1973 National 500 - NASCAR Race

Name of Race:	1973 National 500
Name of Track:	Lowe's Motor Speedway
Date:	October 7th

Lowe's Motor Speedway

Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) is a superspeedway in Concord, North Carolina, a few miles north of Charlotte.

First NASCAR Night Race

It features a 1.5 mile long quad-oval track that seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield. Constructed in 1959, it was the first speedway to host nighttime racing (in 1992) and to offer year-round residences (in 1984) with 52 condominiums now available over turn one. It is presently owned by, and is the main facility of, Speedway Motorsports, Inc.,/p> The Center Of NASCAR

The speedway is considered the center of NASCAR, with 90% of NASCAR teams being based within 50 miles.

Along with the main oval, the speedway also has a 2.25 mile road course in the infield, an 0.6 mile kart course in the infield, a quarter-mile oval using part of the front stretch and pit road, and an 0.2 mile oval outside turn three. Also, across U.S. Highway 29 from the speedway is a 0.4 mile dirt track, opened in May 2000.

Levigation

The surface of the circuit had started to wear from its last paving in mid-1994, resulting in the track's treatment in a diamond-grinding process to smooth out bumps in 2005 and caused major tire problems during both NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events there, with a record 22 cautions at the showcase Coca-Cola 600, making it the first Nextel Cup Series event to go more than five hours (excluding red flags) in 25 years. Speed increases were also a result of the repaving. After the problem with the tires, speedway officials promptly announced that they plan to repave with a new generation asphalt.

Lowes Motor Speedway The Busiest Venue

The facility is considered one of the busiest sports venues in the country, with typically over 380 events a year. Along with many races, the speedway also hosts the Food Lion Auto Fair twice a year, one of the nation's largest car shows. Movies and commercials are filmed there, like Days of Thunder, and it is a popular tourist stop and testing grounds.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

1973 National 500 NASCAR Race Results

Below are the race results for 1973 National 500, in order of finishing place.

Fin	Driver	Num	Start	Money	Laps	Status	Sponsor
1	Cale Yarborough	11	2	$45,425	334	running	Kar-Kare
2	Richard Petty	43	4	$17,275	334	running	STP
3	Bobby Allison	12	3	$8,815	331	running	Coca-Cola
4	Benny Parsons	72	7	$4,630	330	running	DeWitt Racing
5	Dick Trickle	1	8	$3,385	327	running	A&W Root Beer
6	Lennie Pond	54	12	$2,730	325	running	Master Chevy Sales
7	Buddy Arrington	67	13	$2,655	319	running	Cherokee Construction
8	Elmo Langley	64	39	$2,510	318	running	Langley Racing
9	Cecil Gordon	24	11	$2,480	315	running	Gordon Racing
10	Henley Gray	19	32	$2,150	308	running	Warren Lindsey
11	Harry Gant	90	17	$2,260	307	running	Truxmore Industries
12	Wendell Scott	5	38	$1,800	305	running	Faustina Racing
13	James Hylton	48	10	$2,325	302	running	Scott
15	Johnny Barnes	89	30	$1,500	294	running	Hopper-Crews
16	Jimmy Crawford	22	35	$1,344	294	running	Black Part
18	Richard Childress	96	24	$2,194	284	engine	L.C. Newton Trucking
20	Eddie Bond	0	36	$1,641	281	engine	Bond Racing
22	Joe Frasson	18	27	$1,494	264	engine	Pizza Huts of Charlotte
23	Walter Ballard	30	20	$1,945	230	engine	Textilease
24	Dave Marcis	2	18	$1,423	223	engine	Marcis Racing
26	Bill Champion	10	33	$1,708	198	engine	Earl Powell Auto Parts
28	L.D. Ottinger	2	15	$1,377	137	engine	Lonesome Pine Raceway
30	Dean Dalton	7	40	$1,665	90	engine	Belden Asphalt
31	Neil Castles	6	26	$1,164	64	suspension	Howard Furniture
32	Donnie Allison	88	9	$866	61	engine	DiGard Racing
34	Dick Brooks	32	29	$1,119	49	engine	Brooks Racing
36	David Pearson	21	1	$3,961	46	crash	Purolator
37	Charlie Glotzbach	28	34	$926	46	crash	Pylon Wiper Blades
38	Darrell Waltrip	15	6	$2,791	46	crash	Sta-Power Industries
40	Wayne Andrews	98	28	$1,005	5	engine	Hylton Engineering
41	Buddy Baker	71	5	$2,050	228	dq	K & K Insurance