The 1989 Holly Farms 400 was the 26th stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 40th iteration of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, October 1, 1989, but due to rain throughout the race's weekend, the race was postponed until Sunday, October 15. The race was held in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. On the final lap of the race, a battle between Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt and King Racing driver Ricky Rudd that had been culminating since the final restart of the race on lap 398 came to a head. Heading into the first turn, Rudd would dive-bomb Earnhardt, which led Rudd into Earnhardt's car, spinning both cars. As a result of the spin, the third place driver at the time, Hendrick Motorsports driver Geoff Bodine, would manage to avoid the wreck and take the victory. The victory was Bodine's seventh career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season. This would also prove to be Bodine's final win with Hendrick as Bofine would join Junior Johnson for 1990. Rudd and Earnhardt would finish ninth and tenth, respectively.

In the driver's championship points battle, leader Rusty Wallace was able to increase his lead over Earnhardt by two points to make his lead over Earnhardt 37 points with three races left in the season. Had Earnhardt either won or taken second in the race, Earnhardt would have retaken the driver's championship lead from Wallace.

Background

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.

Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor2Ernie IrvanU.S. RacingPontiacKroger3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletGM Goodwrench Service Plus4Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobileKodak5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevroletLevi Garrett6Mark MartinRoush RacingFordStroh's Light7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordZerex8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller High Life9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordCoors Light10Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingPontiacPurolator11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesFordBudweiser15Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFordMotorcraft16Larry Pearson (R)Pearson RacingBuickChattanooga Chew17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTide21Tommy EllisWood Brothers RacingFordCitgo25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFolgers26Ricky RuddKing RacingBuickQuaker State27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiacKodiak28Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFordTexaco, Havoline29Dale JarrettCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiacHardee's30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiacCountry Time33Harry GantJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileSkoal Bandit42Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiacPeak Antifreeze43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP49James HyltonHylton MotorsportsBuickHylton Motorsports52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacAlka-Seltzer55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileSkoal, Crown Central Petroleum57Hut Stricklin (R)Osterlund RacingPontiacHeinz62Joe RuttmanDouglas Smith RacingOldsmobileBaja Boats70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiacRumple Furniture71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletLifebuoy73Dale FischleinBarkdoll RacingOldsmobileBarkdoll Racing75Morgan ShepherdRahMoc EnterprisesPontiacValvoline83Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobileBull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce84Dick Trickle (R)Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller High Life88Jimmy Spencer (R)Baker–Schiff RacingPontiacCrisco94Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobileSunoco

Qualifying Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be run on Friday, September 29, at 3:00 PM EST. 31 cars would manage to set times in the session before the session was stopped due to rain. Originally, qualifying would have been condensed into one round and ran the next day on Saturday, September 30. However, due to persistent rain, qualifying was cancelled and the lineup was set by the current 1989 owner's points. As a result, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would win the pole.

Four drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMake13Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac36Mark MartinRoush RacingFord417Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet526Ricky RuddKing RacingBuick69Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord725Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet828Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord911Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord1033Harry GantJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile115Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1294Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile1375Morgan ShepherdRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac144Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile1521Tommy EllisWood Brothers RacingFord1684Dick Trickle (R)Stavola Brothers RacingBuick177Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord1830Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac1915Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFord208Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick2183Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobile2255Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile232Ernie IrvanU.S. RacingPontiac2416Larry Pearson (R)Pearson RacingBuick2529Dale JarrettCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac2657Hut Stricklin (R)Osterlund RacingPontiac2771Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet2888Jimmy Spencer (R)Baker–Schiff RacingPontiac2943Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac3010Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingPontiacProvisionals3142Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac3252Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacFailed to qualify3370J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac3462Joe RuttmanDouglas Smith RacingOldsmobile3549James HyltonHylton MotorsportsBuick3673Dale FischleinBarkdoll RacingOldsmobileOfficial interrupted first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings1115Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4001running180$47,800236Mark MartinRoush RacingFord40051running175$28,0753911Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord4000running165$18,30041033Harry GantJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile4000running160$12,77551375Morgan ShepherdRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac4000running155$15,200669Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord4000running150$13,5707227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac4000running146$11,8808232Ernie IrvanU.S. RacingPontiac4005running147$6,7929526Ricky RuddKing RacingBuick4000running138$8,6301013Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet400343running144$15,15511177Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord3980running130$5,875121684Dick Trickle (R)Stavola Brothers RacingBuick3980running127$6,27513725Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet3970running124$7,150142771Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet3960running121$5,29515208Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick3950running118$5,650161521Tommy EllisWood Brothers RacingFord3940running115$4,900171915Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFord3940running112$4,775182888Jimmy Spencer (R)Baker–Schiff RacingPontiac3930running109$4,900191294Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile3910running106$4,42520417Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet3880running103$10,12521828Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord3790running100$8,930223252Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac3730running97$1,805231830Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac3680running94$4,130242416Larry Pearson (R)Pearson RacingBuick3120running91$2,555252183Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobile3040running88$4,025263010Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingPontiac2960running85$2,380272529Dale JarrettCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac2180overheating82$3,830282255Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile1990crash79$3,75529144Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile1810ignition76$2,130302657Hut Stricklin (R)Osterlund RacingPontiac1770running73$1,630313142Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac1240distributor70$1,580322943Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac1240crash67$2,330Failed to qualify3370J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac3462Joe RuttmanDouglas Smith RacingOldsmobile3549James HyltonHylton MotorsportsBuick3673Dale FischleinBarkdoll RacingOldsmobileOfficial race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Rusty Wallace 3,758 2 Dale Earnhardt 3,721 (-37) 3 Mark Martin 3,630 (-128) 4 Darrell Waltrip 3,476 (–282) 5 Bill Elliott 3,394 (–364) 6 Ken Schrader 3,332 (–426) 7 Ricky Rudd 3,317 (–441) 1 8 Harry Gant 3,275 (–483) 1 9 Davey Allison 3,252 (–506) 10 Terry Labonte 3,230 (–528)Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References