Perhaps none of the 99 events held thus far at the Atlanta Motor Speedway were as confusing as the 1978 Dixie 500. In one of the most dramatic events held at the speedway over the years, a scoring mistake led to the wrong driver celebrating in victory lane and left NASCAR red-faced and embarrassed.

The second to last race of the '78 season saw Buddy Baker dominate the event in his No. 27 M.C. Anderson owned Chevrolet. However, a blown engine with just fourteen laps to go put the race in the hands of Richard Petty and Dave Marcis, or so NASCAR thought.

As Petty and Marcis battled for position, Donnie Allison made his move past them both. Scored a lap down, Allison took the checkered flag five car lengths ahead of Petty's No. 43 STP Chevy who narrowly edged Marcis by a fender.

The track announcer declared Allison the winner, but after NASCAR reviewed the scorecards Petty was given the win. Fueling the flames of the Petty-Allison rivalry, NASCAR's decision left Allison upset and looking for answers.

Aware of the issue before the end of the event, the 'Alabama Gang' driver tried to avoid any confusion, explaining, "On that last caution, I got on the radio and told Hoss, 'Get with NASCAR and straighten out the scoring, because I'm fixing to win this race.'"

As the King celebrated his first win of 1978, NASCAR officials were scrambling in the scorers stand trying to put an end to the confusion. The issues came down to the fact Allison's scorer - this is long before today's electronic scoring - was really pulling for Petty. Hoping to see the King end his winless streak, the scorer mistakenly scored Allison in the closing laps. Getting to the bottom of the problem that day was current chairman, but then 16-year-old, Brian France.

"Brian told his daddy and his mama that I won the race," Allison explained. "He said my scorer had been pulling for Richard and not paying attention to the race."

Owning up to their mistake, Bill France Jr. announced Allison was the winner of the event by starting off, "First, we need to wipe the egg off our face. We've sure got plenty of it on it.

After making the proper call, NASCAR awarded Allison the win, marking his tenth and final Cup Series victory.