The 1976 Music City USA 420 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

race that took place on May 8, 1976, at

Nashville Speedway Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a motorsport racetrack located at the Nashville Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The track is the second-oldest continually operating track in the United States. The track held NASCAR Grand Nati ...

(now Fairgrounds Speedway) in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. The five drivers that dominated the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season were David Pearson (average finish of 7th place), Cale Yarborough (average finish of 8th place), Richard Petty (average finish of 9th place), Benny Parsons (average finish of 10th place), and Bobby Allison (average finish 12th place).

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''1976 Music City USA 420'' racing information
at DecadesofRacing.Net for Cale Yarborough to defeat Richard Petty by 1.3 seconds in front of 16000 spectators. Five cautions slowed the race for 33 laps along with 16 changes in the lead. Rick Newsom finished last due to an

ignition Ignition may refer to: Science and technology * Firelighting, the human act of creating a fire for warmth, cooking and other uses * Combustion, an exothermic chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant * Fusion ignition, the point at which a ...

problem on lap 22. All of the 30 drivers on the grid were

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

-born.

Benny Parsons Benjamin Stewart Parsons (July 12, 1941 – January 16, 2007) was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, ...

qualified for the pole position with a speed of while the average speed of the race was . The winner received $8,565 in winnings ($ when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher would win $305 ($ when adjusted for inflation). 19-year-old

Sterling Marlin Sterling Burton Marlin (born June 30, 1957) is an American semi-retired, professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, driving the No. 114 for Sterling Marlin Racing. He formerly competed in the N ...

made NASCAR debut in his race; he started in 30th place and finished in 29th place. Marlin filled in for his father

Coo Coo COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

while he was recovering from an injury. Notable crew chiefs for this race were Billy Hagan,

Harry Hyde Harry Hyde (January 17, 1925 – May 13, 1996) was a leading crew chief in NASCAR stock car racing in the 1960s through the 1980s, winning 56 races and 88 pole positions. He was the 1970 championship crew chief for Bobby Isaac. He inspired t ...

, Jake Elder, Dale Inman, Bud Moore,

Coo Coo Marlin Clifton Burton "Coo Coo" Marlin (January 3, 1932 – August 14, 2005) was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver who spent 14 years in the series. Local track history Marlin earned a name for himself at the short tracks in Tennessee and Alabama, running ag ...

Tim Brewer Timothy Ivan "Tim" Brewer (born February 4, 1955) is an American former stock car racing crew chief and television analyst for '' NASCAR on ESPN''. He was part of '' NASCAR Countdown'', the pre-race show, with host Brent Musburger and fellow anal ...

and

Travis Carter Travis Carter (born November 21, 1949) is a former car owner and crew chief in the NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known fo ...

.1976 Music City USA 420 crew chiefs
at Racing Reference

Qualifying

Finishing order

# Cale Yarborough (No. 11) # Richard Petty (No. 43) #

(No. 72) # Buddy Baker (No. 15) #

Bobby Allison Robert Arthur Allison (born December 3, 1937) is a former American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant short tracks ...

(No. 2) #

Lennie Pond Lennie Wayne Pond (August 11, 1940 – February 10, 2016) was an American NASCAR driver. He won NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 1973, and won his only race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1978 for Ronnie Elder and Harry Ranier. Pond ...

(No. 54) # Dave Marcis (No. 71) #

Walter Ballard Walter Harvey Ballard Sr. (born January 12, 1933) is a former NASCAR driver from Houston, Texas. In 1971, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series (known as the NASCAR Cup Series as of 2021), in its f ...

(No. 30) #

David Sisco David Sisco (June 26, 1937 – July 25, 2016) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who ran 133 races from 1971 to 1977, and was the 1969 Nashville Fairgrounds track champion. Career Sisco also managed to earn $251,359 in his seven-year NASCA ...

(No. 05) # Frank Warren (No. 79) # D.K. Ulrich (No. 40) # Darrell Waltrip* (No. 88) #

Elmo Langley Elmo Harold Langley (August 21, 1928 – November 21, 1996) was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number 64 on his race cars during his NASCAR career. Racing career Langley began his racing career racing modified cars in Vir ...

(No. 64) # Cecil Gordon (No. 24) #

Jimmy Means James Means (born May 29, 1950) is a retired American racing driver and owner, who competed in the Winston Cup Series as an owner-driver. He is currently an adviser for Front Row Motorsports and owns his own team, Jimmy Means Racing. He compe ...

(No. 52) #

Buck Baker Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. (March 4, 1919 – April 14, 2002), better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia ...

(No. 33) # Richard Childress* (No. 3) #

James Hylton James Harvey Hylton (August 26, 1934 – April 28, 2018) was an American stock car racing driver. He was a two-time winner in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition and was a long-time competitor in the ARCA Racing Series. Hylton finished second i ...

* (No. 48) #

Ed Negre Ed Negre (July 16, 1927June 4, 2014) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who raced from 1955 to 1979.'' ...

* (No. 8) #

J.D. McDuffie John Delphus McDuffie Jr. (December 5, 1938 – August 11, 1991) was an American racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1963 to 1991, collecting 106 top-10 finishes during his career, despite never finishing on the lead ...

* (No. 70) #

Jabe Thomas Cerry Ezra "Jabe" Thomas (May 12, 1930 – June 4, 2015) was a NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series driver who competed from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s. His son Ronnie was also a NASCAR Cup Series driver; competing from 1977 to 1989 ...

* (No. 25) #

Skip Manning Skip Manning (born April 23, 1945) is a former NASCAR driver from Bogalusa, Louisiana. He competed in seventy-nine Winston Cup events in his career, spanning from 1975 to 1979. Manning won the rookie-of-the-year award in 1976. He had sixteen top ...

* (No. 92) # Bruce Hill* (No. 47) # Baxter Price* (No. 45) #

Henley Gray Clarence Henley Gray Jr. (born January 12, 1933) is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1977. Career Out of the 76045 laps committed in his career, Gray only led two of them. Gray's total career earnings ...

* (No. 19) #

Buddy Arrington Buddy Rogers Arrington (July 26, 1938 – August 2, 2022) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. Racing career Arrington has the second-most starts without a win, and finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1 ...

* (No. 67) # Gary Myers* (No. 95) # Walter Wallace* (No. 87) #

* (No. 14) # Rick Newsom* (No. 20) ''* Driver failed to finish race''

Timeline

Section reference: * Start: Cale Yarborough was leading the starting grid as the drivers crossed the start/finish line. * Lap 39: Lennie Pond took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 40: Dave Marcis took over the lead from Lennie Pond. * Lap 47: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Dave Marcis. * Lap 59: The rear end of Walter Wallace's vehicle came off in an unsafe manner. * Lap 72: Buddy Arrington managed to overheat his vehicle. * Lap 131: Baxter Price blew his engine while driving at high speeds. * Lap 150: Benny Parsons took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 151: Richard Petty took over the lead from Benny Parsons. * Lap 152: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Richard Petty. * Lap 161: Bobby Allison took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 162: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Bobby Allison. * Lap 167: Skip Manning blew his engine while driving at high speeds. * Lap 171: Jabe Thomas blew his engine while driving at high speeds. * Lap 180: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 185: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip. * Lap 227: Ed Negre managed to overheat his vehicle. * Lap 256: James Hylton blew his engine while driving at high speeds. * Lap 303: Benny Parsons took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 305: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Benny Parsons. * Lap 348: Benny Parsons took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 350: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Benny Parsons. * Lap 352: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip. * Lap 393: The rear end came off of Darrell Waltrip's vehicle in an unsafe manner. * Finish: Cale Yarborough was officially declared the winner of the event.

Standings after the race

References

{{Coors 420 Music City USA 420 NASCAR races at Fairgrounds Speedway Music City USA 420 Music City USA 420