1994 Slick 50 500

Race details
Race 30 of 31 in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1994 Slick 50 500 program cover, featuring Jeff Gordon.
Date	October 30, 1994
Official name	7th Annual Slick 50 500
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	107.463 miles per hour (172.945 km/h)
Attendance	96,000
Pole position
Driver	Sterling Marlin	Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Time	27.728
Most laps led
Driver	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	112
Winner
No. 5	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	TNN
Announcers	Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1994 Slick 50 500 was the 30th and penultimate stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the 30th and penultimate race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston West Series, and the seventh iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 30, 1994, before an audience of 96,000 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. At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 14th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third and final victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Sterling Marlin would finish second and third, respectively.

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, October 28, at 6:00 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, October 29, at 4:00 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,^[3] 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 two for cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and one extra provisional for the NASCAR Winston West Series. 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.

Sterling Marlin, driving for Morgan–McClure Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 27.728 and an average speed of 129.833 miles per hour (208.946 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

11 drivers would fail to qualify.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 4,519 2 Rusty Wallace 4,140 (-379) 3 Mark Martin 4,065 (-454) 4 Ken Schrader 3,930 (–589) 5 Ricky Rudd 3,929 (–590) 6 Morgan Shepherd 3,879 (–640) 7 Terry Labonte 3,734 (–785) 1 8 Jeff Gordon 3,658 (–861) 1 9 Darrell Waltrip 3,588 (–931) 2 10 Bill Elliott 3,568 (–951) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.