1991_Banquet_Frozen_Foods_300
1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300
12th race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1991 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 was the 12th stock car race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the third race of the 1991 NASCAR Winston West Series season, and the third iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 9, 1991, before an audience of 62,000 at the Grand Prix layout of Sears Point Raceway, a 2.52 miles (4.06 km) permanent road course layout. The race took the scheduled 74 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison, with the assist of a late-race penalty on leader Ricky Rudd, would manage to comeback from a late-race spin to take his tenth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Ricky Rudd and Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would finish second and third, respectively.
In what has been considered by NASCAR drivers and media as one of the most controversial rule callings in NASCAR history, Hendrick Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd was penalized after performing a bump and run maneuver on the final turn of the raceway with two laps to go in the race on leader Davey Allison. After Rudd completed his final lap, Rudd was shown the black flag instead of the checkered flag, instead showing the checkered flag to Allison to signify that Allison had won the race. Rudd, who was initially given a drive-through penalty, was given a five-second time penalty for the move on Allison for not taking the drive-through penalty, moving Rudd to a second-place finish.[5] Rudd argued that he had both not known of the penalty and that he did not enough time to serve a penalty, who was given the black flag on the final lap of the race. According to NASCAR rules, a driver had three laps to serve their penalty. Dave Marcis, who was near the accident, would agree with Rudd, saying "How is Ricky supposed to know he got a black flag? He was up in Turn 2 or 3 by then."[6] According to NASCAR's vice president for Competition, Les Richter, the move that Rudd had made was "unnecessary and avoidable",[7] a decision that which both confused and angered Rudd and his team, saying that NASCAR had never made such a decision before for a bump and run maneuver.[8]
Immediately after the race, Rudd and Rudd's crew chief, Waddell Wilson, would protest the results of the race. Wilson was recorded by The Charlotte Observer reporter Tom Higgins pleading to NASCAR president Bill France Jr. to change the results, saying "Don't take this race away from us, Billy!... You told all [the drivers] in the drivers' meeting that on the last lap they were on their own!"[1] Rudd himself would compare the officiating of NASCAR officials to the World Wrestling Federation, saying that "This is the best example of how NASCAR makes their own rules. NASCAR needs a Ford in victory lane."[9] Allison, the winner of the race, speaking in an article for The Press Democrat said "We feel like we deserve the victory, and we're going to savor it just like the rest of them."[10]