• Mark Donohue wins the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway in a Roger Penske-owned AMC Matador.

• Richard Petty wins his fourth Daytona 500, taking the lead from Buddy Baker with 11 laps remaining.

• David Pearson leads 491 of the 492 laps to win the March 18 500-miler at Rockingham's North Carolina Motor Speedway. Pearson sets a record by leading 499 miles of a 500-mile Winston Cup event.

• David Pearson wins 11 of 18 starts, including 10 of 15 on superspeedways to establish a pair of all-time Winston Cup records. His winning percentage of 61.1 percent remains the best single season winning rate in NASCAR history.

• Underdog Benny Parsons wins the 1973 Winston Cup championship despite not having a full-time sponsor. Parsons, driving for L.G. DeWitt, wins one race and logs 21 top-10 finishes in the 28-race season.