• David Pearson and Richard Petty are the principles in an electrifying finish to the Daytona 500. Pearson and Petty, running side-by-side in the final lap, crash off Turn 4. Pearson is able to knock his car in gear and cross the finish line at 20 mph to score his only Daytona 500 triumph.

• Janet Guthrie becomes the first female driver in Winston Cup competition since 1965 when she competes in the 600-miler at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Guthrie drives a Chevrolet owned by Lynda Ferreri, vice president of First Union National Bank in Charlotte, to a 15th-place finish.

• Point leader Cale Yarborough blows an engine in the 93rd lap of the 500-miler at Pocono on Aug. 1. Yarborough's Junior Johnson crew installs a new engine in 33 minutes and 10 seconds, enabling Yarborough to finish 25th, 29 laps off the pace.

• David Pearson wins 10 of 22 starts and becomes only the second driver to capture Winston Cup's "Triple Crown." Pearson wins the Daytona 500, the World 600 and the Southern 500.

• Cale Yarborough wins nine races en route to his first Winston Cup championship, also the first for team owner Junior Johnson.

• For the first time, the Winston Cup Series is the leader in world-wide attendance for motorsports events, with 1,431,292 spectators, according to an annual racing survey conducted by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.