April 20, 1986
"Northwestern Bank 400"
The sponsorship of Wrangler Jeans made its first of two visits to victory lane in the 1986 First Union 400. Ricky Rudd, Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip and Joe Ruttman (driving the Kenny Bernstein’s Quaker State Buick) rounded out the top 5. It was Ruttman’s only career top 5 finish at the track. A speed of 112.419 mph landed Bodine on the pole. 24 of the 30 cars entered were running at the finish. Six drivers gained bonus point for leading laps—Earnhardt the most with 195. The lead change hands 10 different times. There were 8 caution periods for a total of 70 laps. The 70 laps ranked 5th as far as most caution laps at any given race at NWS.
Willie T. Ribbs ran his first Winston Cup race ever at NWS. It was the first appearance of an African-American driver in a Winston Cup race since Wendell Scott’s last appearance at Charlotte, in October of 1973. Ribbs started 29th and was running at the finish in 22nd in his Red Roof Inns Pontiac. He would run in 3 Winston Cup races in his career, all in 1986. He would be the last African-American driver to compete in the Cup Series until Bill Lester’s run at Atlanta in March of 2006.
