1981 Winston Western 500

Race 31 of 31

Riverside
119 laps
Time of race: 3:16:19
Average speed of winner: 95.288 mph
Margin of victory: 0.24 sec.
Lead changes: 19 among 9 drivers
Cautions: 7 for 33 laps
Lap leaders: Waltrip 1, Gant 2-7, Allison 8-26, Labonte 27-29, Allison 30-34, Ruttman 35-43, Marcis 44-46, Labonte 47-50, Allison 51-52, Ruttman 53-55, Allison 56-58, Schmitt 59, Parsons 60-63, Allison 64-70, McDuffie 71, Labonte 72-79, Ruttman 80-102, Allison 103-105, Ruttman 106-109, Allison 110-119

Race notes: Debut for Scott Miller, Pat Mintey, and Mark Stahl. Finale for Bob Bondurant, Richard Childress, and Dale Whittington. Only start for Gene Kershaw, Chuck Pittenger, and Gene Thonesen.

Finish	Start	Driver	Car #	Sponsor	Car	Owner	Crew Chief	Qualifying Speed	Laps	X Led	Laps Led	Status	Money	Points
1	5	Bobby Allison	28	Hardee's	Buick	Ranier	Wilson		119	7	49	running	24300	185
2	15	Joe Ruttman	2	J.D. Stacy Racing	Buick	Stacy	Inman		119	4	39	running	17675	175
3	2	Terry Labonte	44	J.D. Stacy Racing	Buick	Hagan	Elder		119	3	15	running	16450	170
4	3	Dale Earnhardt	3	Wrangler Jeans	Pontiac	Childress	Shelmerdine		119	0	0	running	10560	160
5	9	Joe Millikan	5	Performance Connection	Pontiac	Cliff Stewart	Darrell Bryant		119	0	0	running	9125	155
6	1	Darrell Waltrip	11	Mountain Dew	Buick	Johnson	Brewer	114.981	119	1	1	running	10300	155
7	25	Richard Petty	43	STP	Buick	Petty	Hmiel		119	0	0	running	8100	146
8	4	Harry Gant	33	Skoal Bandit	Pontiac	Needham	Carter		118	1	6	running	4860	147
9	21	Jody Ridley	90	Truxmore/Sunny King	Ford	Donlavey			118	0	0	running	5940	138
10	24	Ron Bouchard	47	J.D. Stacy Racing	Buick	Jack Beebe			118	0	0	running	5380	134
11	29	J.D. McDuffie	70	Bailey Excavating	Pontiac	McDuffie			118	1	1	running	4320	135
12	33	Gary Kershaw	74	J.R. Edgett Racing	Buick	Edgett			117	0	0	running	1800	127
13	8	Morgan Shepherd	24	Washington Freightliner	Buick	Cecil Gordon			117	0	0	running	3950	124
14	18	Bill Schmitt	73	Shasta County	Buick	Schmitt			116	1	1	running	3240	126
15	35	Don Waterman	38	St. John's Auto Parts	Buick	Waterman			116	0	0	running	3030	118
16	34	Lake Speed	17	Kings Inn Daytona	Buick	Hamby			115	0	0	running	3345	115
17	28	James Hylton	48	Palatine Automotive	Buick	Hylton			115	0	0	running	3110	112
18	16	Bob Bondurant	69	HFJ Racing	Pontiac				114	0	0	running	1300	0
19	20	Gary Balough	75	Chaparral Trailers	Buick	RahMoc	Rahilly		113	0	0	running	2790	106
20	6	Tim Richmond	37	Rogers Auto Leasing	Buick	Bob Rogers			113	0	0	running	1195	103
21	30	Don Puskarich	13	Puskarich Racing	Oldsmobile	Puskarich			111	0	0	running	2160	100
22	40	Gene Thonesen	07	Thonesen Racing	Buick	Thonesen			110	0	0	running	2125	97
23	39	Mark Stahl	85	Mark Stahl Racing	Ford	Stahl			109	0	0	running	1080	94
24	36	Buddy Arrington	67	Hills Racing	Dodge	Arrington			106	0	0	running	2555	91
25	19	Dave Marcis	71	J.D. Stacy Racing	Pontiac	Marcis			103	1	3	engine	1805	93
26	37	Tommy Gale	64	Sunny King Ford & Honda	Ford	Langley			95	0	0	differential	1755	85
27	7	Benny Parsons	15	Melling Tool Company	Ford	Moore	Moore		90	1	4	engine	6355	87
28	14	Chuck Pittenger	1	Pitt's Performance	Buick	Pittenger			80	0	0	clutch	1155	0
29	23	Scott Miller	51	J.D. Stacy Racing	Pontiac				69	0	0	engine	805	76
30	26	Roy Smith	0	Aircraft Standards	Buick	Robert Beadle			58	0	0	camshaft	2155	73
31	12	Terry Herman	99	Jim Davis	Buick	Ulrich			55	0	0	accident	1500	0
32	22	Jim Robinson	78	Hammer Security Systems	Oldsmobile	Jack Williams			53	0	0	accident	950	67
33	10	Neil Bonnett	21	Warner Hodgdon/National Engineering	Ford	Wood Brothers	Leonard Wood		49	0	0	spark plug	1100	64
34	38	Pat Mintey	35	Marv's Chevy Only	Chevrolet	Mintey			40	0	0	engine	850	61
35	11	Don Whittington	93	Scott Smith	Oldsmobile	Scott Smith			37	0	0	accident	500	58
36	32	Jim Bown	16	Rose Auto Wrecking	Buick	Dick Bown			34	0	0	piston	790	55
37	27	Kyle Petty	42	STP	Buick	Petty			27	0	0	brakes	780	52
38	17	Hershel McGriff	01	Howard Johnson	Buick	Craker			17	0	0	engine	770	49
39	31	Richard Childress	41	Junior Johnson Racing	Buick	Johnson			5	0	0	vibration	460	0
40	13	Ricky Rudd	88	Gatorade	Buick	DiGard	Nelson		2	0	0	engine	6150	43

Points standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s
1	Darrell Waltrip	4880	31	11	12	21	25
2	Bobby Allison	4827	31	2	5	21	26
3	Harry Gant	4213	31	3	0	13	18
4	Terry Labonte	4052	31	2	0	8	17
5	Jody Ridley	4002	31	0	1	3	18
6	Ricky Rudd	3991	31	3	0	14	17
7	Dale Earnhardt	3978	31	0	0	9	17
8	Richard Petty	3883	31	0	3	12	16
9	Dave Marcis	3510	31	1	0	4	9
10	Benny Parsons	3452	31	0	3	10	12
11	Buddy Arrington	3384	31	0	0	0	7
12	Kyle Petty	3335	31	0	0	1	10
13	Morgan Shepherd	3264	29	1	1	3	10
14	Jimmy Means	3145	30	0	0	0	2
15	Tommy Gale	3143	30	0	0	0	0
16	Tim Richmond	3094	29	0	0	0	6
17	J.D. McDuffie	3000	28	0	0	0	1
18	Lake Speed	2820	27	0	0	0	6
19	James Hylton	2756	28	0	0	0	0
20	Joe Millikan	2682	23	0	0	3	10
21	Ron Bouchard	2597	22	1	1	5	12
22	Neil Bonnett	2449	22	1	3	7	8
23	Cecil Gordon	2320	26	0	0	0	0
24	Cale Yarborough	2201	18	2	2	6	10
25	Richard Childress	2144	21	0	0	1	1