| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Course Km: | 4.28 |
| Caption: | The 1986 Winston 500 program cover, featuring Bill Elliott. |
| Pole Time: | 45.121 |
| First Team: | Stavola Brothers Racing |
| First Driver: | Bobby Allison |
| Attendance: | 130,000 |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Larry Nuber |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Most Team: | Melling Racing |
| Car: | 22 |
| Most Laps: | 116 |
| Most Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Pole Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Avg: | 157.698mph |
| Location: | Lincoln, Alabama, Alabama International Motor Speedway |
| Pole Team: | Melling Racing |
| Scheduled Km: | 804.8 |
| Distance Km: | 804.8 |
| Distance Laps: | 188 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 188 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 500.08 |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Race No: | 9 |
| Race Name: | Winston 500 |
| Course Mi: | 2.66 |
| Date: | May 4 |
| Year: | 1986 |
| Distance Mi: | 500.08 |
| Official Name: | 17th Annual Winston 500 |
The 1986 Winston 500 was the ninth stock car race of the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 17th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 4, 1986, before an audience of 130,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Alabama International Motor Speedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete.
In the final laps of the race, Stavola Brothers Racing's Bobby Allison made a late-race charge to the lead, passing with six laps left in the race. Allison then defended a last-lap move by Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt in the final turns of the race, securing his 82nd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season. To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Earnhardt and owner-driver Buddy Baker finished second and third, respectively.[1] [2]
The race is notable for an incident in which a fan stole the pace car for the event, resulting in a short lived police chase occurring on the track. The fan was later arrested for the incident.[3]
Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, a 2.66-longNaN-long tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-longNaN-long tri-oval.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, May 1, at 1:00 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, May 2, at 1:00 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,[4] 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.
Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, won the pole, setting a time of 45.121 and an average speed of 212.229mph in the first round.[5]
Seven drivers failed to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 1,417 | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | Darrell Waltrip | 1,308 (-109) | ||||||
| 1 | 3 | Rusty Wallace | 1,216 (-204) | ||||||
| 3 | 4 | Bobby Allison | 1,198 (–219) | ||||||
| 2 | 5 | Terry Labonte | 1,189 (–228) | ||||||
| 1 | 6 | Kyle Petty | 1,152 (–265) | ||||||
| 1 | 7 | Bill Elliott | 1,141 (–276) | ||||||
| 8 | Tim Richmond | 1,135 (–282) | |||||||
| 2 | 9 | Harry Gant | 1,084 (–333) | ||||||
| 1 | 10 | Geoff Bodine | 1,082 (–335) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||