Irwin Tools Night Race

Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol

Venue	Bristol Motor Speedway
Sponsor	Newell Rubbermaid
First race	1961
Distance	266.5 miles (428.89 km)
Laps	500
Previous names	Volunteer 500 (1961-1975) Volunteer 400 (1976-1977) Volunteer 500 (1978-1979) Busch Volunteer 500 (1980) Busch 500 (1981-1990) Bud 500 (1991-1993) Goody's 500 (1994-1995) Goody's Headache Powder 500 (1996-1999) goracing.com 500 (2000) Sharpie 500 (2001-2009)

The Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. It is one of two Sprint Cup races held at Bristol, the other being the Food City 500, but it is by far the more popular of the two. Since 1978, the race has been held in late-August on a Saturday night, and is considered among the most difficult tickets to obtain in sports, with waiting lists for this event one of the longest in sports. The race has aired on ESPN from 2007 through 2009 and began airing on ABC in 2010, the first time the race has been on broadcast television in many years.

Since 2001 Newell Rubbermaid has been the title sponsor of the race, and until 2009 its subsidiary Sharpie lent its name to the race. Newell Rubbermaid elected to change the race branding to promote one of its other brands, Irwin Industrial Tools.

Contents 1 Past winners 2 Notable races 3 Manufacturer wins 4 Television broadcasters 5 References 6 External links

Past winners

Year	Date	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)
					Laps	Miles (km)
1961	July 30	Jack Smith* Johnny Allen*	Jack Smith	Pontiac	500	250 (402.336)	3:39:23	68.373
1962	April 29	Bobby Johns	Shorty Johns	Pontiac	500	250 (402.336)	3:24:22	73.397
1963	July 28	Fred Lorenzen* Ned Jarrett*	Holman-Moody	Ford	500	250 (402.336)	3:20:25	74.844
1964	July 26	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	Ford	500	250 (402.336)	3:12:12	78.044
1965	July 25	Ned Jarrett	Bondy Long	Ford	500	250 (402.336)	4:02:37	61.826
1966	July 24	Paul Goldsmith	Ray Nichels	Plymouth	500	250 (402.336)	3:12:24	77.963
1967	July 23	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Plymouth	500	250 (402.336)	3:10:35	78.705
1968	July 21	David Pearson	Holman-Moody	Ford	500	250 (402.336)	3:16:34	76.31
1969	July 20	David Pearson	Holman-Moody	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:08:07	79.737
1970	July 19	Bobby Allison	Bobby Allison	Dodge	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:08:23	84.88
1971	July 11	Charlie Glotzbach* Raymond Hassler*	Richard Howard	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:38:12	101.074
1972	July 9	Bobby Allison	Richard Howard	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:30:28	92.735
1973	July 8	Benny Parsons	L.G. DeWitt	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:53:04	91.342
1974	July 14	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:31:59	75.43
1975	November 2	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:44:49	97.016
1976	August 29	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson	Chevrolet	400	213.2 (343.112)	2:08:59	99.175
1977	August 28	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson	Chevrolet	400	213.2 (343.112)	2:40:27	79.726
1978*	August 26	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson	Oldsmobile	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:25:00	88.628
1979	August 25	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:54:46	91.493
1980	August 23	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:03:51	86.973
1981	August 22	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson	Buick	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:08:44	84.723
1982	August 28	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson	Buick	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:49:32	94.318
1983	August 27	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson	Buick	418*	222.794 (358.552)	2:29:50	89.43
1984	August 25	Terry Labonte	Billy Hagan	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:07:19	85.365
1985	August 24	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:27:44	81.388
1986	August 23	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:03:55	86.934
1987	August 22	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:56:56	90.373
1988	August 27	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:22:59	78.775
1989	August 26	Darrell Waltrip	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:04:14	85.554
1990	August 25	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:54:13	91.782
1991	August 24	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:14:56	82.028
1992	August 29	Darrell Waltrip	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:55:20	91.198
1993	August 28	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:01:21	88.172
1994	August 27	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:55:01	91.363
1995	August 26	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:15:03	81.979
1996	August 24	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:55:12	91.267
1997	August 23	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:19:51	80.013
1998	August 22	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:03:54	86.949
1999	August 28	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:55:11	91.276
2000	August 26	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:07:15	85.394
2001	August 25	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:07:53	85.106
2002	August 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:27:24	77.097
2003	August 23	Kurt Busch	Roush Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:26:32	77.421
2004	August 28	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:00:36	88.538
2005	August 27	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:08:50	84.678
2006	August 26	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:57:37	90.025
2007	August 25	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:59:39	89.006
2008	August 23	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:54:36	91.581
2009	August 22	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	500	266.5 (428.89)	3:08:31	80.24
2010	August 21	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:41:24	99.071
2011	August 27	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Dodge	500	266.5 (428.89)	2:45:16	96.753

• 1961: Relief driver Johnny Allen drove the race for Jack Smith; Jack Smith is credited with the win for starting the race.
• 1963: Relief driver Ned Jarrett drove the race for Fred Lorenzen; Fred Lorenzen is credited with the win for starting the race.
• 1971: Relief driver Raymond Hassler drove the race for Charlie Glotzbach; Charlie Glotzbach is credited with the win for starting the race.
• 1978: Race changed to become a Saturday night event.
• 1983: Race shortened to 418 laps / 222.794 miles due to rain.

Notable races

• 1964: Richard Petty led 442 laps but broke the rearend coming to the white flag and Fred Lorenzen erased a deficit of several laps to take the win.
• 1969: David Pearson survived multiple wrecks to win the first race with Bristol's new banking; the track banked its turns from 18 degrees to 36 to boost speeds; the change was criticized by most drivers due to the speeds, the resulting wrecks, and the greatly increased physical strain.
• 1971: Charlie Glotzbach needed relief help from Friday Hassler to post the win, the first for the new Richard Howard Chevrolet team wrenched by Junior Johnson; the race was run caution-free.
• 1973: Benny Parsons needed relief help from John Ustman to post his only win of the season; it was enough to help win the season championship.
• 1974: Neil Bonnett tore open forty feet of inside guardrail but was uninjured. On the final lap Cale Yarborough forearmed Buddy Baker sideways out of the lead; the win was the first for Junior Johnson since Carling Brewery sponsorship helped him purchase the team from Richard Howard.
• 1977: Janet Guthrie needed relief help from John Utsman, who drove Guthrie's Chevrolet home sixth, the best NASCAR finish of Guthrie's career. Cale Yarborough took the win, his eighth of the season.
• 1978: Yarborough took the win in the first night running of the Volunteer 500. Following announcement that Darrell Waltrip would drive for Harry Ranier in 1979, Ranier's present driver Lennie Pond got into several on-track skirmishes with Waltrip.
• 1979: Richard Petty won the final pole of his driving career and finished second to Darrell Waltrip.
• 1981: Waltrip finished a season sweep of Bristol races as Dale Earnhardt survived a brutal crash into pit road.
• 1984: After seven straight wins by Waltrip, Terry Labonte ended that streak by scratching to his second win of the 1984 season, a key win in his run to the '84 title.
• 1990: After Dale Earnhardt fell back Ernie Irvan beat Rusty Wallace in a late sprint to his first win.
• 1992: The track was resurfaced in concrete, and Darrell Waltrip took his final Bristol win.
• 1993: Fatigue affected Rusty Wallace as Mark Martin took the win, his third straight of 1993.
• 1995: Multiple crashes (including several skirmishes between Bobby Hamilton and Brett Bodine that led to a black flag for Hamilton) and the start being delayed by rain pushed the finish past midnight and as Terry Labonte ran into lapped traffic he was spun into the wall crossing the stripe by Dale Earnhardt. Labonte drove his wrecked Chevrolet to victory lane.
• 1998: Mark Martin took the win and dedicated the race to his father Julian, who had died weeks earlier in a plane crash.
• 1999: Terry Labonte was spun out by Darrell Waltrip as they checked up for another car's wreck ahead of them; the skirmish occurred in the final ten laps, but Labonte got tires and blasted from sixth to the lead; he scraped past Dale Earnhardt on the final lap but off Two Earnhardt blasted Labonte into a spin, wiping out several cars. The win was booed savagely by the surprised audience and Labonte's crew chief Andy Graves bitterly described "two washed up former champions" (Waltrip and Earnhardt).
• 2003: After a postrace confrontation with Kurt Busch at Michigan, Jimmy Spencer was suspended for a week by NASCAR. Busch was booed when he took the win.
• 2005-8: Roush-Fenway Racing won four straight Sharpie 500s with the wins split by Matt Kenseth (2005 & 2006) and Carl Edwards (2007 & 2008).
• 2010: Kyle Busch won after dominating despite a tire going down on the final lap. The win put Busch in the record books as the first driver to win all 3 series races on the same track on the same weekend, dubbed "The Trifecta". He also won the Camping World Truck race on Wednesday night, and the Nationwide race on Friday night. Out of a possible 956 laps he led 116 out of 206 in the truck event (race ended with G-W-C finish six laps past the scheduled distance of 200), 116 of 250 in the Nationwide event, and 282 of 500 in the Cup event. Together he led 514 of 956 laps, or about 53.8% of the laps run.

Manufacturer wins

Rank	Manufacturer	Wins
1	Chevrolet	20
2	Ford	17
3	Pontiac	3
3	Buick	3
3	Dodge	3
5	Plymouth	2
5	Toyota	2
8	Oldsmobile	1

Television broadcasters

Year	Network	Lap-by-lap	Color commentator(s)
2011	ABC	Allen Bestwick	Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree
2010	ABC	Marty Reid	Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree
2009	ESPN	Jerry Punch	Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree
2008	ESPN	Jerry Punch	Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree
2007	ESPN	Jerry Punch	Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree
2006	TNT	Bill Weber	Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach
2005	TNT	Bill Weber	Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach
2004	TNT	Allen Bestwick	Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach
2003	TNT	Allen Bestwick	Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach
2002	TNT	Allen Bestwick	Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach
2001	TNT	Allen Bestwick	Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach
2000	ESPN	Jerry Punch	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1999	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1998	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1997	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1996	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1995	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1994	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1993	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1992	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1991	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1990	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1989	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett
1988	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Ned Jarrett
1987	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Larry Nuber
1986	ESPN	Bob Jenkins	Larry Nuber and Benny Parsons
1985	ESPN	Larry Nuber	Benny Parsons

References

External links

• NASCAR Commentators Crews and Networks

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