The 1994Slick 50 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 30, 1994, at Phoenix International Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. This race would be the final race in 1994 that Chevrolet would win; with the Chevrolet Lumina representing their manufacturing brand in the top-level professional stock car series at that time. The pace car in this race was a Chevrolet Camaro Z28. Never again would the aluminium chassis of the Chevrolet Lumina win another race in the NASCAR Cup Series; the Chevrolet Monte Carlo would take over in 1995 and would race until the beginning of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. With the winner's average speed being slightly below, stock car manufacturers realized that aluminium no longer made the fastest vehicles and started to research for lighter materials to use for the exterior of the NASCAR vehicles. In today's NASCAR, a simple steel tube frame with safety roll cage is used for the racing vehicles. A 24-gauge sheet metal body covers the body for safety reasons.
Race report
A lineup of 43 drivers made the starting grid for this 312-lap racing event; John Andretti finished in last-place due to a crash on lap 31. The yellow flag didn't come until lap 34 and lasted until lap 41. About 9% of the race was run under a caution flag while the green flag was maintained for an average of 57 laps. Individual winnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $67,885 to the last-place finisher's share of $6,825. The total prize purse for this racing event was $690,315. Eleven drivers failed to qualify for this event; including Jeff Purvis. There were four caution flags for this event; most of them were caused by in-race accidents. Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Gordon and Ron Hornaday, Jr. would dominate the race during the first 100 laps while Terry Labonte and Marlin would dominate the final 100 laps of this event. Terry Labonte would eventually defeat Mark Martin by slightly more than three seconds after two hours and fifty-four minutes of racing. All 43 of the drivers were born in the United States of America. Sterling Marlin claims his first pole in over a year, and his only one of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Jeff Gordon was in the spotlight for the 1994 NASCAR Cup Series season with a pre-season engagement to his now ex-wife Brooke and 13 finishes in the "top ten" prior to this event. His fourth-place finish would add another "top ten" finish to Jeff Gordon's NASCAR racing résumé. Rick Carelli would be the highest-finishing driver not to finish the race while Michael Waltrip would be the lowest-finishing driver to finish the race. Most of the drivers in this event would either be driving Ford or Chevrolet vehicles during the race. The best finish for Dick Brooks Racing in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series after the former driver returned to owning a race team a few months earlier, buying the single car team from Felix Sabates. Dale Earnhardt would eventually go on to clinch the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship by more than 440 points after this event; although his day ended on lap 91 with engine problems. Earnhardt stated in the mid-race interview that they were had an "experimental" engine since they already wrapped up the title. The experiment was obviously a failure.
