Southern 500

Darlington Raceway — January 1, 1981

Neil Bonnett

Winner

367

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Neil Bonnett won the 1981 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on January 1, 1981, leading 216 of 367 laps. Darrell Waltrip finished second; Dave Marcis rounded out the podium. The race featured 9 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Thursday, January 1, 1981

Track

Darlington Raceway

Season

1981

Winner

Neil Bonnett

Leaders

9 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	3	+2	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing		367	—	Running	216	185
2	11	+9	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates		367	—	Running	2	175
3	4	+1	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		367	—	Running	9	170
4	6	+2	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		367	—	Running	3	165
5	9	+4	Buddy Baker	Ellington Racing		367	—	Running	3	160
6	10	+4	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing		366	—	Running	—	150
7	14	+7	Bill Elliott	George Elliott Racing		366	—	Running	—	146
8	13	+5	David Pearson	Ellington Racing		365	—	Running	—	0
9	17	+8	Bobby Allison	Ranier Racing		365	—	Running	1	143
10	2	-8	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing		363	—	Running	24	139
11	5	-6	Ron Bouchard	Race Hill Farm Team		363	—	Running	—	130
12	23	+11	Jody Ridley	Donlavey Racing		362	—	Running	—	127
13	22	+9	Lake Speed	Lake Speed Racing		362	—	Running	—	124
14	1	-13	Harry Gant	Mach 1 Racing		360	—	Running	78	126
15	16	+1	Joe Ruttman	Jim Stacy Racing		358	—	Running	—	118
16	12	-4	Morgan Shepherd	Gordon Racing		358	—	Running	—	115
17	21	+4	Lennie Pond	Lennie Pond (Owner)		356	—	Running	—	112
18	19	+1	Joe Millikan	Cliff Stewart Racing		353	—	Running	—	109
19	33	+14	Dick May	Negre Racing	Dodge	353	—	Running	—	106
20	29	+9	Mike Alexander	Rogers Racing		352	—	Running	—	103
21	34	+13	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		351	—	Running	—	100
22	27	+5	Tim Richmond	Kennie Childers (Owner)		349	—	Running	—	97
23	7	-16	Ricky Rudd	DiGard Motorsports		343	—	DNF - Crash	—	94
24	40	+16	Bobby Wawak	Wawak Racing		334	—	Running	—	91
25	20	-5	Gary Balough	RahMoc Enterprises		333	—	DNF - Engine	—	88
26	38	+12	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		331	—	Running	—	85
27	37	+10	Ronnie Thomas	Ronnie Thomas Racing		311	—	Running	—	82
28	36	+8	Mike Potter	Hamby Racing		309	—	Running	—	79
29	30	+1	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		294	—	Running	—	76
30	8	-22	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		278	—	DNF - Engine	31	78
31	26	-5	D.K. Ulrich	Ulrich Racing		269	—	DNF - Engine	—	70
32	32	—	Jack Ingram	Bobby Hawkins (Owner)		253	—	DNF - Engine	—	67
33	25	-8	Johnny Rutherford	Benfield Racing		190	—	DNF	—	0
34	18	-16	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises		130	—	DNF - Engine	—	61
35	24	-11	Slick Johnson	Ulrich Racing		110	—	DNF - Engine	—	0
36	39	+3	H.B. Bailey	Bailey Racing		93	—	DNF - Crash	—	55
37	28	-9	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	85	—	DNF	—	52
38	35	-3	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		64	—	DNF - Engine	—	49
39	15	-24	Benny Parsons	Bud Moore Engineering		62	—	DNF - Engine	—	46
40	31	-9	Connie Saylor	GC Spencer Racing		6	—	DNF - Engine	—	43