| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Date: | March 27 |
| Most Laps: | 166 |
| Pole Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Pole Team: | Junior Johnson & Associates |
| 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, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Season No: | 31 |
| Location: | Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway |
| Race No: | 5 |
| Avg: | 132.432mph |
| Official Name: | 38th Annual TranSouth Financial 400 |
| Race Name: | TranSouth Financial 400 |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 293 |
| Distance Laps: | 293 |
| Distance Km: | 644.12 |
| Scheduled Km: | 644.12 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 400.238 |
| Course Km: | 2.198 |
| Course Mi: | 1.366 |
| Pole Time: | 29.704 |
| Distance Mi: | 400.238 |
| Caption: | The 1994 TranSouth Financial 400 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. |
The 1994 TranSouth Financial 400 was the fifth stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 38th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 27, 1994, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366miles permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 293 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to dominate the majority of the race to take his 60th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Junior Johnson driver Bill Elliott would finish in the respective positions. [3]
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 4, at 11:30 AM 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 5, at 12:15 PM 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,[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; 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.
Bill Elliott, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 29.704 and an average speed of 165.553mph in the first round.[5]
Eight drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ernie Irvan | 860 | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 779 (-81) | ||||||
| 1 | 3 | Mark Martin | 779 (-81) | ||||||
| 5 | 4 | Ken Schrader | 688 (–192) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | Ricky Rudd | 657 (–203) | ||||||
| 4 | 6 | Lake Speed | 647 (–213) | ||||||
| 3 | 7 | Morgan Shepherd | 640 (–220) | ||||||
| 1 | 8 | Jeff Gordon | 615 (–245) | ||||||
| 3 | 9 | Sterling Marlin | 614 (–246) | ||||||
| 5 | 10 | Terry Labonte | 609 (–251) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||