmarker's blown engine; Pearson limped to the race-deciding yellow, but Terry Labonte raced from nowhere and edged Pearson by a bumper for the win, his first career win.

• National 500 – Dale Earnhardt edged Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker amid an increasingly bitter public contract battle between Darrell Waltrip and his team owner, Bill Gardner.

• Dixie 500 – An early accident eliminated the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough dominated to the win. Dale Earnhardt lost a lap and crowded Cale for a prolonged stretch.

• LA Times 500 – Earnhardt lost a lap but made it up and despite taking off from a late green-flag stop with unsecured lug nuts on his tires finished fifth with Yarborough third and Benny Parsons the race winner. The race was switched from Sunday to Saturday to accommodate live CBS Sports coverage. Earnhardt's fifth allowed him to win the driving title by 19 points over Yarborough.

Final Point Standings

1. 2-Dale Earnhardt 4661
2. 11-Cale Yarborough 4642
3. 27-Benny Parsons 4278
4. 43-Richard Petty 4255
5. 88-Darrell Waltrip 4239
6. 15-Bobby Allison 4019
7. 90-Jody Ridley 3972
8. 44-Terry Labonte 3766
9. 71-Dave Marcis 3745
10. 3-Richard Childress 3742

External links

• Racing-Reference.info (links to race results)

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