Alsco Uniforms 500 Explained

Race Title:	Alsco Uniforms 500
Track Map:	Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg
Series Long:	NASCAR Cup Series
Venue:	Charlotte Motor Speedway
Location:	Concord, North Carolina, United States
Sponsor:	Bank of America
First Race:	1960
Last Race:	2020
Distance:	500km (300miles)
Laps:	208
Previous Names:	National 400 (1960–1965) National 500 (1966–1976, 1980–1982) NAPA National 500 (1977–1979) Miller High Life 500 (1983–1985) Oakwood Homes 500 (1986–1988) All Pro Auto Parts 500 (1989) Mello Yello 500 (1990–1994) UAW-GM Quality 500 (1995–2005) Bank of America 500 (2006–2008, 2010–2017) NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America (2009) Alsco Uniforms 500 (2020)
Most Wins Driver:	Jimmie Johnson (4)
Most Wins Team:	Hendrick Motorsports (9)
Most Wins Manufacturer:	Chevrolet (22)
Surface:	Asphalt
Length Mi:	1.5
Turns:	4

The Alsco Uniforms 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race that is held annually at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, United States, with the other one being the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, the 600miles race. Beginning in 2018, was replaced by a road course race rather than the full oval, called Bank of America Roval 400.

History

The race had been a Sunday afternoon event until 2002. That year rain delayed the start by over 3 hours, meaning much of the race was run under the lights. Thanks in large part to the ratings boost NBC received in primetime hours, NASCAR made a decision to move the race date from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night from 2003 to 2016. NBC retained their rights to broadcast the race, unlike in most of the night events aired in their part of the season's contract which normally aired on TNT. With the move, then-Lowe's Motor Speedway became one of only two tracks in NASCAR to have two-night dates on the schedule.

In 2015 and 2016, the races on Saturday night were cancelled due to bad weather, so they were run on Sunday afternoon. In 2017, at the time of the schedule announcement, the race was scheduled for Saturday night. On April 20, the race was rescheduled for Sunday and moved from a night race to a day race. At the 2017 event, after rain caused the Xfinity Series event of the Saturday afternoon to be delayed by several hours, a decision was made to move the Cup race an hour back to a 1:00 PM local time start, as more rain was expected later during the day. The race eventually concluded successfully after 3 and a half hours without the occurrence of any rain delays.

Starting in 2018, the race was replaced by a road course configuration of Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Bank of America Roval 400, with a race distance of over 109 laps.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Due to schedule changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted an additional 500-kilometer (312 mile) race in 2020 called the Alsco Uniforms 500 on the Wednesday following the Coca-Cola 600.^[4] It was run as a replacement for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway after the track announced that NASCAR had canceled its events at the road course due to the pandemic.

Past winners

Year	Date		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report
						Laps	Miles (km)
1960	October 16	21	Speedy Thompson	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	267	400.5 (644.542)	3:32:50	112.905	Report
1961	October 15	8	Joe Weatherly	Bud Moore Engineering	Pontiac	267	400.5 (644.542)	3:20:20	119.95	Report
1962	October 14	3	Junior Johnson	Ray Fox	Pontiac	267	400.5 (644.542)	3:01:42	132.085	Report
1963	October 13	3	Junior Johnson	Ray Fox	Chevrolet	267	400.5 (644.542)	3:01:54	132.105	Report
1964	October 18	28	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	Ford	267	400.5 (644.542)	2:58:35	134.475	Report
1965	October 17	28	Fred Lorenzen	Holman-Moody	Ford	267	400.5 (644.542)	3:21:44	119.117	Report
1966	October 16	12	Lee Roy Yarbrough	Jon Thorne	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:49:55	130.576	Report
1967	October 15	3	Buddy Baker	Ray Fox	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:50:04	130.317	Report
1968	October 20	6	Charlie Glotzbach	Cotton Owens	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:42:08	135.234	Report
1969	October 12	27	Donnie Allison	Banjo Matthews	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:48:32	131.271	Report
1970	October 11	98	Lee Roy Yarbrough	Junior Johnson & Associates	Mercury	334	501 (806.281)	4:03:28	123.246	Report
1971	October 10	12	Bobby Allison	Holman-Moody	Mercury	238*	357 (574.535)	2:49:38	126.14	Report
1972	October 8	12	Bobby Allison	Richard Howard	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:45:37	133.234	Report
1973	October 7	11	Cale Yarborough	Richard Howard	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:26:58	145.24	Report
1974	October 6	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	334	501 (806.281)	4:10:41	119.912	Report
1975	October 5	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:47:22	132.209	Report
1976	October 10	1	Donnie Allison	Ellington Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:32:51	141.226	Report
1977	October 9	72	Benny Parsons	L.G. DeWitt	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:30:32	142.78	Report
1978	October 8	15	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:31:57	141.826	Report
1979	October 7	11	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:43:53	134.266	Report
1980	October 5	2	Dale Earnhardt	Rod Osterlund Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:42:18	135.243	Report
1981	October 11	11	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates	Buick	334	501 (806.281)	4:15:52	117.483	Report
1982	October 10	33	Harry Gant	Mach 1 Racing	Buick	334	501 (806.281)	3:39:05	137.208	Report
1983	October 9	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	3:34:43	139.998	Report
1984	October 7	9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:24:41	148.861	Report
1985	October 6	28	Cale Yarborough	Ranier-Lundy	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:39:48	136.761	Report
1986	October 5	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:47:02	132.403	Report
1987	October 11	9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:54:02	128.443	Report
1988	October 9	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	3:50:02	130.677	Report
1989	October 8	25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:20:35	149.863	Report
1990	October 7	28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:38:44	137.428	Report
1991	October 6	11	Geoffrey Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:36:17	138.984	Report
1992	October 11	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:15:47	153.537	Report
1993	October 10	28	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:14:31	154.537	Report
1994	October 9	18	Dale Jarrett	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:26:00	145.922	Report
1995	October 8	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:26:48	145.358	Report
1996	October 6	5	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:30:00	143.143	Report
1997	October 5	88	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:28:17	144.323	Report
1998	October 4	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	4:04:01	123.188	Report
1999	October 11*	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:07:31	160.306	Report
2000	October 8	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	334	501 (806.281)	3:44:57	133.63	Report
2001	October 7	40	Sterling Marlin	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:36:15	139.006	Report
2002	October 13	40	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:32:28	141.481	Report
2003	October 11	20	Tony Stewart	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:30:24	142.871	Report
2004	October 16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:50:51	130.214	Report
2005	October 15	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	336*	504 (811.109)	4:11:18	120.334	Report
2006	October 14	9	Kasey Kahne	Evernham Motorsports	Dodge	334	501 (806.281)	3:47:29	132.142	Report
2007	October 13	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	337*	505.5 (813.523)	4:00:58	125.868	Report
2008	October 11	31	Jeff Burton	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:44:50	133.699	Report
2009	October 17	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:38:22	137.658	Report
2010	October 16	1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:34:07	140.391	Report
2011	October 15	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:25:37	146.194	Report
2012	October 13	15	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota	334	501 (806.281)	3:14:01	154.935	Report
2013	October 12	2	Brad Keselowski	Penske Racing	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:09:53	158.308	Report
2014	October 11	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:26:49	145.346	Report
2015	October 11*	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	334	501 (806.281)	3:35:05	139.76	Report
2016	October 9*	48	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	334	501 (806.281)	3:42:47	134.929	Report
2017	October 8	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Toyota	337*	505.5 (813.523)	3:38:00	139.128	Report
2018 – 2019	Not held
2020	May 28*	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	208	312 (502.008)	2:29:23	125.315	Report^[5]

Race records

Oval (400miles)
Race time: 2:58:35 (1964)
Average Speed: 134.475mph (1964)

Oval (500miles)
Race time: 3:09:53 (2013)
Average Speed: 158.308mph (2013)

Notes

• 1966: The race distance was increased from 400miles to 500miles.
• 1971: The race was shortened due to rain.
• 1999: The race was postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
• 2005, 2007 and 2017: The race was extended due to a NASCAR Overtime finish.
  • 2005 - 336 laps
  • 2007 + 2017 - 337 laps
• 2015 and 2016: The race was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon due to rain.
• 2020: The race was moved from Wednesday to Thursday because of rain.^[6]

Multiple winners (drivers)

Wins	Driver	Years Won
4	Jimmie Johnson	2004–2005, 2009, 2016
3	Bobby Allison	1971–1972, 1978
	Cale Yarborough	1973, 1979, 1985
	Mark Martin	1992, 1995, 1998
2	Junior Johnson	1962–1963
	Fred Lorenzen	1964–1965
	LeeRoy Yarbrough	1966, 1970
	Donnie Allison	1969, 1976
	Richard Petty	1975, 1983
	Dale Earnhardt	1980, 1986
	Bill Elliott	1984, 1987
	Dale Jarrett	1994, 1997
	Jeff Gordon	1999, 2007
	Jamie McMurray	2002, 2010

Multiple winners (teams)

Wins	Team	Years Won
9	Hendrick Motorsports	1989, 1996, 1999, 2004–2005, 2007, 2009, 2016, 2020
4	Junior Johnson & Associates	1970, 1979, 1981, 1991
	Roush Fenway Racing	1992, 1995, 1998, 2011
3	Ray Fox	1962–1963, 1967
	Holman-Moody	1964–1965, 1971
	Chip Ganassi Racing	2001–2002, 2010
	Robert Yates Racing	1990, 1993, 1997
	Joe Gibbs Racing	1994, 2000, 2003
2	Team Penske	2013, 2015
	Wood Brothers Racing	1960, 1974
	Bud Moore Engineering	1961, 1978
	Richard Howard	1972–1973
	Melling Racing	1984, 1987
	Richard Childress Racing	1986, 2008

Manufacturer wins

Wins	Manufacturer	Years Won
22	Chevrolet	1963, 1972–1973, 1976–1977, 1979–1980, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2003–2005, 2007–2010, 2014, 2016, 2020
18	Ford	1960, 1964–1965, 1969, 1978, 1984–1985, 1987, 1990–1993, 1995, 1997–1998, 2011, 2013, 2015
7	Dodge	1966–1968, 1975, 2001–2002, 2006
5	Pontiac	1961–1962, 1983, 1988, 2000
3	Mercury	1970–1971, 1974
2	Buick	1981–1982
	Toyota	2012, 2017

Notable races

• 1964: Fred Lorenzen took lead with two laps to go after Richard Petty, who led 188 laps, blew a tire and crashed. Paul Goldsmith led 71 laps before blowing his engine.
• 1965: Lorenzen won for the second straight year after a wild three-abreast battle with Curtis Turner and Dick Hutcherson for first. The race was a tragic affair as a massive crash claimed the life of Harold Kite.
• 1970: Leeroy Yarbrough took what turned out to be his final Grand National win.
• 1971: Bobby Allison in the Holman-Moody Mercury battled Charlie Glotzbach, driving the Chevrolet Monte Carlo fielded by track president Richard Howard. Allison took the lead on Lap 177 and led when rain shortened the race at Lap 238. Leeroy Yarbrough drove a second Howard Chevrolet, reuniting with team manager Junior Johnson, for whom Leeroy had driven earlier than the 1971 season.
• 1973: Controversies plagued the weekend. Charlie Glotzbach won the pole in Hoss Ellington's Chevrolet but NASCAR discovered a moveable restrictor-plate after qualifying and put Glotzbach to the back of the field. Buddy Baker was pulled out of the race 228 laps in by team owner Nord Krauskopf when NASCAR said it wanted to reinspect the #71 Dodge after the race. David Pearson and Glotzbach crashed 40 laps in, leaving Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Bobby Allison in charge. Yarborough and Petty put Allison three laps down en route to the 1-2 finish. But following the race controversy ensued over the post race inspection of the top three cars; Allison's Chevy cleared after one hour but six hours after the inspection NASCAR announced the results for Yarborough's #11 would receive further study, and Allison claimed to have seen Petty's team remove the air filter from the car before it could be inspected; track promoter Richard Howard threatened a lawsuit if the race results were changed. Allison claimed the top two finishers were illegal and threatened to sue NASCAR; Petty asserted only three of his engine's eight cylinders were checked; a later meeting between Allison and Bill France, Jr. settled the controversy.
• 1974: The race set an event record for lead changes at 47. David Pearson lost two laps 150 miles in but made up the deficit and surged to the win. The race was marred by a ten-car crash in which Marty Robbins suffered serious facial injuries, a two-car crash involving Grant Adcox and Ramo Stott, and a pit fire in Richard Petty's pit.
• 1975: Petty took the win for a season sweep at Charlotte. The 500 was the final race for track under the promotion of Richard Howard as Bruton Smith would take control of the speedway the following January.
• 1976: Donnie Allison surprised the field by winning, his first Winston Cup win since 1971 and the first for team owner Hoss Ellington. The engine measured slightly over the 358 cubic inch limit; after a lengthy discussion, the engine was allowed to cool down and it measured below 358 cubic inches; Ellington quipped, "This one's legal. We left all the cheater stuff at Darlington."
• 1978: Bobby Allison broke out of a competitive race to winning handily. The lead changed 40 times. David Pearson won the pole, his 11th straight Charlotte pole.
• 1980: Dale Earnhardt edged Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough and solidified his point lead over Yarborough with three races to go in the season. The win was Earnhardt's fifth of his second career Winston Cup season. The weekend was dominated by a controversy between Darrell Waltrip and the DiGard Racing team as Waltrip announced he was leaving the team after the season despite threats of legal action by team owners the Gardner brothers to retain him. Waltrip spun out after breaking a sway bar piece, then fell out with engine failure, angrily demanding afterward he needed to "get away from these Gardners."
• 1981: Darrell Waltrip's late-season victory surge included leading the final 61 laps of 1981 500. Bobby Allison finished second and after leading the series in August was now trailing by 58 laps. Harry Gant led Lap 3 before his engine erupted in the first turn.
• 1982 Gant broke through to his first superspeedway win as he edged Bill Elliott in a ten-lap showdown after Bobby Allison, who led 280 laps, blew his engine. A ten-car crash erupted when Dale Earnhardt hooked Richard Petty into a spin.
• 1983: The race was marred by controversy involving an outsized engine for race winner Richard Petty as well as suspicion about runner-up Darrell Waltrip; Petty was subsequently fined $35,000 and 104 NASCAR points.
• 1985: Cale Yarborough lost a lap on five separate occasions and made them up all five times for his final NASCAR win.
• 1993: Ernie Irvan led race-record 328 laps for his second win with Robert Yates. NASCAR shaved spoiler size to five inches and raised the front air dam a few inches out of concern for escalating track speeds and believing, following driver lobbying, that reducing downforce would force drivers to slow down for the turns. The change did not reduce speeds.
• 1994: Dale Jarrett stole the win after engine failure eliminated Geoff Bodine and a late crash eliminated Ricky Rudd and Jeff Gordon; the win was Jarrett's final win with Joe Gibbs Racing.
• 1996: Terry Labonte dominated and erased a point gap of over 100 to Jeff Gordon, who fell out with engine failure. The race was marred by a brutal multi-car crash involving Ernie Irvan when Irvan spun out and was center-punched by John Andretti.
• 2000: Bobby Labonte broke out of a fierce fight with Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, and Jeremy Mayfield to grab the win. The weekend was marred by a sudden shortage of tires available from Goodyear, but the race went with no problems with tires. The lead changed 46 times, the first Charlotte race to break 40 lead changes since 1988.
• 2002: Subbing for injured regular Sterling Marlin, Jamie McMurray grabbed his first win in his second career NASCAR start. A major crash erupted in the trioval and brought out a furious response from team owner Richard Childress.
• 2005: For weeks leading up to the race, and coming off the caution-filled Coca-Cola 600 that saw a NASCAR-record 22 cautions due to the levigating of the track's surface, they levigated the rest of the oval. This led to more grip and increased speeds that weighed heavy on the tread of the tires. During the race, drivers were on edge with tire issues that plagued the Xfinity event the night before and it continued in the Cup event. It was marred by 15 cautions that were mostly for someone having a right-front tire go down and slam straight into the wall on the right side every 25-30 laps no matter how much they backed down. Around lap 200 a competition caution was thrown, and there was worry that with all the tire issues, the race would be truncated, although it did go the distance. Jimmie Johnson started in the back, and despite a tire rub late in the race while taking the lead, held off Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle in an overtime finish to score his fourth-consecutive win at Charlotte with sweeps of the events in 2004 and 2005. Becoming the first driver to win four races in a row since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Talladega Superspeedway from October 2001 to April 2003.

Notes and References

1. News: New layout for Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. 2018-01-22. NASCAR.com. 2018-09-28. en-US.
2. News: Everything to know for Sunday's race on the Charlotte roval. ESPN.com. 2018-09-28. en.
3. Web site: NASCAR Cup race on Charlotte Roval to see length reduced. July 8, 2018.
4. Web site: NASCAR goes green in May with seven races in 11 days . ESPN . Associated Press . April 30, 2020 . April 30, 2020.
5. Web site: 2020 Alsco Uniforms 500. Racing-Reference. November 15, 2021.
6. News: Pickel. Greg. Rain pushes NASCAR's Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte to Thursday. The Patriot-News. May 27, 2020. November 15, 2021.