Kyle Petty gets first career victory at Richmond in '86

Running in fifth place, well behind the other cars on the lead lap, Kyle Petty was more than willing to settle for a top-five finish in the 1986 Miller High Life 400 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway.

But little did he -- and the 25,000 fans in attendance that day -- expect the amazing series of events that were about to unfold in the final three laps.

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With Dale Earnhardt leading, Darrell Waltrip made his move on the backstretch. But as the two entered Turn 3, Earnhardt tapped Waltrip, sending both Chevrolets spinning. Third-place Joe Ruttman, following closely behind, plowed into the mess and wound up spinning into the infield. Geoff Bodine, running fourth, collected Earnhardt.

With wrecked cars and debris littering the track, an astonished Petty somehow weaved his No. 7 Ford through the mess and picked up the pace car as the race leader. And after five seasons and 170 races, the son of seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty had his first Cup victory and a winner's check for $37,880.

"We just fell into it," Petty said. "In a race like this, you just never know where you're supposed to be until it happens.

"I never expected to win this way. I can remember a lot of races we were running good and ended up in the wall. The breaks just seemed to be coming our way. I didn't realize the big one was coming at the end."

Petty started 12th and stayed on the lead lap all day, taking the lead for one lap on Lap 273 when Earnhardt pitted for fuel during green-flag stops. He was just coming out of Turn 2 when the wreck occured.

"When I got through, I couldn't see [Earnhardt]," Petty said. "[Bodine] was up in the wall, and I couldn't see the No. 3 car anywhere."

While Petty was happily enjoying his good fortune in Victory Lane, Waltrip, who was credited with a fifth-place finish, was seething about what he considered to be a deliberate attempt by Earnhardt to wreck him.

"We got down on the backstretch and he turned into me," Waltrip said. "I want to win as much as anybody else, but I've never tried to hurt anyone. Bumping is one thing, but to flat turn into someone is another."

Earnhardt, who wound up third, naturally had a different point of view.

"I was trying to dive under him in the third turn and I didn't make it," he said. "I barely clipped him in the rear and spun us both. I know he was a little upset with me, because he hit me as we came around the track afterward."

Waltrip said the second contact was not intentional, although given his mood, it very well could have been.

"I had no steering," Waltrip said. "I got into the corner, the car wouldn't turn and that's where I hit him. Seeing who it was, it didn't bother me too much."

Waltrip added that he and the Intimidator might share a few words later.

''I wanted to wait until the last lap, but I saw an opportunity, and I had to take it," Waltrip said. "I didn't think it would be like it was. That kind of driving is unnecessary. 'I'm sure that we'll get together for a chat.''

Ruttman was able to get his car turned around and finished second. Earnhardt, who led 299 of the 400 laps, was the only other driver on the lead lap after nursing his battered No. 3 across the finish line. Bobby Allison wound up fourth, one lap down. Bodine was credited with an eighth-place finish.

The next-to-last caution flag came out when Neil Bonnett and Rusty Wallace spun out in Turn 2 with 80 laps remaining. Ruttman was able to beat Earnhardt out of the pits, but Earnhardt went back in front on Lap 344. Waltrip tried twice to pass Earnhardt but failed both times, setting up the late-lap fireworks.

It wasn't the way Petty had scripted his first victory, but he wasn't going to turn it down, either.

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you I ran good enough to win," Petty said. "I got to be realistic. We had a fifth- or sixth-place car. It didn't drive as it should have. It pushed pretty good all day long.

"But winning races, you just can't talk about it. There are just so many factors, like today."

Petty would go on to win seven more times, including three at North Carolina Motor Speedway. The fairgrounds track at Richmond, orginally a half-mile dirt oval, was paved in 1968 and lengthened to .542 miles. Then in 1988, the grandstands were moved and a new frontstretch section was added, making the current configuration a .75-mile tri-oval.