1976 Winston Cup Series

1976 Winston Cup Series
Cale Yarborough won his first Winston Cup Championship.
Season statistics
No. of races	30
First race	1976 Winston Western 500
Last race	1976 Los Angeles Times 500
Drivers' champion	Cale Yarborough
Manufacturers' champion
Rookie of the Year	Skip Manning
Most popular driver	Richard Petty
Previous	1975
Next	1977

The 1976 Winston Cup Series was the 28th season of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. The season began with the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway on January 18 and ended with the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway on November 21.

Cale Yarborough won his first Winston Cup championship in his fifth full-time season, with 9 wins in the season, including four races in a row between September 12^th and October 3^rd. He defeated Richard Petty by 195 points.

NASCAR began using this logo in 1976.

1976 marked the final start for Buck Baker, who became the final driver from the first season in 1949 to compete in a race. It also marked the debut of Janet Guthrie and future Cup champion Bill Elliott.

Schedule

Round	Date	Race Name	Track
1	January 18, 1976	Winston Western 500	Riverside International Raceway
	February 12, 1976	125 Mile Qualifying Races	Daytona International Speedway
2	February 15, 1976	Daytona 500	Daytona International Speedway
3	February 29, 1976	Carolina 500	North Carolina Motor Speedway
4	March 7, 1976	Richmond 400	Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway
5	March 14, 1976	Southeastern 400	Bristol International Speedway
6	March 21, 1976	Atlanta 500	Atlanta International Raceway
7	April 4, 1976	Gwyn Staley 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway
8	April 11, 1976	Rebel 500	Darlington Raceway
9	April 25, 1976	Virginia 500	Martinsville Speedway
10	May 2, 1976	Winston 500	Alabama International Motor Speedway
11	May 8, 1976	Music City USA 420	Nashville Speedway
12	May 16, 1976	Mason-Dixon 500	Dover Downs International Speedway
13	May 30, 1976	World 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway
14	June 13, 1976	Riverside 400	Riverside International Raceway
15	June 20, 1976	Cam 2 Motor Oil 400	Michigan International Speedway
16	July 4, 1976	Firecracker 400	Daytona International Speedway
17	July 17, 1976	Nashville 420	Nashville Speedway
18	August 1, 1976	Purolator 500	Pocono International Raceway
19	August 8, 1976	Talladega 500	Alabama International Motor Speedway
20	August 22, 1976	Champion Spark Plug 400	Michigan International Speedway
21	August 29, 1976	Volunteer 400	Bristol International Speedway
22	September 6, 1976	Southern 500	Darlington Raceway
23	September 12, 1976	Capital City 400	Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway
24	September 19, 1976	Delaware 500	Dover Downs International Speedway
25	September 26, 1976	Old Dominion 500	Martinsville Speedway
26	October 3, 1976	Wilkes 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway
27	October 10, 1976	National 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway
28	October 24, 1976	American 500	North Carolina Motor Speedway
29	November 7, 1976	Dixie 500	Atlanta International Raceway
30	November 21, 1976	Los Angeles Times 500	Ontario Motor Speedway

Results

Round	Race	Pole Winner	Winner	Make	Cautions	Caution Laps	Average Speed	Number of Lead Changes
1	1976 Winston Western 500	Bobby Allison	David Pearson		5	28	99.180	19
	1976 125 Mile Qualifying Race # 1	Ramo Stott	Dave Marcis		3	17	119.458	10
	1976 125 Mile Qualifying Race # 2	Terry Ryan	Darrell Waltrip		1	5	156.250	7
2	1976 Daytona 500	Ramo Stott	David Pearson		7	35	152.181	36
3	1976 Carolina 500	Dave Marcis	Richard Petty		5	45	113.665	13
4	1976 Richmond 400	Bobby Allison	Dave Marcis		7	66	72.792	19
5	1976 Southeastern 400	Buddy Baker	Cale Yarborough		6	79	87.377	16
6	1976 Atlanta 500	Dave Marcis	David Pearson		8	47	128.904	33
7	1976 Gwyn Staley 400	Dave Marcis	Cale Yarborough		2	8	96.858	8
8	1976 Rebel 500	David Pearson	David Pearson		8	54	122.973	32
9	1976 Virginia 500	Dave Marcis	Darrell Waltrip		6	47	71.759	11
10	1976 Winston 500	Dave Marcis	Buddy Baker		3	14	169.887	24
11	1976 Music City USA 420	Benny Parsons	Cale Yarborough		5	33	84.512	16
12	1976 Mason-Dixon 500	Dave Marcis	Benny Parsons		6	38	115.436	17
13	1976 World 600	David Pearson	David Pearson		7	38	137.352	37
14	1976 Riverside 400	David Pearson	David Pearson		1	4	106.279	7
15	1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400	Richard Petty	David Pearson		3	20	141.148	17
16	1976 Firecracker 400	A.J. Foyt	Cale Yarborough		2	14	160.966	41
17	1976 Nashville 420	Neil Bonnett	Benny Parsons		3	21	86.908	9
18	1976 Purolator 500	Cale Yarborough	Richard Petty		7	38	115.875	48
19	1976 Talladega 500	Dave Marcis	Dave Marcis		3	25	157.547	58
20	1976 Champion Spark Plug 400	David Pearson	David Pearson		4	20	140.078	34
21	1976 Volunteer 400	Darrell Waltrip	Cale Yarborough		2	13	99.175	1
22	1976 Southern 500	David Pearson	David Pearson		8	65	120.534	31
23	1976 Capital City 400	Benny Parsons	Cale Yarborough		2	37	77.993	12
24	1976 Delaware 500	Cale Yarborough	Cale Yarborough		2	27	115.740	21
25	1976 Old Dominion 500	Darrell Waltrip	Cale Yarborough		3	27	75.370	7
26	1976 Wilkes 400	Darrell Waltrip	Cale Yarborough		2	9	96.380	5
27	1976 National 500	David Pearson	Donnie Allison		3	18	141.226	26
28	1976 American 500	David Pearson	Richard Petty		6	35	117.718	15
29	1976 Dixie 500	Buddy Baker	Dave Marcis		4	41	127.396	17
30	1976 Los Angeles Times 500	David Pearson	David Pearson		2	19	137.101	4

Final Points Standings

Pos.	Driver	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points	Difference
1	Cale Yarborough	30	9	22	23	2	4644
2	Richard Petty	30	3	19	22	1	4449	-195
3	Benny Parsons	30	2	18	23	2	4304	-340
4	Bobby Allison	30	0	15	19	2	4097	-547
5	Lennie Pond	30	0	10	19	0	3930	-714
6	Dave Marcis	30	3	9	16	7	3875	-769
7	Buddy Baker	30	1	16	16	2	3745	-899
8	Darrell Waltrip	30	1	10	12	3	3505	-1,139
9	David Pearson	22	10	16	18	8	3483	-1,161
10	Dick Brooks	28	0	3	18	0	3447	-1,197
11	Richard Childress	30	0	0	11	0	3428	-1,216
12	J.D. McDuffie	30	0	1	8	0	3400	-1,244
13	James Hylton	30	0	2	5	0	3380	-1,264
14	D.K. Ulrich	30	0	0	2	0	3280	-1,364
15	Cecil Gordon	30	0	0	5	0	3247	-1,397
16	Frank Warren	30	0	0	3	0	3240	-1,404
17	David Sisco	28	0	0	7	0	2994	-1,650
18	Skip Manning	27	0	0	4	0	2931	-1,713
19	Ed Negre	28	0	0	2	0	2709	-1,935
20	Buddy Arrington	25	0	0	3	0	2573	-2,071
21	Terry Bivins	18	0	1	6	0	2099	-2,545
22	Bobby Wawak	19	0	0	9	0	2062	-2,582
23	Bruce Hill	22	0	0	4	0	1995	-2,649
24	Jimmy Means	19	0	0	0	0	1752	-2,892
25	Dick May	18	0	0	0	0	1719	-2,925
26	Walter Ballard	14	0	0	3	0	1554	-3,090
27	Henley Gray	16	0	0	0	0	1425	-3,219
28	Coo Coo Marlin	12	0	0	6	0	1412	-3,232
29	Gary Myers	15	0	0	0	0	1296	-3,348
30	Jackie Rogers	11	0	0	3	0	1173	-3,471
31	Grant Adcox	11	0	0	2	0	1163	-3,481
32	Neil Bonnett	13	0	1	4	0	1130	-3,514
33	Tommy Gale	12	0	0	0	0	1005	-3,639
34	Donnie Allison	9	1	2	5	0	988	-3,656
35	Joe Mihalic	9	0	0	0	0	981	-3,663
36	Elmo Langley	7	0	0	1	0	824	-3,820
37	Travis Tiller	9	0	0	0	0	816	-3,828
38	Sonny Easley	7	0	0	2	0	772	-3,872
39	Joe Frasson	9	0	0	1	0	707	-3,937
40	Jabe Thomas	6	0	0	0	0	648	-3,996

Complete statistics can be found at Racing-Reference.info.

Rookie of the Year

With 4 Top 10s in 27 starts, Skip Manning won the 1976 Rookie of the Year Award.

Position	Driver	Race Wins
1	Skip Manning	0
2	Terry Bivins	0
3	Neil Bonnett	0
4	Jimmy Means	0
5	Bill Elliott	0
6	John Utsman	0
7	Johnny Ray	0

Manufacturer's Championship

With 13 wins, Chevrolet won the 1976 Manufacturer's Championship.

Position	Make	Race Wins
1		13
2		10
3		6
4		1
5		0
6		0
7		0