1986 Miller High Life 400
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 29 in the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Layout of Richmond International Speedway
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| Date | February 23, 1986 | ||
| Official name | Miller High Life 400 | ||
| Location | Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, Richmond, Virginia | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 0.542 mi (0.872 km) |
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| Distance | 400 laps, 300.0 mi (480.9 km) | ||
| Weather | Cold with temperatures reaching up to 48 °F (9 °C); wind speeds up to 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 71.708 miles per hour (115.403 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 25,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 299 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 7 | Kyle Petty | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers |
Ken Squier Benny Parsons |
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 The classic Earnhardt/Waltrip battle at the 1986 Miller High Life 400.
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The 1986 Miller High Life 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on February 23, 1986, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in the American community of Richmond, Virginia.
Almost the entire grid was born in the United States of America; Canadian-born Trevor Boys was the only foreigner on the starting grid. Individual winnings for this event ranged from the winner's share of $37,880 ($82,763.32 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finishers' share of $2,515 ($5,494.98 when adjusted for inflation); the total prize purse of this event stood at $225,435 ($492,548.78 when adjusted for inflation).
In 1953, Richmond International Raceway began hosting the Grand National Series with Lee Petty winning that first race in Richmond. The original track was paved in 1968. In 1988, the track was re-designed into its present D-shaped configuration
The name for the raceway complex was "Strawberry Hill" until the Virginia State Fairgrounds site was bought out in 1999 and renamed the "Richmond International Raceway". The Strawberry Hill Races, which are a series of steeplechase horse races were formerly held the third Saturday of April at the Richmond Raceway Complex. In 2001, the races were moved to Colonial Downs in New Kent County, Virginia's first Thoroughbred racetrack.
There were 35 drivers who originally qualified for this race; only 31 of them were able to qualify in compliance with NASCAR's then-current rules and regulations. The drivers who failed to qualify were: Johnathan Lee Edwards, Alan Kulwicki, Ronnie Thomas and Eddie Bierschwale. Bierschwale would later be scouted into a temporary ride so that he would make the field after all. His last-place finisher on the second lap of this 400-lap racing event was a minor setback in his NASCAR career.Kyle Petty would defeat Joe Ruttman in his 1986 Ford Thunderbird under the final caution flag of the race in front of twenty-five thousand avid stock car racing fans. Dale Earnhardt managed to dominate the middle section of the race by leading for a duration of 128 laps. Petty's first victory would further propagate the winning attitude that his father Richard first inspired approximately 27 years prior to this event.
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