1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Season: Labonte's Title by 65 Points

The 1984 championship went to the driver with the steadiest finishes, and Harry Gant was 65 points behind at the end. The campaign ran from February to November and closed at Riverside, where a third-place finish sealed the title for Labonte.

Who won the 1984 NASCAR Winston Cup championship?

Terry Labonte clinched the 1984 title at Riverside by finishing third in the season finale, and his margin over Harry Gant was 65 points. He did not win his first race until the Budweiser 400 at Riverside in June, yet his steady finishes across the schedule carried him to the top of the standings.

Gant was the main challenger late in the year, and he finished eighth in the finale. The gap between the two drivers narrowed through the autumn before Labonte held on.

Rusty Wallace took the rookie award after completing every race on the schedule. The other candidates, Dean Combs, Clark Dwyer, Tommy Ellis, Doug Heveron, Phil Parsons and Greg Sacks, all raced fewer events, with Dwyer and Sacks coming closest.

A title won on consistency, a record 75 lead changes at Talladega and a final year for Chrysler in the series.

How did the 1984 season open at Daytona?

The 26th Daytona 500 ran on February 19, and Cale Yarborough won the pole at 201.848 mph, breaking the 200 mph barrier at the track. He then won the race for the second year in a row, drafting past Darrell Waltrip on the final lap for his fourth career Daytona 500 win.

Richard Petty made his debut with Curb Racing, starting from 34th and leading more than 20 laps before a camshaft broke. The early race showed that the car could still run at the front despite its late start.

Dale Earnhardt finished third that day, and Darrell Waltrip took second behind Yarborough.

Which drivers won the spring races?

Spring brought a run of different winners. Ricky Rudd won the Richmond 400 with Darrell Waltrip on pole, and Bobby Allison won the Carolina 500 after Harry Gant had started from pole. Benny Parsons took the Atlanta 500, the final Winston Cup victory of his career.

Before the Carolina 500, a dispute broke out between the track and sponsor Warner Hodgdon over late payments, and the fees were paid in full on March 19. A four-car crash on lap 372 then caused a 30-minute delay while the guardrail was repaired. Rudd, meanwhile, was still dealing with facial swelling from an accident in the Busch Clash.

Waltrip was the dominant force at Bristol. He passed Tim Richmond with 44 laps to go at the Valleydale 500 and won his seventh straight race at the track, while Bobby Allison, who had led 190 laps, faded and finished 19th.

Dale Jarrett made his Winston Cup debut at Bristol, finishing 14th for Emanuel Zervakis.

At Darlington, Waltrip took the TranSouth 500 in a race marked by two thunderstorms and several multi-car crashes. It was his fourth spring victory at the track.

At Martinsville on April 29, Geoff Bodine won the Sovran Bank 500 for his first Winston Cup victory. Ricky Rudd led 121 laps and Bobby Allison led 266, but both faded from the lead during the last 60 laps. Bodine's win also saved All-Star Racing, which secured sponsorship from Northwestern Security Life for the rest of the season.

At Atlanta, Benny Parsons held off Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough in a three-way fight. It was the final Cup victory of his career, and it came after Earnhardt and Yarborough had pressed him hard. Darrell Waltrip had been running fifth, but NASCAR ruled that he had made an illegal pass late in the race to get a lap back, and that ruling dropped him to tenth.

What were the highlights of the Winston 500 and Coors 420?

The Winston 500 at Talladega was won by Cale Yarborough, and the race produced a record 75 lead changes. That mark stood until Talladega in May 2010 and made the race one of the most competitive in the history of the series.

The Coors 420 at Nashville ended in controversy. Neil Bonnett crossed the line first, but NASCAR reversed the decision on the Monday after the race, and Waltrip was declared the winner after the yellow had flown before the final pass.

Richard Petty's own year had its moments as well, and he later added the Firecracker 400 for number 200 in his career.

Why did the points race tighten late in the year?

The points race tightened because the top contenders kept finishing close to one another. Labonte held the lead, but Gant and Dale Earnhardt pushed hard through the autumn, and small differences in finishing positions moved the standings from week to week.

At Talladega in July, Earnhardt won his second straight race there and his first driving for Richard Childress. At Bristol in August, Labonte won the Busch 500 and passed Earnhardt to take the points lead, which he kept for the rest of the season.

Gant won the Southern 500 at Darlington on September 2, leading 277 laps, and moved up to second in the standings. Earnhardt, who had a blown engine there, dropped to fourth.

What decided the title in the autumn?

Labonte and Gant fought over the title through the autumn. Gant won the Delaware 500, and Labonte's runner-up finish behind Waltrip at Martinsville pushed his lead to 91 points over Gant. That margin gave Labonte a cushion he would carry into the final weeks.

Waltrip won the Holly Farms 400 for his seventh win of 1984, but the Junior Johnson Chevrolets led 305 of 400 laps there. Gant then closed to within 59 points after finishing second.

At the Warner W. Hodgdon American 500 in October, Bill Elliott won a photo finish over Gant. Gant's finish again ahead of Labonte cut the Labonte advantage to 49 points.

The Atlanta Journal 500 was tragically marked by the death of Terry Schoonover after a crash on lap 122. Both Labonte and Gant suffered engine failures there, leaving Labonte with a 42-point lead going into the finale.

How did the 1984 finale settle the title?

The Winston Western 500 at Riverside decided the 1984 championship. Labonte had won the pole for the race, and his third-place finish was enough to clinch the title by 65 points over Gant, who finished eighth. Geoff Bodine won the race, and Labonte's consistency across the year made the difference.

What happened at Dover and Charlotte in May?

Richard Petty won the Budweiser 500 at Dover, his 199th career Winston Cup victory, after holding off Bill Elliott, Tim Richmond and Harry Gant. Gant had led 218 laps before he dropped out while running in the top five, and that exit left Petty with the win.

It was Petty's first victory at Dover since 1979, and it was his first Cup win without Petty Enterprises since two victories in 1970 with Don Robertson. The result gave the veteran another milestone at an already storied track.

At Charlotte the World 600 went to Bobby Allison after Cale Yarborough's engine failed. It was Allison's final victory while driving for DiGard Motorsports, which marked the end of that chapter in his career.

Which races gave Harry Gant his wins in 1984?

Harry Gant won three races in 1984, at Pocono, Darlington and Dover. His Pocono win in the Like Cola 500 came after he led 107 laps, and it followed a restart in which he passed Bill Elliott on the opening lap.

At Pocono, Gant edged Cale Yarborough and Elliott at the finish. That win was the first of his three victories, and it set up a strong run in the late summer.

At Darlington on September 2, Gant led 277 laps in a race with numerous crashes, and the win moved him up to second in the standings behind Labonte. His third win came in the Delaware 500 at Dover, a race he shared with Labonte, who led much of the distance.

Gant finished second in the Holly Farms 400, which pulled him to within 59 points of Labonte. That result made the late-season fight much closer than it had looked in the summer.

What happened at Michigan, Nashville and Charlotte in the middle of the year?

Bill Elliott won the Michigan 400 in June for his first superspeedway victory, and he later returned to win the Miller High Life 500 at Charlotte in October. In that October race Elliott and Parsons combined to lead 284 of 334 laps, a sign of how strong Elliott's cars were late in the year.

At Nashville, the Pepsi 420 went to Geoff Bodine, who led 327 of 420 laps. It was the last Cup race held at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, and it closed a chapter at a track that had hosted many memorable races.

Petty started third at Nashville but fell out after 212 laps with engine failure. It was the first race in which his team had to source engines from suppliers other than DiGard, after the Gardners ended their engine deal with Curb Motorsports.

Elliott also won the pole for the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan in August, but the race went to Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip's win there kept him in the mix for the championship while Labonte and Gant battled at the front.

What were the key results of the 1984 season?