| 1981 Busch 500 | 
|
| Held on August 22, 1981 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN | |
| 500 L, 266.5 M, 429 KM - Scheduled Distance |
| RESULTS |
|---|
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Sponsor | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 11 | Darrell Waltrip | Mountain Dew | Buick | 500 | 251 | running | 185 |
| 2 | 3 | 88 | Ricky Rudd | Gatorade | Chevy | 499 | 92 | running | 175 |
| 3 | 16 | 44 | Terry Labonte | Stratagraph | Buick | 498 | 0 | running | 165 |
| 4 | 6 | 28 | Bobby Allison | Hardee's | Buick | 497 | 4 | running | 165 |
| 5 | 7 | 47 | Ron Bouchard | J.D. Stacy | Buick | 497 | 0 | running | 155 |
| 6 | 8 | 15 | Benny Parsons | Melling Tool | Ford | 497 | 0 | running | 150 |
| 7 | 15 | 66 | Lake Speed | Speed Racing | Oldsmobile | 493 | 0 | running | 146 |
| 8 | 9 | 12 | Tim Richmond | UNO | Oldsmobile | 488 | 0 | crash | 142 |
| 9 | 5 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Bowlin Coal | Buick | 487 | 0 | running | 138 |
| 10 | 20 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Hills Racing | Dodge | 486 | 0 | running | 134 |
| 11 | 2 | 33 | Harry Gant | Skoal Bandit | Pontiac | 485 | 0 | running | 130 |
| 12 | 22 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Broadway Motors | Pontiac | 480 | 0 | running | 127 |
| 13 | 23 | 70 | J.D. McDuffie | Bailey Excavating | Pontiac | 479 | 0 | running | 124 |
| 14 | 26 | 68 | Lennie Pond | Bekaert | Buick | 478 | 0 | running | 121 |
| 15 | 25 | 64 | Tommy Gale | Sunny King Ford & Honda | Ford | 471 | 0 | running | 118 |
| 16 | 28 | 48 | James Hylton | Palatine Auto Parts | Pontiac | 464 | 0 | running | 115 |
| 17 | 18 | 5 | Joe Millikan | Performance Connection | Pontiac | 434 | 0 | running | 112 |
| 18 | 21 | 25 | Ronnie Thomas | Thomas Racing | Pontiac | 392 | 0 | running | 109 |
| 19 | 13 | 24 | Morgan Shepherd | Gordon Racing | Buick | 339 | 104 | rear end | 111 |
| 20 | 4 | 90 | Jody Ridley | Truxmore, Sunny King | Ford | 317 | 0 | sway bar | 103 |
| 21 | 12 | 2 | Joe Ruttman | J.D. Stacy | Pontiac | 302 | 49 | oil pan | 105 |
| 22 | 29 | 20 | Rick Newsom | Newsom Racing | Chevy | 248 | 0 | handling | 97 |
| 23 | 24 | 99 | Elliott Forbes-Robinson | Ulrich Racing | Buick | 246 | 0 | brakes | 94 |
| 24 | 10 | 43 | Richard Petty | STP | Buick | 73 | 0 | cylinder head | 91 |
| 25 | 17 | 37 | Mike Alexander | Rogers Auto Leasing | Buick | 49 | 0 | crash | 88 |
| 26 | 27 | 17 | Mike Potter | Kings Inn Daytona | Chevy | 32 | 0 | steering | 85 |
| 27 | 14 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Wrangler | Pontiac | 31 | 0 | crash | 82 |
| 28 | 11 | 42 | Kyle Petty | STP | Buick | 28 | 0 | transmission | 79 |
| 29 | 30 | 08 | Joel Stowe | Don Satterfield | Pontiac | 14 | 0 | flagged | 76 |
| 30 | 19 | 40 | Cecil Gordon | Dixie Engineering | Buick | 3 | 0 | quit | 73 |
| RACE DATA | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Failed to Qualify: Joel Stowe | |||||||||
| Time of Race: ??? | |||||||||
| Fast Qualifier: | |||||||||
| Margin of Victory: | |||||||||
| Average Speed: ??? mph | |||||||||
| Cautions: ?? for ?? laps - not available | |||||||||
| Lead Changes: ?? among ?? drivers - not available |
