1981 Firecracker 400

Race 17 of 31

Daytona
160 laps
Time of race: 2:48:32
Average speed of winner: 142.588 mph
Margin of victory: 2 car lengths
Lead changes: 35 among 10 drivers
Cautions: 6 for 37 laps
Lap leaders: Yarborough pole, Earnhardt 1, Gant 2-4, Allison 5, Yarborough 6-7, Gant 8-9, Alexander 10-13, R. Petty 14, Baker 15-18, Yarborough 19-20, Gant 21-31, Allison 32-34, Bonnett 35, Gant 36, McDuffie 37-39, Bonnett 40, Yarborough 41-50, Bonnett 51, Yarborough 52-53, Allison 54-55, McDuffie 56-59, Allison 60-63, Yarborough 64-77, Gant 78, Barrett 79-81, Yarborough 82-95, Gant 96-97, Yarborough 98-119, R. Petty 120-121, Yarborough 122-127, R. Petty 128-131, Yarborough 132-135, Gant 136, Yarborough 137, Gant 138-159, Yarborough 160

Race notes: Finale for Bill Elswick and Kevin Housby.

Finish	Start	Driver	Car #	Sponsor	Car	Owner	Crew Chief	Qualifying Speed	Laps	X Led	Laps Led	Status	Money	Points
1	1	Cale Yarborough	27	Valvoline	Buick	M.C. Anderson	Ifft	192.852	160	11	78	running	24625	185
2	2	Harry Gant	33	Skoal Bandit	Buick	Needham	Carter		160	8	43	running	15350	175
3	14	Richard Petty	43	STP	Buick	Petty	Hmiel		160	3	7	running	17200	170
4	21	Buddy Baker	1	UNO	Oldsmobile	Ellington	Pittman		160	1	4	running	8765	165
5	9	Johnny Rutherford	98	Levi Garrett	Pontiac	Benfield	Buddy Parrott		160	0	0	running	7075	155
6	10	Kyle Petty	42	STP	Buick	Petty			160	0	0	running	8915	150
7	15	Mike Alexander	37	Rogers Auto Leasing	Buick	Bob Rogers			160	1	4	running	6200	151
8	5	Terry Labonte	44	Stratagraph	Buick	Hagan			159	0	0	running	10040	142
9	7	Ron Bouchard	47	Race Hill Farm	Buick	Jack Beebe			159	0	0	running	7775	138
10	19	Darrell Waltrip	11	Mountain Dew	Buick	Johnson	Brewer		159	0	0	running	9610	134
11	16	Lennie Pond	68	The 5 Racers Corp.	Buick	Pond			159	0	0	running	3550	130
12	40	J.D. McDuffie	70	Bailey Excavating	Pontiac	McDuffie			159	2	7	running	6495	132
13	37	Dave Marcis	71	Hudson Transmission	Buick	Marcis			157	0	0	running	6155	124
14	35	Connie Saylor	4	Spencer Racing	Oldsmobile	G.C. Spencer			157	0	0	running	3160	121
15	18	Tim Richmond	12	UNO	Buick	Childers			156	0	0	engine	2920	118
16	32	Bruce Hill	50	Native Tan	Buick	Bruce Hill			155	0	0	running	2530	115
17	33	Buddy Arrington	67	Jim Peacock	Dodge	Arrington			155	0	0	running	5175	112
18	30	Jimmy Means	52	Broadway Motors	Pontiac	Means			155	0	0	running	4870	109
19	34	Tommy Gale	64	Sunny King Ford & Honda	Ford	Langley			155	0	0	running	4475	106
20	39	Morgan Shepherd	5	Performance Connection	Pontiac	Cliff Stewart	Darrell Bryant		155	0	0	running	6870	103
21	6	Richard Childress	3	Ronnie Steele	Pontiac	Childress	Shelmerdine		154	0	0	running	3785	100
22	41	James Hylton	48	Palatine Automotive	Pontiac	Hylton			154	0	0	running	3225	97
23	24	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	86	Cal-Tex	Buick	Howard and Egerton			153	0	0	running	1470	94
24	17	Bill Elswick	75	RahMoc Racing	Buick	RahMoc	Rahilly		150	0	0	running	3290	91
25	29	Cecil Gordon	24	Daytona Inn	Buick	Cecil Gordon			146	0	0	engine	2995	88
26	27	Stan Barrett	22	Skoal Bandit	Pontiac	Needham			138	1	3	engine	1470	90
27	42	Tommy Houston	17	Kings Inn Daytona	Oldsmobile	Hamby			127	0	0	running	2610	82
28	4	Bobby Allison	28	Hardee's	Buick	Ranier	Wilson		111	4	10	valve	7020	84
29	22	Joe Ruttman	6	The 5 Racers Corp.	Buick	Stacy			99	0	0	ignition	1295	76
30	11	Neil Bonnett	21	Purolator	Ford	Wood Brothers	Leonard Wood		93	3	3	engine	1820	78
31	38	Dick May	19	Gray Racing	Buick	Henley Gray			89	0	0	engine	1060	70
32	13	A.J. Foyt	51	Gilmore/Valvoline	Oldsmobile	Foyt			85	0	0	rear end	1035	67
33	20	Lake Speed	66	Native Tan	Buick	Speed			76	0	0	engine	2565	64
34	25	Bill Elliott	9	Mell-Gear Tuning Components	Ford	George Elliott	Elliott		72	0	0	engine	985	61
35	3	Dale Earnhardt	2	Wrangler Jeans	Pontiac	Stacy	Richert		71	1	1	vibration	8360	63
36	36	Kevin Housby	99	Taylor & Martin	Oldsmobile	Ulrich			53	0	0	accident	2480	55
37	28	Jack Ingram	13	Carolina Tool & Equipment	Ford	Hawkins			52	0	0	clutch	940	52
38	31	Jody Ridley	90	Truxmore/Sunny King	Ford	Donlavey			34	0	0	engine	2735	49
39	26	Benny Parsons	15	Melling Tool Company	Ford	Moore	Moore		16	0	0	accident	6380	46
40	12	Ricky Rudd	88	Gatorade/DiGard	Oldsmobile	DiGard	Nelson		16	0	0	accident	6625	43
41	23	Billie Harvey	31	Junior Johnson/Pistone	Pontiac	Harvey			15	0	0	accident	1000	40
42	8	Rick Wilson	62	Florida Equipment & Service	Oldsmobile	Rick Wilson			8	0	0	engine	925	37

Points standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s
1	Bobby Allison	2596	17	2	4	11	13
2	Darrell Waltrip	2390	17	4	5	8	11
3	Harry Gant	2305	17	0	0	7	10
4	Ricky Rudd	2260	17	2	0	9	10
5	Dale Earnhardt	2246	17	0	0	7	10
6	Richard Petty	2206	17	0	2	9	10
7	Jody Ridley	2172	17	0	1	2	11
8	Terry Labonte	2124	17	2	0	2	8
9	Benny Parsons	1953	17	0	2	7	7
10	Buddy Arrington	1939	17	0	0	0	4
11	Dave Marcis	1925	17	1	0	3	5
12	Morgan Shepherd	1862	15	1	1	3	8
13	Richard Childress	1853	17	0	0	1	1
14	Kyle Petty	1834	17	0	0	1	5
15	J.D. McDuffie	1829	17	0	0	0	1
16	Jimmy Means	1777	17	0	0	0	1
17	Tommy Gale	1714	16	0	0	0	0
18	Tim Richmond	1678	15	0	0	0	3
19	James Hylton	1614	16	0	0	0	0
20	Cecil Gordon	1465	17	0	0	0	0
21	Lake Speed	1367	13	0	0	0	4
22	Joe Millikan	1352	12	0	0	0	5
23	Neil Bonnett	1319	12	1	0	3	4
24	Ronnie Thomas	1313	14	0	0	0	0
25	Cale Yarborough	1244	10	2	2	4	7