| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| First Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| Pole Time: | 15.357 |
| Official Name: | 34th Annual Food City 500 |
| Caption: | The 1994 Food City 500 program cover, featuring Jeff Gordon. |
| Season No: | 31 |
| Race No: | 6 |
| Pole Driver: | Chuck Bown |
| Pole Team: | Bobby Allison Motorsports |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Avg: | 91.308mph |
| Most Laps: | 183 |
| Most Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| First Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| Location: | Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol Motor Speedway |
| Most Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| Car: | 3 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 500 |
| Course Km: | 0.858 |
| Distance Laps: | 500 |
| Scheduled Km: | 428.89 |
| Distance Km: | 428.89 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 266.5 |
| Date: | April 10 |
| Course Mi: | 0.533 |
| Race Name: | Food City 500 |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Distance Mi: | 266.5 |
| Attendance: | 76,000 |
The 1994 Food City 500 was the sixth stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 34th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 10, 1994, in Bristol, Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 61st career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader and Bud Moore Engineering driver Lake Speed would finish second and third, respectively.
The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 8, 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, April 9, at 12:30 PM 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,[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.
Chuck Bown, driving for Bobby Allison Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 15.357 and an average speed of 124.946mph in the first round.[4]
Five drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 964 | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | Ernie Irvan | 924 (-40) | ||||||
| 3 | Mark Martin | 884 (-80) | |||||||
| 4 | Ken Schrader | 838 (–126) | |||||||
| 3 | 5 | Lake Speed | 812 (–152) | ||||||
| 3 | 6 | Sterling Marlin | 757 (–207) | ||||||
| 7 | Morgan Shepherd | 749 (–215) | |||||||
| 3 | 8 | Ricky Rudd | 724 (–240) | ||||||
| 1 | 9 | Jeff Gordon | 716 (–248) | ||||||
| 3 | 10 | Rusty Wallace | 711 (–253) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||