The 1993 Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 was the fourth stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 34th iteration of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, March 14, 1993, but was postponed by nearly a week due to the 1993 Storm of the Century that affected a majority of the American East Coast.[1] The race was run on Saturday, March 20, in Hampton, Georgia at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.522 miles (2.449 km) permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 328 laps to complete. Depending on fuel mileage, Wood Brothers Racing driver Morgan Shepherd would manage to conserve enough fuel on the final green flag stint to take his fourth and final career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[2][3] To fill out the top three, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan and Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1993 Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 program cover, featuring Bill Elliott. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | March 20, 1993 | ||
| Official name | 34th Annual Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 | ||
| Location | Hampton, Georgia, Atlanta Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.522 mi (2.449 km) | ||
| Distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Average speed | 150.442 miles per hour (242.113 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 82,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Penske Racing South | ||
| Time | 30.653 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | |
| Laps | 140 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 | Morgan Shepherd | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TNN | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
Background
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Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a 1.522-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.
Entry list
edit- (R) - denotes rookie driver.
*Driver switched to Greg Sacks for the race due to Jones having prior commitments in the IMSA GT Championship.[4]
Qualifying
editQualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 12, at 2:30 PM EST. Originally, the first 20 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 21-40 meant to be determined the following day on Saturday, March 13. However, due to a major snowstorm and nor'easter, the second round was cancelled. As a result, qualifying was set using the results from the first round.[5]
Rusty Wallace, driving for Penske Racing South, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.653 and an average speed of 178.749 miles per hour (287.669 km/h) in the first round.[6]
Four drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editStandings after the race
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References
edit- ^ Clarke, Liz (March 14, 1993). "Snow puts brakes on race, not fun". The Charlotte Observer. p. 51. Retrieved December 29, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Thompson, Chuck (March 21, 1993). "Shepherd wins Motorcraft as contenders run out of gas". Ledger-Enquirer. p. 23. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Harris, Mike (March 21, 1993). "Fuelish decision wise for Shepherd". Messenger-Inquirer. p. 15. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
- ^ Thompson, Chuck (March 20, 1993). "Snowstorm slows NASCAR drivers". The Macon Telegraph. p. 41. Retrieved December 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Williams, Chuck (March 14, 1993). "Snow wins in Atlanta". Ledger-Enquirer. p. 19. Retrieved December 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Martin, Gerald (March 13, 1993). "Wallace edges out Earnhardt at Atlanta". The News and Observer. p. 24. Retrieved December 30, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.