1970 National 500
| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 44 of 48 in the 1970 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
 Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway | |||
| Date | October 11, 1970 | ||
| Official name | National 500 | ||
| Location | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (2.414 km) | ||
| Distance | 334 laps, 500 mi (804 km) | ||
| Weather | Warm with temperatures approaching 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds up to 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 123.246 miles per hour (198.345 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 50,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Nichels Engineering | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Laps | 112 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 12 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC | ||
| Announcers |
Jim McKay Chris Economaki | ||
The 1970 National 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on October 11, 1970 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
Summary
Out of the 44 drivers attempting to qualify for this race, only 40 of them qualified for the starting grid.[2] Drivers that did not qualify were Buck Baker, George Eaton, Raymond Williams and Dick Polling.[2] Cale Yarborough was credited with the last-place finish on lap 10 due to a crash with the wall.[2] Fifty thousand racing fans would see 23 different lead changes and eight cautions for a period of 63 laps.[2] It would take more than four hours to resolve 334 laps.[2]
LeeRoy Yarbrough would defeat Bobby Allison under the yellow flag.[2] This would become Yarbrough's final win in the NASCAR Cup Series.[3] Charlie Glotzbach would qualify for the pole position in this race by driving speeds up to 157.273 miles per hour (253.106 km/h) during the solo sessions.[2] Other notable drivers at this race were David Pearson, Coo Coo Marlin, Frank Warren, Richard Petty and J.D. McDuffie.[2]
A lot of the drivers did not finish the race because of crashes on the track.[2] The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
Top ten finishers
| Pos[2] | Grid | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 98 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Mercury | 334 | $23,700 |
| 2 | 10 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Dodge | 334 | $10,950 |
| 3 | 4 | 3 | Fred Lorenzen | Dodge | 333 | $6,400 |
| 4 | 15 | 72 | Benny Parsons | Ford | 329 | $3,955 |
| 5 | 9 | 71 | Bobby Isaac | Dodge | 323 | $3,330 |
| 6 | 18 | 64 | Elmo Langley | Mercury | 321 | $2,265 |
| 7 | 19 | 10 | Bill Champion | Ford | 320 | $2,065 |
| 8 | 20 | 5 | Buddy Arrington | Dodge | 319 | $1,965 |
| 9 | 36 | 46 | Roy Mayne | Chevrolet | 317 | $1,955 |
| 10 | 22 | 39 | Friday Hassler | Chevrolet | 315 | $1,765 |
References
| Preceded by 1970 Wilkes 400 |
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1969 |
Succeeded by 1970 Old Dominion 500 |
| Preceded by 1969 |
National 500 races 1970 |
Succeeded by 1971 |