Champion Spark Plug 400

Michigan International Speedway — January 1, 1979

Richard Petty

Winner

200

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Richard Petty won the 1979 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Speedway on January 1, 1979, leading 9 of 200 laps. Buddy Baker finished second; Benny Parsons rounded out the podium. The race featured 8 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Monday, January 1, 1979

Track

Michigan International Speedway

Season

1979

Winner

Richard Petty

Leaders

8 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	5	+4	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		200	—	Running	9	180
2	11	+9	Buddy Baker	Ranier Racing		200	—	Running	115	180
3	6	+3	Benny Parsons	M.C. Anderson Racing		200	—	Running	—	165
4	1	-3	David Pearson	Osterlund Motorsports		199	—	Running	—	160
5	20	+15	John Anderson	Russ Draime (Owner)		199	—	Running	—	155
6	7	+1	Joe Millikan	DeWitt Racing		199	—	Running	8	155
7	16	+9	Ricky Rudd	Donlavey Racing	Mercury	199	—	Running	—	146
8	28	+20	Tighe Scott	Ballard Racing		197	—	Running	—	142
9	15	+6	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		197	—	Running	—	138
10	12	+2	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing		197	—	Running	—	134
11	13	+2	Bill Elliott	George Elliott Racing	Mercury	195	—	Running	—	130
12	31	+19	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		195	—	Running	—	127
13	34	+21	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	195	—	Running	—	124
14	18	+4	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		193	—	Running	—	121
15	29	+14	John Kennedy	John Kennedy (Owner)		188	—	Running	—	0
16	30	+14	Frank Warren	Warren Racing	Dodge	188	—	Running	—	115
17	8	-9	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates		185	—	DNF - Engine	3	117
18	35	+17	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		183	—	Running	—	109
19	10	-9	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Motorsports		173	—	Running	—	106
20	22	+2	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	150	—	DNF - Engine	—	103
21	26	+5	Baxter Price	Price Racing		146	—	Running	—	100
22	19	-3	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		145	—	Running	—	97
23	2	-21	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering		141	—	DNF - Engine	38	99
24	32	+8	Ronnie Thomas	Robertson Racing		131	—	DNF	—	91
25	9	-16	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm Team		129	—	DNF	5	93
26	4	-22	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		108	—	DNF - Engine	5	90
27	33	+6	Marty Robbins	Robbins Racing	Dodge	96	—	DNF	—	82
28	17	-11	D.K. Ulrich	Ulrich Racing		85	—	Running	—	79
29	14	-15	Dick Brooks	Nelson Malloch (Owner)		81	—	DNF	—	76
30	21	-9	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		67	—	DNF - Engine	—	73
31	24	-7	Lennie Pond	Gray Racing		57	—	DNF	—	70
32	23	-9	Al Rudd Jr.	Al Rudd Auto		39	—	DNF	—	0
33	3	-30	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	28	—	DNF	17	69
34	36	+2	Earle Canavan	Canavan Racing	Dodge	23	—	DNF	—	0
35	25	-10	H.B. Bailey	Bailey Racing		2	—	DNF - Crash	—	58
36	27	-9	Blackie Wangerin	Wangerin Racing	Mercury	2	—	DNF - Crash	—	55