When the NASCAR Cup Series arrived in Atlanta for the twenty-ninth and final stop of the 1992 tour, headlines were abundant with many different story lines that would make the 1992 Hooters 500 one of NASCAR's most historical races.

A heated, three-way contest for the championship, a king's farewell, the birth of a star and an upset in qualifying were among the current events dominating the media that November weekend. With excitement heavy and hype at a cosmic level, a record crowd of more than 160,000 hardcore race fans turned out at the Atlanta Motor Speedway to witness history in the making.

For most of the season, rising NASCAR star Davey Allison had led a tight points battle that included Bill Elliott and Alan Kulwicki. Allison held the lead going into Atlanta and would need to be running in the top-five at the finish in order to clinch the championship. Mathematically three other drivers, Kyle Petty, Harry Gant and Mark Martin, would have a shot at the championship title, which added to the hype even though their odds were long.

Richard Petty had conducted his Fan Appreciation Tour throughout the 1992 season, a farewell to his legions of fans that would conclude in Atlanta and mark the end of one of the most celebrated careers in the history of motorsports. A televised "retirement party" featuring the musical group Alabama took place in downtown Atlanta on the eve of the Hooters 500 and set the stage for The "King's" last ride. He had been quoted several times during the year as saying "I am not going anywhere. I will still be at the track, I just won't be driving the car."

Jeff Gordon had just completed a successful two-year stint in the Busch Series, known as the Nationwide Series today, driving a Ford for Bill Davis Racing when Chevrolet car owner Rick Hendrick came calling at the end of 1992. Hendrick signed Gordon along with his BDR crew chief Ray Evernham and announced the team would make their Cup debut at the season ending Atlanta race in preparation for a run at the 1993 Rookie of the Year award.

Virginia driver Rick Mast captured the first Cup Series pole award of his career, qualifying for the Hooters 500 at a speed of 180.183 in an Oldsmobile. Brett Bodine would start outside of row one with Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and Ernie Irvan completing the top-five starters.

The race produced excitement and drama from the beginning. Entering turn one on lap two, race leader Mast spun to the outside wall after receiving contact from Earnhardt. Brett Bodine and Hut Strickland were also casualties in the incident. This would bring out the first of seven cautions.

Petty, who had started thirty-ninth, was involved in an accident on lap ninety-four causing his Pontiac to catch fire. His crew worked feverishly all afternoon and was able to get Richard back out on the track with two laps remaining. He is credited with running at the finish in thirty-fifth position.

Car No. 24 started the Hooters 500 twenty-first and finished thirty-first after completing one hundred sixty-four of the scheduled three hundred twenty-eight laps.

Davey Allison stayed in contention, maintaining a position that would win the championship, until lap two hundred fifty-three when he was collected by a spinning Irvan, who had blown a tire. This would cost Allison any chance at winning the coveted series title.

Elliott and Kulwicki would be left to decide the race and the championship, running one-two and swapping the lead several times during the second half of the five hundred mile race. Elliott went on to win the race, but the championship was decided by who would lead the most laps. A calculating Kulwicki led one hundred and three to Elliott?s one hundred and two to become the 1992 Cup Series champion by a ten point margin, the closest in NASCAR Cup Series history.