| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Race No: | 2 |
| Distance Mi: | 300 |
| Year: | 1991 |
| Pole Time: | 22.420 |
| Race Name: | Pontiac Excitement 400 |
| Course Mi: | 0.75 |
| Scheduled Km: | 482.803 |
| Distance Km: | 482.803 |
| Course Km: | 1.21 |
| Distance Laps: | 400 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 400 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 300 |
| Official Name: | 37th Annual Pontiac Excitement 400 |
| Location: | Richmond, Virginia, Richmond International Raceway |
| Avg: | 105.937mph |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Date: | February 24 |
| Car: | 3 |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Network: | TBS |
| Announcers: | Ken Squier, Neil Bonnett, Ken Stabler |
| Most Laps: | 154 |
| First Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| First Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| Most Driver: | Ricky Rudd |
| Pole Driver: | Davey Allison |
| Pole Team: | Robert Yates Racing |
| Most Team: | Hendrick Motorsports |
| Caption: | The 1991 Pontiac Excitement 400 program cover, with artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. |
| Attendance: | 51,000 |
The 1991 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the second stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 37th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 24, 1991, before an audience of 51,000 in Richmond, Virginia, at Richmond International Raceway, a 0.75 miles (1.21 km) D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. Battling to the finish, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to defend against Hendrick Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd in the final laps of the race to take his 49th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Rudd and Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant would finish second and third, respectively.
Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt racetrack located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series. Known as "America's premier short track", it formerly hosted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, an IndyCar Series race, and two USAC sprint car races.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, February 22, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be 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 Saturday, February 23, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-34 would be 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. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Davey Allison, driving for Robert Yates Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 22.420 and an average speed of 120.428mph in the first round.[5]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 340 | ||||||
| 7 | 2 | Ricky Rudd | 318 (-22) | ||||||
| 1 | 3 | Sterling Marlin | 313 (-27) | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | Alan Kulwicki | 302 (–38) | ||||||
| 4 | 5 | Ernie Irvan | 262 (–78) | ||||||
| 19 | 6 | Harry Gant | 258 (–82) | ||||||
| 8 | 7 | Davey Allison | 255 (–85) | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | Rusty Wallace | 252 (–88) | ||||||
| 3 | 9 | Dale Jarrett | 250 (–90) | ||||||
| 11 | 10 | Mark Martin | 250 (–90) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||