The 1994 Coca-Cola 600, the 35th running of the event, was the 11th race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was won by Jeff Gordon, who started from the pole and earned his first victory in a points-paying race. Gordon won the race 3.3 seconds ahead of Rusty Wallace with Geoff Bodine and Dale Jarrett following behind. There was some topic humor during the race as someone put up a sign alongside the track this one stating "Attention All Drivers! Spinning thru the grass will result in caning." The sign was joking about 18-year-old American Michael P. Fay who infamously got caned in Singapore earlier in the year after being convicted of vandalizing cars, causing an international incident. Fay's case was big news at the time, he didn't return to the USA until the month after this race
Four drivers failed to qualify for this race: Jimmy Hensley, Dave Marcis, Bobby Hillin Jr. and Jim Sauter. Nearly 12% of this race would be held under a caution flag while the average green flag run was just over 35 laps. Roger Penske had a pretty good day. Earlier in the day Al Unser, Jr. won the Indy 500 for the Captain thanks in part to a secret weapon pushrod Mercedes engine. Here in Charlotte Rusty Wallace leads the most laps en route to a second-place finish, coming up just short of giving Penske a sweep. While Rusty had the car to beat, the first of Gordon getting the better of Rusty in the Coke 600 because of the miracles that are involved in making the final pit stop. John Andretti's day started off well with a top 10 finish at Indy, but didn't end so well here. He still managed over 800 racing miles on the day. It was an exceptionally rare sight for Roses to have sponsored a Winston Cup car; especially around the point Roses getting hammered much like the other discount chains blindsided by the rapid expansion of Wal-Mart. Gordon's crew chief Ray Evernham made the call for two tires while Wallace's crew chief made the call for four. Evernham's call paid off and Gordon outlasted Wallace in the closing laps. Following this race, Gordon would be referred to by Dale Earnhardt as the "Wonder Boy". Gordon ended up crying in Victory Lane after his victory. After many solid runs from 1993 onward, it was only a matter of time when the boy wonder went to victory lane and it took place on this night by having one of the best cars, along with Mast, Geoff Bodine, Rudd, Irvan and Rusty. Things would only get better for Jeff going forward: four-time Cup champion, three-time winner of the 600, three-time winner of The Daytona 500, one of the all time greats, and this race started it all.
