1978 Talladega 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 19 of 30 in the 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Official poster for the 1978 Talladega 500
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| Date | August 6, 1978 | ||
| Official name | Talladega 500 | ||
| Location | Alabama International Motor Speedway, Talladega, Alabama | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.660 mi (4.280 km) |
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| Distance | 188 laps, 500.1 mi (804.8 km) | ||
| Weather | Hot with temperatures approaching 88.9 °F (31.6 °C); average wind speeds of 6.6 miles per hour (10.6 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 174.7 miles per hour (281.2 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 60,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Laps | 79 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 54 | Lennie Pond | Ranier Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers |
Ken Squier Lee Petty |
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The 1978 Talladega 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 6, 1978, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama.
By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a Tri-oval and was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in the 1960s. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line - located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega Superspeedway is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66 miles (4.28 km), and the track at its peak had a seating capacity of 175,000 spectators.
Four cautions were waved for seventeen laps; making the race last almost three hours in length. There were 67 different changes in the first-place position of the race.James Hylton finished in last place due to a transmission issue on the first lap of this 188-lap race. This race would lead to Lennie Pond's only NASCAR Cup Series win; he would defeat Donnie Allison by two car lengths in front of 60,000 live spectators. Because he would get fired at the end of 1978, Waddell Wilson kept changing the setup on the car without telling Lennie. He would end up sleeping in his car so that Waddell wouldn't be able to change the setup on his vehicle without him knowing about it. Pond still got fired from Ranier's team in the end; making Ranier an owner/driver again because Darrell Waltrip's contract with DiGard Motorsports was too strong to be broken with negotiations.
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