The 1992 Daytona 500 by STP was held February 16 at Daytona International Speedway. Sterling Marlin won the pole award for Junior Johnson in the #22 Maxwell House Ford. Richard Petty gave the command to start the engines from the cockpit of the famous #43 STP Pontiac in his final appearance in the race as a driver. This would also be the final Daytona 500 start for 1972 winner A.J. Foyt. "Super Tex" would also start his final Indianapolis 500 later that year. This marked the debut of Joe Gibbs Racing in the green and black #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet with Dale Jarrett as the driver.The winning car Davey Allison used was auctioned off at Barrett-Jackson car auction complete with the winning driver's trophy and driving uniform.
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The initial part of the race was clean, though Geoff Bodine and Morgan Shepherd touched exiting Turn 4 with no further incident. Brett Bodine and Ricky Rudd fell out in the first half of the race with separate engine failures, as the Junior Johnson cars of Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliott established themselves as the cars to beat. Davey Allison's crew gambled with a two-tire change, but caught a lucky break when Geoff Bodine was penalised for speeding, and gained a drafting partner.
Rain fell after 80 laps, and when the race restarted Ernie Irvan went for the lead on lap 92. He came up in front of Sterling Marlin, but hadn't cleared him, and also moved him up the track into his teammate Bill Elliott who was on the outside. The ensuing mayhem collected polesitter Sterling Marlin, Ernie Irvan, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt. Also, Bobby Hillin Jr., Dale Jarrett, Alan Kulwicki, Chad Little, Richard Petty, Hut Stricklin, Rusty Wallace, and Darrell Waltrip were involved.
The wreck ended the race for Jarrett, Schrader, Marlin, Hillin, and Little, with their cars being terminally damaged.
On Lap 144 Rick Wilson was planning to pit the Stavola Brothers Ford, but Kerry Teague didn't realise it and ran into him. This brought out the third yellow flag in the race. On Lap 166 Ernie Irvan's crippled car spun to bring out the fourth caution flag. Leaders Allison, Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip made their final stops. Waltrip fell back after the restart with an engine that was quitting. This left the two Ford Thunderbirds of Allison and Shepherd to race for the win, finishing in this order. This win made the Allisons the second father-son duo to win the Daytona 500, joining Lee and Richard Petty. Alan Kulwicki finished a quiet fourth which kicked off an unlikely championship run.
89-Jim Sauter, 20-Mike Wallace, 13-Dave Mader III*, 50-Clay Young, 83-Lake Speed, 99-Brad Teague, 97-Mark Gibson, 52-Jimmy Means, 23-Eddie Bierschwale, 98-Jimmy Spencer, 62-Ben Hess, 13-Mike Skinner, 88-Joe Booher, 59-Andy Belmont*, and 48-James Hylton.
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