1974 Southern 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 23 of 30 in the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Layout of Darlington Raceway
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| Date | September 2, 1974 | ||
| Official name | Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.375 mi (2.212 km) |
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| Distance | 367 laps, 500.5 mi (805.4 km) | ||
| Weather | Hot with temperatures reaching up to 91.9 °F (33.3 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 111.075 miles per hour (178.758 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 65,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Petty Enterprises | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Laps | 159 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 11 | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | n/a | ||
| Announcers | n/a | ||
Coordinates: 34°17′50.5″N 79°54′18.4″W / 34.297361°N 79.905111°W
The 1974 Southern 500, the 25th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that occurred on September 2, 1974, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
Jerry Schild would make his only "top-ten" finish at this event. Prior to this event, the 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was dominated by three drivers: Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and David Pearson (who finished in an agonizing 25th place after the checkered flag).
Had David Sisco had finished below third place at this event, his career would have been shortened due to financial reasons.
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.
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