1981 Champion Spark Plug 400

Race 21 of 31

Michigan
200 laps
Time of race: 3:14:24
Average speed of winner: 123.457 mph
Margin of victory: 2 car lengths
Lead changes: 65 among 15 drivers
Cautions: 9 for 51 laps
Lap leaders: Bouchard pole, Yarborough 1-4, Ruttman 5-8, R. Petty 9-15, Yarborough 16, R. Petty 17, Yarborough 18-19, Parsons 20-21, Bonnett 22, Hylton 23-27, Labonte 28, Bonnett 29, Yarborough 30, Parsons 31-35, Yarborough 36, R. Petty 37-45, Parsons 46-49, Allison 50-51, Parsons 52-55, Allison 56, Hylton 57-59, Parsons 60-61, R. Petty 62-63, Waltrip 64, Bonnett 65, Allison 66, Parsons 67-76, Bonnett 77, Gale 78-79, Rutherford 80-84, Bonnett 85-105, R. Petty 106, Bonnett 107-108, R. Petty 109, Bonnett 110, R. Petty 111, Bonnett 112-113, R. Petty 114-118, Bonnett 119-126, Allison 127-129, R. Petty 130-132, Ridley 133, Parsons 134-139, R. Petty 140-148, Bonnett 149-152, R. Petty 153, Bonnett 154, R. Petty 155, Allison 156, Marcis 157, Labonte 158-161, R. Petty 162-164, Allison 165, Gant 166, Allison 167-169, R. Petty 170-177, Allison 178, R. Petty 179-183, Gant 184-185, R. Petty 186, Allison 187, Marcis 188-191, R. Petty 192, Waltrip 193-194, Allison 195, R. Petty 196-200

Race notes: First pole for Ron Bouchard. Debut for Rick Knoop and Bob Schacht. Finale for Bruce Hill.

Finish	Start	Driver	Car #	Sponsor	Car	Owner	Crew Chief	Qualifying Speed	Laps	X Led	Laps Led	Status	Money	Points
1	7	Richard Petty	43	STP	Buick	Petty	Hmiel		200	18	64	running	23750	185
2	15	Darrell Waltrip	11	Mountain Dew	Buick	Johnson	Brewer		200	2	3	running	17525	175
3	9	Ricky Rudd	88	Gatorade	Chevrolet	DiGard	Nelson		200	0	0	running	15150	165
4	8	Harry Gant	33	Skoal Bandit	Pontiac	Needham	Carter		200	2	3	running	6000	165
5	19	Buddy Baker	1	UNO	Buick	Ellington	Pittman		200	0	0	running	5175	155
6	5	Joe Ruttman	2	J.D. Stacy Racing	Pontiac	Stacy	Inman		200	1	4	running	9375	0
7	12	Bobby Allison	28	Hardee's	Buick	Ranier	Wilson		200	10	15	running	8950	151
8	6	Bill Elliott	9	Mell-Gear Tuning Components	Ford	George Elliott	Elliott		200	0	0	running	3525	142
9	10	Dale Earnhardt	3	Wrangler Jeans	Pontiac	Childress	Shelmerdine		200	0	0	running	7955	138
10	20	Mike Alexander	37	Rogers Auto Leasing	Buick	Bob Rogers			200	0	0	running	3700	134
11	21	Dave Marcis	71	Transmissions Unlimited	Buick	Marcis			200	2	5	running	5295	135
12	18	Jody Ridley	90	Truxmore/Sunny King Ford/Honda	Ford	Donlavey			200	1	1	running	6275	132
13	16	Johnny Rutherford	98	Levi Garrett	Pontiac	Benfield	Buddy Parrott		199	1	5	running	2175	129
14	4	Terry Labonte	44	Stratagraph	Buick	Hagan	Elder		199	2	5	running	7550	126
15	22	Lake Speed	66	Speed Racing	Buick	Speed			199	0	0	running	4155	118
16	25	J.D. McDuffie	70	Bailey Excavating	Pontiac	McDuffie			199	0	0	running	3960	115
17	2	Cale Yarborough	27	Valvoline	Buick	M.C. Anderson	Ifft		198	5	9	running	2445	117
18	3	Gary Balough	75	Chaparral Trailers	Buick	RahMoc	Rahilly		198	0	0	running	3975	0
19	17	Kyle Petty	42	STP	Buick	Petty			197	0	0	running	3250	106
20	30	Rick Knoop	99	Kargas Sports	Buick	Ulrich			197	0	0	running	3405	0
21	31	Tommy Gale	64	Sunny King Ford & Honda	Ford	Langley			197	1	2	running	2760	105
22	29	Joe Booher	40	Booher Farms	Buick	Ulrich			196	0	0	running	1020	97
23	24	Joe Millikan	5	Performance Connection	Pontiac	Cliff Stewart	Darrell Bryant		195	0	0	running	6335	94
24	26	Cecil Gordon	24	Gordon Racing	Buick	Cecil Gordon			195	0	0	running	2470	91
25	33	Jimmy Means	52	Broadway Motors	Pontiac	Means			186	0	0	running	2575	88
26	13	Benny Parsons	15	Melling Tool Company	Ford	Moore	Moore		173	7	33	valve spring	6725	90
27	36	James Hylton	48	Palatine Automotive	Pontiac	Hylton			156	2	8	running	2520	87
28	11	Neil Bonnett	21	Warner W. Hodgdon/National Engineering	Ford	Wood Brothers	Leonard Wood		155	11	43	valve spring	1700	84
29	1	Ron Bouchard	47	J.D. Stacy Racing	Buick	Jack Beebe		161.501	85	0	0	engine	3540	76
30	23	Tim Richmond	12	UNO	Buick	Childers			53	0	0	engine	765	73
31	35	Bobby Wawak	94	Wawak Racing	Buick	Wawak			28	0	0	oil pump	1150	70
32	28	Bob Schacht	97	Test Tube	Oldsmobile	Bob Schacht			22	0	0	transmission	740	67
33	32	Bruce Hill	50	Native Tan	Buick	Bruce Hill			21	0	0	drive shaft	1130	64
34	14	Morgan Shepherd	02	Amsoil	Buick	Reeder			20	0	0	accident	1120	61
35	27	Buddy Arrington	67	Hills Racing	Dodge	Arrington			13	0	0	valve	1945	58
36	34	Dick May	19	Belden Asphalt	Buick	Henley Gray			4	0	0	camshaft	1100	55

Points standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s
1	Bobby Allison	3180	21	2	4	13	16
2	Darrell Waltrip	3110	21	5	7	12	15
3	Harry Gant	2942	21	1	0	10	14
4	Ricky Rudd	2829	21	2	0	11	13
5	Richard Petty	2747	21	0	3	11	13
6	Dale Earnhardt	2746	21	0	0	7	12
7	Terry Labonte	2699	21	2	0	4	10
8	Jody Ridley	2698	21	0	1	2	13
9	Benny Parsons	2507	21	0	2	9	9
10	Kyle Petty	2378	21	0	0	1	8
11	Dave Marcis	2351	21	1	0	3	6
12	Buddy Arrington	2231	21	0	0	0	4
13	Jimmy Means	2204	21	0	0	0	1
14	Morgan Shepherd	2178	19	1	1	3	8
15	J.D. McDuffie	2156	20	0	0	0	1
16	Richard Childress	2144	20	0	0	1	1
17	Tommy Gale	2098	20	0	0	0	0
18	James Hylton	1959	20	0	0	0	0
19	Tim Richmond	1950	19	0	0	0	4
20	Cecil Gordon	1844	21	0	0	0	0
21	Lake Speed	1819	17	0	0	0	5
22	Cale Yarborough	1605	13	2	2	5	8
23	Neil Bonnett	1526	15	1	0	3	4
24	Mike Alexander	1526	16	0	0	0	3
25	Ronnie Thomas	1492	16	0	0	0	0