| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Date: | March 29 |
| Most Laps: | 160 |
| Pole Driver: | Sterling Marlin |
| Pole Team: | Junior Johnson & Associates |
| First Team: | Junior Johnson & Associates |
| First Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Most Team: | Robert Yates Racing |
| Most Driver: | Davey Allison |
| Car: | 11 |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Location: | Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway |
| Race No: | 5 |
| Avg: | 139.364mph |
| Official Name: | 36th Annual TranSouth 500 |
| Race Name: | TranSouth 500 |
| Year: | 1992 |
| 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: | 30.157 |
| Distance Mi: | 501.322 |
| Caption: | The 1992 TranSouth 500 program cover, featuring Ricky Rudd. |
The 1992 TranSouth 500 was the fifth stock car race of the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 36th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 8, 1992, 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 the final stages of the race, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Bill Elliott would make a late-race charge for the lead, passing for the lead with 45 to go to take his 38th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fourth victory of the season, and his fourth consecutive victory.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Dale Jarrett and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader would finish 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 Friday, March 27, 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, March 28, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be 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; which was usually two. 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.
Sterling Marlin, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.157 and an average speed of 163.067mph in the first round.[4]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davey Allison | 865 | |||||||
| 2 | Bill Elliott | 817 (-48) | |||||||
| 3 | Harry Gant | 812 (-53) | |||||||
| 4 | Terry Labonte | 715 (–150) | |||||||
| 5 | Morgan Shepherd | 696 (–169) | |||||||
| 1 | 6 | Geoff Bodine | 693 (–172) | ||||||
| 1 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | 665 (–200) | ||||||
| 8 | Dale Earnhardt | 658 (–207) | |||||||
| 1 | 9 | Dick Trickle | 608 (–257) | ||||||
| 7 | 10 | Mark Martin | 588 (–277) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||