1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Season: Yarborough's First of Three Titles

Cale Yarborough won the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup championship in the number 11 Holly Farms Chevrolet, the first of three straight titles. The season ran from January 18 to November 21 and included a famous last-lap finish at Daytona, a Winston 500 finished in under three hours and a string of engine failures that cost Richard Petty and others valuable points.

Who won the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup championship?

Cale Yarborough won the 1976 championship in the number 11 Junior Johnson Holly Farms Chevrolet, his first of three consecutive titles. He won nine races and had grown his points lead over Richard Petty to 183 by the Dixie 500. The rookie award went to Skip Manning.

The title race was never really tight in the second half of the year. Yarborough's advantage grew steadily through the autumn, while Petty's Dodge suffered engine failures at Riverside, Darlington and the Dixie 500, which all but settled the race.

Cale Yarborough's nine wins built a 183-point cushion, and the season's most memorable moment came on the final lap at Daytona.

Opening races at Riverside and Daytona

The season opened at Riverside, where David Pearson led 124 of 191 laps and won his first road course race since 1966. Richard Petty started 27th and worked forward to lead 15 laps before engine failure ended his day. Darrell Waltrip's brakes failed at turn eight on lap 18, and his car went over the fencing before he drove back to the pits and finished 21st.

At Daytona, A. J. Foyt, Dave Marcis and Waltrip lost their qualifying times after failing inspection, which left Ramo Stott on the pole. The 18th running of the Daytona 500 is remembered for a last-lap collision, when Petty and Pearson made contact in turn 4 and ended up in the wall. Petty's Dodge stalled in the grass in front of the line, and Pearson got his Mercury moving to take his only Daytona 500 victory.

The race nearly ended in tragedy on lap 118. Johnny Ray lost control on oil that Ramo Stott had left on the track, and Skip Manning's car struck Ray's door hard at speed. Ray was declared dead at the hospital before being revived.

Why is the 1976 Daytona 500 remembered?

The 1976 Daytona 500 is best remembered for the final-lap contact between Richard Petty and David Pearson, which left Petty's car stalled in the grass before the line. Pearson's win was his only Daytona 500 victory, and it came in the same race where Johnny Ray was revived after a crash on lap 118.

The Wood Brothers' fourth Daytona 500 win came in that race, and their next did not arrive until 2011. Pearson went past the stalled Dodge to cross the line first.

Spring races at Carolina, Richmond, Bristol and Atlanta

Petty dominated the Carolina 500 in February, leading 362 of 492 laps and finishing two laps ahead of Darrell Waltrip. Dave Marcis won the Richmond 400 with Petty second and Bobby Allison third.

At Bristol, Yarborough led 285 of 400 laps for the first of his nine wins that year. Petty's race ended on lap 64 after a crash with Cecil Gordon and Bill Champion, and Benny Parsons took the points lead as a result.

NASCAR required smaller carburettors from the Atlanta 500 onwards. Pearson fell off the lead lap early and spent 225 laps working his way back into contention before winning. Yarborough finished third, one lap down, after making up three laps of a four-lap deficit.

How fast was the 1976 Winston 500?

The Winston 500 at Alabama International Motor Speedway on May 2 was the first 500-mile race in Winston Cup history to finish in under three hours, taking 2 hours and 56 minutes. Buddy Baker won ahead of Yarborough, and Yarborough took the points lead for the first time that season.

Baker had qualified only twelfth, a result so poor that the Bud Moore team drove back to its Spartanburg shop, more than four hours away, to overhaul the engine before returning to Talladega.

Charlotte, Dover and Janet Guthrie's debut

In the World 600, Pearson and Yarborough combined to lead 243 of the first 251 laps. Yarborough lost a lap with a cut tire and finished third behind Pearson and Petty.

Janet Guthrie made her NASCAR debut in the same race, starting 27th and finishing 15th. Bruton Smith returned to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the event and put up $18,000 in lap leader bonuses, payable to whoever led the most laps per 100 miles.

At Dover in the Mason-Dixon 500, Benny Parsons carried nose damage from a mid-race incident, yet he still led 161 of the last 169 laps and finished 25 seconds clear of Pearson. Yarborough led 243 laps before a penalty for a lap on a pit stop, followed by an engine failure, dropped him to 27th.

What did Janet Guthrie achieve in her debut?

Janet Guthrie made her NASCAR debut at the World 600 at Charlotte, starting 27th and finishing 15th. Her finish sits alongside the front-running results of Pearson, who won, and Yarborough, who finished third after his lead was cut short by a cut tire.

The debut was a significant moment for the sport, and the result was a respectable first outing in a field that included some of the best drivers of the era.

Midseason at Nashville, Pocono and Talladega

At Nashville on July 17, Buddy Baker led 220 laps before his car fell out with 90 laps to go, and Benny Parsons inherited the lead to win. Neil Bonnett stepped in as a relief driver for Bobby Allison, who had been injured in a crash at a local race in Elko, Minnesota. Darrell Waltrip finished third after DiGard hired engine builder Marion Newman.

At Pocono on August 1, larger carburettors were allowed again. David Pearson led late but a blown tire dropped him to fourth, and Richard Petty won. Yarborough's engine blew halfway through the race, and his crew changed it in the garage in 33 minutes. He finished 25th, losing the points lead to Parsons.

At Talladega on August 8, Dave Marcis won in a race with 57 lead changes, the most all season. Benny Parsons, Richard Petty and Yarborough all suffered mechanical failures, and Yarborough finished 51 laps down in 26th. Parsons' 39th place let Yarborough take back the lead, and he kept it for the rest of the year.

What did Junior Johnson do after the engine failures?

Junior Johnson hired a security guard to watch over Cale Yarborough's engines at the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan on August 22, suspecting sabotage after back-to-back failures. Pearson won that race with Yarborough second,.

How did the autumn races settle the title?

The Volunteer 400 at Bristol on August 29 went to Yarborough. The Southern 500 at Darlington on September 6 was Pearson's first win in that race, after six Rebel 400 wins. Yarborough hit a guardrail post on pit road and finished 23rd, and Petty's second-place finish reduced Yarborough's lead to 29 points.

At the Capital City 400 at Richmond on September 12, Yarborough won again while Bobby Allison finished a length back. That win pushed his lead over Petty to 44 points. The Delaware 500 on September 19 went to Yarborough too, after he made up two laps on two separate occasions.

The Old Dominion 500 ended after 340 of 500 laps because of rain, and Yarborough was the winner. At North Wilkesboro on October 3, Yarborough won the Wilkes 400 for his fourth straight win and his ninth of the season, with Benny Parsons second.

Why was Donnie Allison's National 500 win a surprise?

Donnie Allison won the National 500 at Charlotte on October 10 in a backup Hoss Ellington Monte Carlo, his first Winston Cup victory since 1971. Buck Baker, aged 57, ran the final Winston Cup race of his career and finished 24th.

After the race an inspection found Allison's engine a tick over the legal displacement. Once it had cooled the engine was within limits, and the result stood. Neil Bonnett had relieved David Pearson, who had suffered back pain the previous day, and the surprise win was one of the strangest results of the year.

How was the 1976 title finally secured?

Yarborough clinched the 1976 championship at the Los Angeles Times 500 on November 21, even though transmission trouble ended his race after he led 68 laps. Richard Petty's engine failure at the Dixie 500 had already all but sealed the title for him, and the gap stood at 183 points by then.

At the Dixie 500 Dave Marcis won, his last non-short-track victory and the last win for the K and K Insurance team. Yarborough finished fourth, extending his lead to 183 points, nearly a full race ahead of Petty.

At the Los Angeles Times 500, Bobby Allison blew his engine at the same time as his brother Donnie, and afterwards he told Roger Penske he was leaving the team. Penske had announced Allison's return for 1977 only a week earlier.

Selected 1976 race winners