page_title: 1992 Hooters 500
section_title: Second half
hierarchical_section_title: 1992 Hooters 500 / Race / Second half
caption_attribution_description: English: NASCAR driver, the late Alan Kulwicki - Sears Point 1991
context_page_description: The 1992 Hooters 500 was the 29th and final race of the 1992 NASCAR season. It was held on November 15, 1992, at Atlanta Motor Speedway and is widely considered the greatest NASCAR race of all time, with three stories dominating the race: the debut of Jeff Gordon in the Winston Cup Series, the final race of seven-time champion Richard Petty's thirty-five-year career, and the battle for the series points championship with six drivers mathematically eligible to win the title.
  The race was won by Bill Elliott in the No. 11 Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson and Associates. Owner-driver Alan Kulwicki, driving the No. 7 Hooters Ford, finished second behind Elliott, and secured the series title. Kulwicki remarkably won the title by virtue of accumulating the championship points based on his second-place finish, and more importantly having led the most laps during the race, which awarded him 5 bonus points. It was the closest points championship battle in NASCAR history at the time, and Kulwicki's margin of most laps led compared to Elliott's total was a mere single lap.
context_section_description: Around lap 118, rookie Jeff Gordon brought the #24 DuPont Chevrolet down pit road for service.  The Ray Evernham-led "Rainbow Warriors" crew, which would become famous for its efficiency in keeping Gordon in contention as he became a star in the Cup Series, were nowhere near that level in this race and their errors caused Evernham to refer to them as the “Keystone Kops”. 
  In fact, one of those errors nearly cost one of the championship contenders. During that stop on la 118, a roll of duct tape was left on the hood of the #24. As Gordon left, the roll of tape rolled out of the pits and onto the track, where Davey Allison ran over it. The #28 suffered damage to the front air dam, which caused Allison to drop back from second place where he had been running; he would continue to battle handling issues for the rest of the race. Gordon would eventually crash out of the race on lap 164, finishing 31st.
  As the race neared its halfway point, the battle for the championship began to consolidate. On lap 160, Martin was forced to retire from the event after the engine blew on the #6. Gant would also fall back in the field as the race progressed and never was able to get back up to the front. With Petty’s car barely running, this left the #28, #11, and #7 as the only cars that could still contend for the title. On lap 167, Elliott passed Ernie Irvan to retake the lead. Allison still managed to hold onto his points lead as he stayed up front, running seventh with an 11 point margin separating him from both Elliott and Kulwicki.
  On lap 210, Kulwicki passed Elliott and took the point for the first time since lap 80, which was only the second lap he had led the entire day. Kulwicki took full advantage of this, beginning a long run at the front. Allison, however, was still running in the top ten in sixth place and as long as he was able to stay there, the #28 would be the champion for the year no matter how long Kulwicki stayed on point. Unfortunately, like Petty, Gant, and Martin before him, trouble would find Allison. 
  On lap 254, Irvan, who was now running three laps down, lost control of the #4 and spun out on the front stretch and into the path of his good friend Allison, who had nowhere to go and t-boned Irvan. tie rod and steering damage as both cars came to rest on the inside wall on the front straightaway. Allison would make it back onto the track after spending a significant amount of time in the garage, but would finish fifty-three laps down in 27th place, finishing the lowest of the six championship contenders.
caption: Alan Kulwicki
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