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1992 Save Mart 300K

Race details
Race 12 of 29 in the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1992 Save Mart 300K program cover, featuring Richard Petty.
Date	June 7, 1992
Official name	4th Annual Save Mart 300K
Location	Sonoma, California, Sears Point Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.52 mi (4.06 km)
Distance	74 laps, 186.48 mi (300.11 km)
Scheduled Distance	74 laps, 186.48 mi (300.11 km)
Average speed	81.413 miles per hour (131.022 km/h)
Attendance	83,000
Pole position
Driver	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	1:39.709
Most laps led
Driver	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	22
Winner
No. 4	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1992 Save Mart 300K was the 12th stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the third race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston West Series, and the fourth iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 7, 1992, before an audience of 83,000 at the Grand Prix layout of Sears Point Raceway, a 2.52 miles (4.06 km) permanent road course layout. The race took the scheduled 74 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan would manage to make a late-race pass for the lead with eight to go, coming back from an early penalty to take his fourth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Hagan Racing driver Terry Labonte and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Sears Point Raceway at the time was one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Watkins Glen International. The standard road course at Sears Point Raceway is a 12-turn course that is 2.52 miles (4.06 km) long; the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns 5 and 6, shortening the course to 1.95 miles (3.14 km). The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout. In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn, 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of 1.99 miles (3.20 km).

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 5, at 6:30 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 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, June 6, at 1:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-40 would be decided on time, 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; which was one for cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and two extra provisionals for the NASCAR Winston West Series. 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.

Ricky Rudd, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 1:39.709 and an average speed of 90.985 miles per hour (146.426 km/h) in the first round.

Two drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Davey Allison 1,773 1 2 Dale Earnhardt 1,745 (-28) 1 3 Bill Elliott 1,742 (-31) 2 4 Harry Gant 1,741 (–32) 5 Alan Kulwicki 1,690 (–83) 6 Terry Labonte 1,658 (–115) 7 Morgan Shepherd 1,548 (–225) 2 8 Ricky Rudd 1,511 (–262) 9 Geoff Bodine 1,494 (–279) 3 10 Ernie Irvan 1,488 (–285) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

1. Schiffmann, William (June 8, 1992). "Irvan overcomes black flag for victory in Save Mart 300 event". The Advocate-Messenger. p. 11. Retrieved January 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Glick, Shav (June 8, 1992). "After Field Gets a Head Start, Irvan Wins". The Los Angeles Times. p. 171. Retrieved January 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Sears Point". www.gt-racing.co.uk. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
4. "Passing is tough in Chute | chronicle.augusta.com". June 7, 2011. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
5. "SEARS POINT BREAKS GROUND ON MODIFIED CHUTE - RacingWest". September 29, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
6. "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. June 5, 1993. p. 7. Retrieved January 28, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Sakkis, Tony (June 6, 1992). "Rudd waits... learns... zooms". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 28. Retrieved January 29, 2023.

• 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Sonoma Raceway
• June 1992 sports events in the United States
• 1992 in sports in California