1976 Music City USA 420


The 1976 Music City USA 420 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on May 8, 1976, at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.
The five drivers that dominated the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season were David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, Benny Parsons, and Bobby Allison.

Background

was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.

Race report

It took two hours and fifty-seven minutes for Cale Yarborough to defeat Richard Petty by 1.3 seconds in front of 16000 live audience members. Five cautions slowed the race for 33 laps along with 16 changes in the lead.
Rick Newsom achieved the last-place finish due to an ignition problem on lap 22 of the 420 laps that made up its regulation length. All of the 30 drivers on the grid were American-born males. Benny Parsons qualified for the race with a pole position speed of while the average speed of the race was. The winner received $8,565 in winnings while the last-place finisher would only win $305.
19-year-old Sterling Marlin made NASCAR debut in his race; he started in 30th place and finished in 29th place. Marlin filled in for his father Coo Coo while he was recovering from an injury.
Notable crew chiefs in attendance for this race were Billy Hagan, Harry Hyde, Jake Elder, Dale Inman, Bud Moore, Coo Coo Marlin, Tim Brewer and Travis Carter.

Qualifying

Finishing order

  1. Cale Yarborough
  2. Richard Petty
  3. Benny Parsons
  4. Buddy Baker
  5. Bobby Allison
  6. Lennie Pond
  7. Dave Marcis
  8. Walter Ballard
  9. David Sisco
  10. Frank Warren
  11. D.K. Ulrich
  12. Darrell Waltrip*
  13. Elmo Langley
  14. Cecil Gordon
  15. Jimmy Means
  16. Buck Baker
  17. Richard Childress*
  18. James Hylton*
  19. Ed Negre*
  20. J.D. McDuffie*
  21. Jabe Thomas*
  22. Skip Manning*
  23. Bruce Hill*
  24. Baxter Price*
  25. Henley Gray*
  26. Buddy Arrington*
  27. Gary Myers*
  28. Walter Wallace*
  29. Sterling Marlin*
  30. Rick Newsom*
* Driver failed to finish race

Timeline

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