Saturday, April 21, 2012

April 21 - This day in Petty history - part 2

1974 - Starting fourth, Richard Petty leads 336 laps and wins the Gwyn Staley 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway to capture his 157th career victory.

Rival Bobby Allison finished second two laps behind The King, and Cale Yarborough - who went on a tear with 3 consecutive championships in 76-77-78 - finished third.

Although the race was billed as the Gwyn Staley 400, NASCAR had agreed to cut its races in 1974 by 10 percent to acknowledge the nation's energy crisis. As a result, laps 1-40 were neither run nor scored with a lap leader; however, they were logged as 'laps completed' in the finishing order. Petty led 336 of the 360 laps actually raced, but he is credited with having completed 400 laps.

Source: Save The Speedway
Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
TMC

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