American 500

Rockingham Speedway — January 1, 1979

Richard Petty

Winner

492

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Richard Petty won the 1979 American 500 at Rockingham Speedway on January 1, 1979, leading 139 of 492 laps. Benny Parsons finished second; Cale Yarborough rounded out the podium. The race featured 8 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Monday, January 1, 1979

Track

Rockingham Speedway

Season

1979

Winner

Richard Petty

Leaders

8 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	7	+6	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		492	—	Running	139	180
2	2	—	Benny Parsons	M.C. Anderson Racing		492	—	Running	168	180
3	9	+6	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates		492	—	Running	50	170
4	6	+2	Donnie Allison	Ellington Racing		490	—	Running	6	165
5	10	+5	Dale Earnhardt	Osterlund Motorsports		488	—	Running	—	155
6	3	-3	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Motorsports		484	—	Running	29	155
7	15	+8	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing		476	—	Running	—	146
8	20	+12	Ronnie Thomas	Robertson Racing		476	—	Running	—	142
9	16	+7	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		475	—	Running	—	138
10	30	+20	Slick Johnson	JD Johnson Racing		474	—	Running	—	134
11	22	+11	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		470	—	Running	—	130
12	32	+20	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		456	—	Running	—	127
13	29	+16	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		456	—	Running	—	124
14	36	+22	Bill Elswick	RahMoc Enterprises		453	—	Running	—	0
15	11	-4	Dick Brooks	Nelson Malloch (Owner)		452	—	DNF - Engine	—	118
16	34	+18	Freddy Smith	Marvin Petty (Owner)		452	—	Running	—	0
17	25	+8	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	434	—	Running	—	112
18	5	-13	Joe Millikan	DeWitt Racing		426	—	Running	—	109
19	8	-11	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering		422	—	DNF - Crash	—	106
20	13	-7	Ricky Rudd	Donlavey Racing		420	—	DNF - Crash	—	103
21	12	-9	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm Team		416	—	Running	—	100
22	28	+6	Baxter Price	Price Racing		412	—	DNF - Crash	—	97
23	19	-4	Bill Elliott	Hamby Racing		391	—	Running	—	94
24	33	+9	Frank Warren	Warren Racing	Dodge	376	—	DNF	—	91
25	37	+12	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		354	—	DNF	—	88
26	31	+5	Dick May	Hollar Racing		267	—	DNF	—	0
27	14	-13	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		259	—	DNF - Engine	1	87
28	21	-7	D.K. Ulrich	Ulrich Racing		253	—	Running	—	79
29	4	-25	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	233	—	DNF - Crash	95	81
30	27	-3	Randy Ogden	Ogden Racing		227	—	DNF	—	0
31	23	-8	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		227	—	DNF	—	70
32	18	-14	Glenn Jarrett	Gray Racing		164	—	DNF - Engine	—	67
33	1	-32	Buddy Baker	Ranier Racing		141	—	DNF	4	69
34	24	-10	Travis Tiller	Morgan-McClure		76	—	DNF	—	61
35	35	—	Mike Potter	Potter Racing		73	—	DNF - Engine	—	0
36	26	-10	Bub Strickler	Jim Norris (Owner)		67	—	DNF - Crash	—	55
37	17	-20	Tighe Scott	Ballard Racing		17	—	DNF	—	52