Coca-Cola 500

Atlanta Motor Speedway — January 1, 1981

Cale Yarborough

Winner

328

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Cale Yarborough won the 1981 Coca-Cola 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on January 1, 1981, leading 71 of 328 laps. Harry Gant finished second; Dale Earnhardt rounded out the podium. The race featured 9 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Thursday, January 1, 1981

Track

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Season

1981

Winner

Cale Yarborough

Leaders

9 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	17	+16	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing		328	—	Running	71	180
2	2	—	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm Team		328	—	Running	94	180
3	5	+2	Dale Earnhardt	Osterlund Motorsports		327	—	Running	—	165
4	30	+26	Bobby Allison	Ranier Racing		327	—	Running	4	165
5	13	+8	Benny Parsons	Bud Moore Engineering		326	—	Running	4	160
6	7	+1	Jody Ridley	Donlavey Racing		326	—	Running	—	150
7	15	+8	A.J. Foyt	A.J. Foyt Racing		325	—	Running	—	146
8	20	+12	Morgan Shepherd	Cliff Stewart Racing		325	—	Running	—	142
9	10	+1	Bill Elliott	George Elliott Racing		323	—	Running	—	138
10	25	+15	Joe Ruttman	Jim Stacy Racing		322	—	Running	—	134
11	31	+20	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		321	—	Running	—	130
12	33	+21	Johnny Rutherford	Benfield Racing		321	—	Running	—	127
13	35	+22	Bill Elswick	RahMoc Enterprises		317	—	Running	—	0
14	26	+12	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	316	—	Running	—	121
15	12	-3	Joe Millikan	RahMoc Enterprises		315	—	DNF	—	118
16	27	+11	Stan Barrett	Mach 1 Racing		315	—	Running	—	0
17	8	-9	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing		311	—	Running	1	117
18	32	+14	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		310	—	Running	—	109
19	1	-18	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		308	—	Running	—	106
20	39	+19	Rick Newsom	Newsom Racing		294	—	Running	—	103
21	41	+20	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		282	—	Running	—	100
22	16	-6	Ricky Rudd	DiGard Motorsports		280	—	Running	—	97
23	36	+13	Bruce Hill	Hill Racing		275	—	Running	—	94
24	34	+10	Dick May	Junior Miller Racing		267	—	DNF	—	91
25	22	-3	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		254	—	DNF - Engine	—	88
26	19	-7	Tim Richmond	Ulrich Racing		241	—	DNF - Crash	—	85
27	28	+1	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		238	—	DNF - Crash	—	82
28	4	-24	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing		234	—	DNF	84	84
29	23	-6	Donnie Allison	Kennie Childers (Owner)		189	—	DNF - Engine	—	0
30	40	+10	Steve Spencer	Hamby Racing		170	—	DNF	—	0
31	42	+11	Ronnie Thomas	Ronnie Thomas Racing		159	—	DNF	—	70
32	6	-26	David Pearson	Halpern Enterprises		153	—	DNF	4	0
33	18	-15	Mike Alexander	Rogers Racing		139	—	DNF - Engine	—	64
34	29	-5	Slick Johnson	JD Johnson Racing		138	—	DNF	—	61
35	21	-14	Lake Speed	Lake Speed Racing		133	—	DNF	—	58
36	11	-25	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates		131	—	DNF - Engine	32	60
37	37	—	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		124	—	DNF - Engine	—	52
38	14	-24	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		113	—	DNF - Engine	34	54
39	24	-15	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	Howard & Egerton Racing		97	—	DNF - Crash	—	46
40	3	-37	Buddy Baker	Ellington Racing		86	—	DNF - Engine	—	43
41	9	-32	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises		17	—	DNF - Engine	—	40
42	38	-4	Bobby Wawak	Wawak Racing		10	—	DNF	—	37