| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Date: | April 13 |
| Most Laps: | 335 |
| Pole Driver: | Geoff Bodine |
| Pole Team: | Hendrick Motorsports |
| First Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| First Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| Most Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| Most Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| Car: | 3 |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Jack Arute |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Location: | Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway |
| Race No: | 6 |
| Avg: | 128.994mph |
| Official Name: | 30th Annual TranSouth 500 |
| Race Name: | TranSouth 500 |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 367 |
| Distance Laps: | 367 |
| Distance Km: | 806.799 |
| Scheduled Km: | 806.799 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 501.322 |
| Course Km: | 2.198 |
| Course Mi: | 1.366 |
| Pole Time: | 30.890 |
| Distance Mi: | 501.322 |
| Caption: | The 1986 TranSouth 500 program cover, featuring Bill Elliott and Jack Ingram. |
The 1986 TranSouth 500 was the sixth stock car race of the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 13, 1986, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366miles permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 367 laps to complete.
In a race of attrition, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt managed to fend off Junior Johnson & Associates' Darrell Waltrip on the final restart with two laps left, completing a dominant performance where he led 335 of the total 367 laps. The victory was Earnhardt's 16th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Waltrip and Stavola Brothers Racing's Bobby Allison finished second and third, respectively.
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, April 10, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round were guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Friday, April 11, at 2:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 were decided on time,[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two were given.
Geoff Bodine, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, won the pole, setting a time of 30.890 and an average speed of 159.197mph in the first round.[4]
Five drivers failed to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darrell Waltrip | 1,000 | |||||||
| 1 | 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 952 (-48) | ||||||
| 1 | 3 | Rusty Wallace | 885 (-115) | ||||||
| 2 | 4 | Terry Labonte | 861 (–139) | ||||||
| 5 | Bill Elliott | 832 (–168) | |||||||
| 1 | 6 | Kyle Petty | 785 (–215) | ||||||
| 2 | 7 | Tim Richmond | 773 (–227) | ||||||
| 8 | Harry Gant | 740 (–260) | |||||||
| 1 | 9 | Richard Petty | 730 (–270) | ||||||
| 3 | 10 | Bobby Allison | 726 (–273) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||