NASCAR alters all-time wins list with a race from 53 years ago
By Asher Fair
Bobby Allison has officially had more NASCAR Cup Series victories recognized in the year 2024 than Kyle Busch.
In August 1971, Bobby Allison won the Myers Brothers Memorial at Bowman Gray Stadium. But that race win was not among the 84 victories with which he was credited through his 25-year Cup Series career.
With NASCAR set to return to Bowman Gray Stadium for the preseason Busch Light Clash exhibition race in February 2025, marking the first race at the four-turn, 0.250-mile (0.402-kilometer) track since that race in 1971, NASCAR felt it was right to count Allison's victory as a proper victory.
Though the Myers Brothers Memorial was not an exhibition race, it did not officially have a winner listed in the Cup Series record books, as it featured "a mix of Grand National (Cup Series) cars and smaller Grand American cars", according to the release NASCAR put out on Wednesday afternoon.
NASCAR has added a win to Bobby Allison's total with an 85th victory from Bowman Gray on Aug. 6, 1971. The race had a mix of Grand National (Cup) cars and smaller Grand American cars. Allison drove his Grand American car and won, so it previously had not counted as a Cup win.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 23, 2024
Six races that season featured the same, but this was the only one that didn't count, even after Allison was given a trophy in victory lane.
Allison led the final 138 laps of the 250-lap race after taking the lead from Richard Petty on lap 113. He held on to beat Petty by three seconds.
Allison's latest win moves him into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time wins list, behind only Petty (200), David Pearson (105), and Jeff Gordon (93).
Though the win is technically his latest win, it has retrospectively become the 25th of his 85 career victories.
The 86-year-old Hueytown, Alabama native had been tied on the all-time wins list with Darrell Waltrip, who now owns sole possession of fifth place with 84. Jimmie Johnson and Cale Yarborough remain tied for sixth at 83 wins.
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The 2025 Busch Light Clash is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 2, two weeks before the season is officially scheduled to begin with the 67th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. The start time has not yet been announced, and the race is set to be broadcast on either Fox or Fox Sports 1.
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