The 1993 First Union 400 was the seventh stock car race of the

1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series file:DaleEarnhardtSunglassesDriversSuit (cropped).jpg, Dale Earnhardt Sr. won his sixth of his seven titles. The 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 45th season of Sprint Cup Series, professional stock car racing in the United States and t ...

season and the 43rd iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race was held on Sunday, April 18, 1993, before an audience of 45,000 in

North Wilkesboro, North Carolina North Wilkesboro is a town in Wilkes County, North Carolina, Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,131 at the 2020 US Census. North Wilkesboro is the birthplace and original home of Lowe's, Lowe's Home Improvement, whi ...

at the

North Wilkesboro Speedway North Wilkesboro Speedway is a paved oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The track has hosted a variety of racing events since its inaugural season of racing in 1947; primarily races sanctioned by ...

, a oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end,

Penske Racing South Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...

driver

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

would manage to pull away in the final one-fourth of the race to take his 24th career

NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

victory and his third victory of the season. To fill out the top three, SABCO Racing driver

Kyle Petty Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash duri ...

and

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 316 Cup Series ra ...

driver

Ken Schrader Kenneth William Schrader (born May 29, 1955) is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford Motor ...

would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on

U.S. Route 421 U.S. Route 421 (also U.S. Highway 421, US 421) is a diagonal northwest–southeast United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. The highwa ...

, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 16, at 2:00 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 17, 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 21-32 would be decided on time, 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; up to two were given. 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.

Brett Bodine Brett Elias Bodine III (born January 11, 1959) is an American former stock car racing driver, former driver of the pace car in Cup Series events, and current NASCAR employee. Brett is the younger brother of 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine a ...

, driving for King Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 19.228 and an average speed of in the first round. Five drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{1993 Winston Cup

First Union 400 The First Union 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held annually from 1951 to 1996 at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was the first of two Winston Cup Series races held annuall ...

NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro Speedway