1989 Autoworks 500

Race details
Race 28 of 29 in the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1989 Autoworks 500 program cover.
Date	November 5, 1989
Official name	2nd Annual Autoworks 500
Location	Avondale, Arizona, Phoenix International Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.6 km)
Distance	312 laps, 312 mi (502.115 km)
Scheduled Distance	312 laps, 312 mi (502.115 km)
Average speed	105.683 miles per hour (170.080 km/h)
Attendance	65,000
Pole position
Driver	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	28.882
Most laps led
Driver	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing
Laps	96
Winner
No. 9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1989 Autoworks 500 was the 28th and penultimate stock car race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the 11th and final race of the 1989 NASCAR Winston West Series season, and the second iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, November 5, 1989, before an audience of 65,000 in Avondale, Arizona at Phoenix International Raceway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent low-banked tri-oval race track. The race took the scheduled 312 laps to complete. Assisted by a late-race crash from the championship leader at the time, Rusty Wallace, Melling Racing driver Bill Elliott would manage to take over control for the final 48 laps of the race to take his 32nd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third and final victory of the season.^[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Terry Labonte and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

In the NASCAR Winston West Series championship race, Bill Schmitt was able to defeat competitor Bill Sedgwick by 56 points to take his third career Winston West Series championship.^[5]

Headed into the final race of the Winston Cup Series season, the 1989 Atlanta Journal 500, three drivers were mathematically eligible to clinch the championship, with Rusty Wallace leading the standings with 4,058 points, Mark Martin in second with 3,980 points, and Dale Earnhardt in third with 3,979 points. Wallace, who came into the race leading then second-place Earnhardt by 109 points, had a poor finish due to a crash caused by Stan Barrett, decreasing his lead by 31 points.^[6] In order for Wallace to clinch the championship, Wallace would need an 18th place finish or better to earn his first Winston Cup Series title.^[7]

Phoenix International Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the IndyCar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The raceway is currently owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

The raceway was originally constructed with a 2.5 mi (4.0 km) road course that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current 1.51 mi (2.43 km) interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, November 2, at 5:30 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, November 3, at 2:00 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,^[8] 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 up to two for cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and up to two extra provisionals for the cars in the NASCAR Winston West Series.

Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 28.882 and an average speed of 124.645 miles per hour (200.597 km/h) in the first round.^[9][10]

Seven drivers would fail to qualify.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Rusty Wallace 4,058 1 2 Mark Martin 3,980 (-78) 1 3 Dale Earnhardt 3,979 (-79) 4 Darrell Waltrip 3,811 (–247) 5 Bill Elliott 3,692 (–366) 6 Ken Schrader 3,621 (–437) 2 7 Terry Labonte 3,521 (–537) 8 Harry Gant 3,498 (–560) 2 9 Ricky Rudd 3,482 (–576) 10 Geoff Bodine 3,430 (–628) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.