Southern 500

Darlington Raceway — January 1, 1979

David Pearson

Winner

367

Laps

Entries

Leaders

David Pearson won the 1979 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on January 1, 1979, leading 74 of 367 laps. Bill Elliott finished second; Terry Labonte rounded out the podium. The race featured 7 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Monday, January 1, 1979

Track

Darlington Raceway

Season

1979

Winner

David Pearson

Leaders

7 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	5	+4	David Pearson	Osterlund Motorsports		367	—	Running	74	180
2	6	+4	Bill Elliott	George Elliott Racing	Mercury	365	—	Running	6	175
3	16	+13	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		365	—	Running	—	165
4	10	+6	Buddy Baker	Ranier Racing		365	—	Running	1	165
5	13	+8	Benny Parsons	M.C. Anderson Racing		364	—	Running	—	155
6	19	+13	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		362	—	Running	—	150
7	8	+1	Dick Brooks	Nelson Malloch (Owner)		361	—	Running	—	146
8	14	+6	Ricky Rudd	Donlavey Racing	Mercury	361	—	Running	—	142
9	4	-5	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		361	—	Running	—	138
10	1	-9	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering		356	—	Running	53	139
11	3	-8	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Motorsports		355	—	Running	165	140
12	7	-5	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm Team		352	—	Running	—	127
13	17	+4	D.K. Ulrich	Ulrich Racing		350	—	Running	—	124
14	22	+8	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	347	—	Running	—	121
15	12	-3	Joe Millikan	DeWitt Racing		347	—	Running	—	118
16	24	+8	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		345	—	Running	—	115
17	21	+4	Chuck Bown	Testa Racing		342	—	Running	—	112
18	38	+20	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		341	—	Running	—	109
19	11	-8	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates		336	—	Running	—	106
20	33	+13	Ed Negre	Negre Racing	Chrysler	333	—	Running	—	103
21	30	+9	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		332	—	Running	—	100
22	32	+10	Frank Warren	Warren Racing	Dodge	331	—	Running	—	97
23	35	+12	Baxter Price	Price Racing		324	—	Running	—	94
24	28	+4	Ronnie Thomas	Robertson Racing		310	—	Running	—	91
25	15	-10	Lennie Pond	Gray Racing		281	—	Running	—	88
26	31	+5	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		246	—	Running	—	85
27	36	+9	H.B. Bailey	Bailey Racing		244	—	DNF	—	82
28	26	-2	Jim Vandiver	Hamby Racing		240	—	Running	—	79
29	25	-4	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing		224	—	DNF	—	76
30	20	-10	Jack Ingram	Kennie Childers (Owner)		206	—	DNF - Engine	—	73
31	2	-29	Donnie Allison	Ellington Racing		195	—	DNF	66	75
32	9	-23	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	185	—	DNF	2	72
33	39	+6	Billy Smith	Champion Racing		179	—	DNF	—	64
34	23	-11	Dick May	Spohn Racing		148	—	DNF - Crash	—	0
35	29	-6	Tighe Scott	Ballard Racing		133	—	DNF - Crash	—	58
36	18	-18	Coo Coo Marlin	Cunningham-Kelley		112	—	DNF - Engine	—	55
37	40	+3	Ralph Jones	Ralph Jones (Owner)		83	—	DNF - Engine	—	52
38	27	-11	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		46	—	DNF - Engine	—	49
39	37	-2	Earle Canavan	Canavan Racing	Dodge	17	—	DNF - Engine	—	46
40	34	-6	Ferrel Harris	Cronkrite Racing		2	—	DNF	—	0