Davey Allison's Daytona 500 victory 30 years ago was one of his greatest

The 2022 Daytona 500 marks 30 years since Davey Allison won the 1992 Daytona 500 with Robert Yates Racing. The race ranks as one of greatest victories for the late NASCAR Cup Series competitor.

That Sunday in 1992, Allison had to endure several challenges throughout the 200-lap race on the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway to win NASCAR’s most prestigious event.

Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin swapped the lead the first 80 laps of the race with rain slowing the 40-car field. The race returned to green as Ernie Irvan went for the lead on lap 92. He passed Marlin but had not completely cleared him and collided with Bill Elliott.

Many drivers were involved behind Marlin and Irvan and Elliott, including Mark Martin, Schrader and Dale Earnhardt. Also involved was Bobby Hillin Jr., Dale Jarrett, Alan Kulwicki, Chad Little, Richard Petty, Hut Stricklin, Rusty Wallace, and Darrell Waltrip.

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When the melee started, Allison said, “I could see which way they were going to go and I went the other way. I stood on the gas (in the lead) and got through and when I looked in my mirrors, it all broke loose behind me.”

Joey Knuckles, a longtime crew member with Yates Racing and an early crew chief with Allison, remembered how important keeping the car in one piece was that year at Daytona.

“We wrecked in practice before our (125-mile) qualifying race,” Knuckles said. “The backup car was pretty strong but not as good as the primary car as far as the wind tunnel numbers.

“The biggest thing I remember was when Davey missed the big wreck on the backstretch. There was just a big pile-up back there and from there on, we were pretty much on cruise control. We had the competition covered from there on. I remember he said on the radio, ‘I can't believe I was able to get through that.' He flat-spotted all four tires and was able to work his way through the smoke and came out of it.”

Another hurdle for Allison to clear came on Lap 144 when Rick Wilson dropped down to go onto pit road in his Stavola Brothers Racing Ford. Fellow driver Kerry Teague did not realize Wilson was pitting and crashed into him, setting up the third yellow flag of the afternoon.

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Then on Lap 166, Ernie Irvan's crippled car spun to bring out another caution flag. Leaders Allison, Morgan Shepherd, and Michael Waltrip made their final pit stops. Waltrip suffered engine issues that eventually sent him to the garage area. That left the two Ford Thunderbirds of Allison and Shepherd to race for the win. Allison bested Shepherd by two car lengths at the finish.

“I saw how strong Morgan was all week,” Allison said. “I knew if I stayed ahead of him he`d have a tough time getting around me on the outside. As long as we stayed on the bottom of the track, we were both strong, but if he had to go up high he couldn't get past me. After Michael had his problem, I knew it would be even tougher for Morgan to get around.”

So many great memories of Davey Allison

After Allison took the checkered flag, his excitement over the team radio was extreme, knowing that he had joined the club of Daytona 500 winners alongside Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, A.J. Foyt and his father Bobby, to name only a few.

When he parked his black, yellow and red No. 28 in victory lane, his hands were shaking as he smiled from ear to ear while sitting in his driver’s seat. He had won NASCAR’s most prestigious race and doing so was a bit overwhelming.

“He was in awe because of growing up at Daytona and being at the track as a child, watching his father Bobby and his uncle Donnie Allison race here year after year,” Knuckles said. It was the same with Neil Bonnett and Red Farmer, fellow Alabama drivers. And the fact that Bobby beat us in the 1988 Daytona 500 and we finished second and the fact Bobby had given us so many parts to run Late Models and also ASA (American Speed Association) cars for many years. Winning the 1992 Daytona 500 was a big deal.”

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The excitement of each of Allison’s 19-career Cup Series victories could be heard in his voice.

“Pretty much all of the wins with Davey he would sound like a kid at Christmas on the two-way radios,” said crew chief Larry McReynolds. “Davey was such a competitor. I thought we had a lot of years left together but that just didn’t work out. Now we have so many great memories of Davey. I think about him every single day.

Sadly, Davey lost his life in a helicopter crash in July of 1993 while attempting to land at Talladega Superspeedway. He was named one of NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers in 1998 and inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019.

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: 30th anniversary of Davey Allison's win at Daytona 500