Subway 400 Explained

Race Title:	Subway 400
Series Long:	NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
Venue:	North Carolina Speedway
Location:	Rockingham, North Carolina, United States
Sponsor:	Subway
First Race:	1966
Last Race:	2004
Distance:	399.681miles
Laps:	393
Previous Names:	Peach Blossom 500 (1966) Carolina 500 (1967–1981, 1985) Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 (1982–1984) Goodwrench 500 (1986–1995) Goodwrench Service 400 (1996–1997) GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400 (1998) Dura Lube/Big K 400 (1999) Dura Lube/Kmart 400 (2000) Dura Lube 400 (2001) Subway 400 (2002–2004)
Most Wins Driver:	Richard Petty (7)
Most Wins Team:	Petty Enterprises (7)
Most Wins Manufacturer:	Ford (9)
Surface:	Asphalt
Length Mi:	1.017
Turns:	4

The Subway 400 was the second race of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season until 2004, held a week after the Daytona 500. This 400-mile (644 km) annual race was sponsored by Subway^[1] and was held at North Carolina Speedway (The Rock) since 1966. From 1966 to 1995, the race distance was 500 miles (805-km) which was shortened to 400 miles starting from the 1996 season.

Until the 2004 Nextel Cup season, two annual races were held at Rockingham. After the 2003 season, the fall race (the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400) — which was held in November — was moved to California Speedway, to be held on the lucrative Labor Day weekend. This displaced the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, which moved to November 2004 before being removed from the schedule completely (replaced by a second date at Texas Motor Speedway). The changes were part of the trend of less races being held in the southeast and a broader distribution across the United States. Though the spring date was not directly transferred to California, NASCAR moved up the first California race to the traditional spring Rockingham date the week after Daytona. This resulted in some criticism because teams had to travel cross-country for the second race as most spend two weeks in Daytona and are based in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. The draw for Rockingham was that teams got to stay close to home right after Daytona before traveling for the next race.

The 2004 Subway 400 had one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. Nextel Cup rookie, Kasey Kahne, in just his second series start, lost the race to Matt Kenseth by inches at the line. The exciting finish proved to be NASCAR's last stand at Rockingham, as the race (and the track, for that matter), were removed from the schedule permanently after that due to the Ferko lawsuit.

Past winners

Year	Date		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Race Distance		Race Time	Average Speed (mph)	Report	Ref
						Laps	Miles (km)
1966	March 13	99	Paul Goldsmith	Ray Nichels	Plymouth	500	500 (804.672)	4:59:55	100.027	Report	^[2]
1967	June 18	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Plymouth	500	500 (804.672)	4:46:35	104.682	Report	^[3]
1968	June 16	27	Donnie Allison	Banjo Matthews	Ford	500	500 (804.672)	5:02:00	99.338	Report	^[4]
1969	March 9	17	David Pearson	Holman-Moody	Ford	500	500 (804.672)	4:52:22	102.569	Report	^[5]
1970	March 8	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Plymouth	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:18:32	116.117	Report	^[6]
1971	March 14	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Plymouth	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:12:55	118.696	Report	^[7]
1972	March 12	71	Bobby Isaac	Nord Krauskopf	Dodge	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:23:50	113.895	Report	^[8]
1973	March 18	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:13:01	118.649	Report	^[9]
1974	March 3	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	443*	450.531 (725.059)	3:42:50	121.622	Report	^[10]
1975	March 2	11	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates	Chevrolet	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:15:18	117.588	Report	^[11]
1976	February 29	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:24:08	113.665	Report	^[12]
1977	March 13	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	492	500.364 (805.257)	5:06:46	97.86	Report	^[13]
1978	March 5	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:17:17	116.681	Report	^[14]
1979	March 4	15	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:06:30	122.727	Report	^[15]
1980	March 9	11	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates	Oldsmobile	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:36:06	108.735	Report	^[16]
1981	March 1	11	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates	Buick	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:21:59	114.594	Report	^[17]
1982	March 28	27	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing	Buick	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:03:27	108.992	Report	^[18]
1983	March 6/13*	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:25:30	113.055	Report	^[19]
1984	March 4	22	Bobby Allison	DiGard Motorsports	Buick	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:03:55	122.931	Report	^[20]
1985	March 3	12	Neil Bonnett	Junior Johnson & Associates	Chevrolet	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:21:10	114.953	Report	^[21]
1986	March 2	44	Terry Labonte	Billy Hagan	Oldsmobile	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:09:10	120.488	Report	^[22]
1987	March 1	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:15:23	117.556	Report	^[23]
1988	March 6	75	Neil Bonnett	RahMoc Enterprises	Pontiac	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:09:51	120.159	Report	^[24]
1989	March 5	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:20:47	115.122	Report	^[25]
1990	March 4	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:04:21	122.864	Report	^[26]
1991	March 3	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:01:57	124.083	Report	^[27]
1992	March 1	11	Bill Elliott	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	492	500.364 (805.257)	3:58:02	126.125	Report	^[28]
1993	February 28	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Pontiac	492	500.364 (805.257)	4:01:10	124.486	Report	^[29]
1994	February 27	2	Rusty Wallace	Penske Racing	Ford	492	500.364 (805.257)	3:59:43	125.239	Report	^[30]
1995	February 26	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	492	500.364 (805.257)	3:59:15	125.305	Report	^[31]
1996	February 25	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:30:26	113.959	Report	^[32]
1997	February 23	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:17:35	121.371	Report	^[33]
1998	February 22	24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:24:51	117.065	Report	^[34]
1999	February 21	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:18:36	120.75	Report	^[35]
2000	February 27	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:07:32	127.875	Report	^[36]
2001	February 25/26*	1	Steve Park	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:34:21	111.877	Report	^[37]
2002	February 24	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:27:40	115.478	Report	^[38]
2003	February 23	88	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:23:29	117.852	Report	^[39]
2004	February 22	17	Matt Kenseth	Roush Racing	Ford	393	399.681 (643.224)	3:34:05	112.016	Report	^[40]

• 1974: Race shortened due to energy crisis.
• 1983: Race started on March 6; finished a week later on March 13 due to rain.
• 2001: Race started on Sunday but was finished on Monday due to rain.^[41]

Multiple winners (drivers)

Wins	Driver	Years Won
7	Richard Petty	1967, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1983
3	David Pearson	1969, 1973, 1978
	Cale Yarborough	1975, 1980, 1982
	Rusty Wallace	1989, 1993, 1994
	Jeff Gordon	1995, 1997, 1998
2	Bobby Allison	1979, 1984
	Neil Bonnett	1985, 1988
	Kyle Petty	1990, 1991
	Dale Earnhardt	1987, 1996
	Matt Kenseth	2002, 2004

Multiple winners (manufacturers)

Wins	Manufacturer	Years Won
9	Ford	1968, 1969, 1979, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004
8	Chevrolet	1975, 1985, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001
7	Pontiac	1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2000
4	Plymouth	1966, 1967, 1970, 1971
	Dodge	1972, 1974, 1976, 1977
3	Buick	1981, 1982, 1984
2	Mercury	1973, 1978
	Oldsmobile	1980, 1986

Notable Races

• 1972: Bobby Allison started last and led over 300 laps before breaking, and pole-sitter Bobby Isaac took the win, his final in Grand National racing.
• 1973: David Pearson led all but one lap en route to an overwhelming win, the beginning of his 1973 assault on superspeedway records.
• 1975: Cale Yarborough edged Pearson after Richard Petty lost several laps with a cracked cylinder head.
• 1976: Petty won by two laps as Bobby Allison survived a shocking tumble down the backstretch.
• 1977: Crashes galore kept the average speed to 97 MPH as Petty took his sixth Carolina 500 win.
• 1979: Just two weeks after their crash in the Daytona 500, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed while battling for the lead just 10 laps into the race, collecting several other cars; Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty, both involved in the wreck, were pointedly critical of Yarborough's role. Bobby Allison took the win.
• 1981: Darrell Waltrip outlasted Petty and Cale for his first big track win with Junior Johnson.
• 1983: Petty edged Bill Elliott for his first win in seventeen months.
• 1985: Elliott suffered a leg injury in a hard crash, as Neil Bonnett edged Harry Gant in a photo finish, the second straight Rockingham race to end in a photo finish, and second straight heartbreaker for Gant.
• 1989: Rusty Wallace made up a lap as Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd tangled on the backstretch. Wallace pulled away to the win.
• 1990: Kyle Petty overwhelmed the field for his first win since 1987 and the first for SABCO Racing.
• 1995: Jeff Gordon edged Bobby Labonte for his first win of the season.
• 1996: A spirited battle for the lead ended in a wreck as Dale Earnhardt hit Bobby Hamilton into the wall off Four on Lap 343.
• 2001: One week after Dale Earnhardt's death, Steve Park drove a Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet to a close win over Bobby Labonte. It was his final win in the Cup Series.
• 2002: Matt Kenseth ended a two-year victory drought after escaping a multicar melee on the backstretch when Jeff Gordon spun out Casey Atwood and four-other cars piled in.
• 2003: Dale Jarrett scored his second to last win.
• 2004: The final race at Rockingham ended in a close finish won by Matt Kenseth over rookie Kasey Kahne.

See also

• NASCAR Realignment

Notes and References

1. Web site: Subway 400 Tickets - Subway 400 Nascar Tickets. 2020-12-25. Vivid Seats. en-US.
2. Web site: 1966 Peach Blossom 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
3. Web site: 1967 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
4. Web site: 1968 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
5. Web site: 1969 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
6. Web site: 1970 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
7. Web site: 1971 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
8. Web site: 1972 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
9. Web site: 1973 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
10. Web site: 1974 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
11. Web site: 1975 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
12. Web site: 1976 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
13. Web site: 1977 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
14. Web site: 1978 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
15. Web site: 1979 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
16. Web site: 1980 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
17. Web site: 1981 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
18. Web site: 1982 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
19. Web site: 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
20. Web site: 1984 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
21. Web site: 1985 Carolina 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
22. Web site: 1986 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
23. Web site: 1987 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
24. Web site: 1988 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
25. Web site: 1989 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
26. Web site: 1990 GM Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
27. Web site: 1991 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
28. Web site: 1992 GM Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
29. Web site: 1993 GM Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
30. Web site: 1994 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
31. Web site: 1995 Goodwrench 500. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
32. Web site: 1996 Goodwrench Service 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
33. Web site: 1997 Goodwrench Service 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
34. Web site: 1998 GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
35. Web site: 1999 Dura Lube / Big K 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
36. Web site: 2000 Dura Lube / KMart 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
37. Web site: 2001 Dura Lube 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
38. Web site: 2002 Subway 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
39. Web site: 2003 Subway 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
40. Web site: 2004 Subway 400. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 24, 2023.
41. Web site: Drehs. Wayne. Race to resume Monday morning. ESPN. February 25, 2001. November 24, 2023.