1994 Goody's 500 (Martinsville)

1994 Goody's 500

Race details
Race 26 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1994 Goody's 500 program cover, featuring Ernie Irvan.
Date	September 25, 1994
Official name	46th Annual Goody's 500
Location	Ridgeway, Virginia, Martinsville Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Average speed	77.139 miles per hour (124.143 km/h)
Attendance	57,000
Pole position
Driver	Ted Musgrave	Roush Racing
Time	20.117
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South
Laps	368
Winner
No. 2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing South
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1994 Goody's 500 was the 26th stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 46th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 25, 1994, in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to dominate a majority of the race to take his 39th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his eighth and final victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would finish second and third, respectively.

Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 23, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, September 24, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-34 would be decided on time,^[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.

Ted Musgrave, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 20.117 and an average speed of 94.129 miles per hour (151.486 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Five drivers would fail to qualify.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 3,970 2 Rusty Wallace 3,753 (-217) 3 Mark Martin 3,543 (-427) 1 4 Ken Schrader 3,454 (–516) 1 5 Ricky Rudd 3,407 (–563) 6 Morgan Shepherd 3,334 (–636) 7 Jeff Gordon 3,186 (–784) 1 8 Bill Elliott 3,131 (–839) 1 9 Darrell Waltrip 3,093 (–877) 1 10 Terry Labonte 3,073 (–897) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.