| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Race No: | 3 |
| Distance Mi: | 300 |
| Year: | 1994 |
| Pole Time: | 21.867 |
| Race Name: | Pontiac Excitement 400 |
| Course Mi: | 0.75 |
| Scheduled Km: | 482.803 |
| Distance Km: | 482.803 |
| Course Km: | 1.21 |
| Distance Laps: | 400 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 400 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 300 |
| Official Name: | 40th Annual Pontiac Excitement 400 |
| Location: | Richmond, Virginia, Richmond International Raceway |
| Avg: | 98.334mph |
| Season No: | 31 |
| Date: | March 6 |
| Car: | 28 |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Network: | TBS |
| Announcers: | Ken Squier, Dave Marcis, Kenny Wallace |
| Most Laps: | 189 |
| First Driver: | Ernie Irvan |
| First Team: | Robert Yates Racing |
| Most Driver: | Ernie Irvan |
| Pole Driver: | Ted Musgrave |
| Pole Team: | Roush Racing |
| Most Team: | Robert Yates Racing |
| Caption: | The 1994 Pontiac Excitement 400 program cover. Artwork by Sam Bass. |
The 1994 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the third stock car race of the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 40th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 6, 1994, in Richmond, Virginia, at Richmond International Raceway, a 0.75 miles (1.21 km) D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. On the final restart with 20 to go, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan would manage to hold off the field, along with the help of a fast final pit stop to take his 10th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and the overall lead in the driver's championship.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would finish second and third, respectively.
Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series. Known as "America's premier short track", it formerly hosted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, an IndyCar Series race, and two USAC sprint car races.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 4, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, March 5, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-34 would be decided on time,[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; which was usually two. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Ted Musgrave, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 21.867 and an average speed of 123.474mph in the first round.[4]
Nine drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ernie Irvan | 520 | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 467 (-53) | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | Sterling Marlin | 461 (-59) | ||||||
| 4 | Mark Martin | 449 (–71) | |||||||
| 5 | Terry Labonte | 425 (–95) | |||||||
| 2 | 6 | Ken Schrader | 402 (–118) | ||||||
| 4 | 7 | Jeff Gordon | 402 (–118) | ||||||
| 5 | 8 | Rusty Wallace | 400 (–120) | ||||||
| 3 | 9 | Morgan Shepherd | 398 (–122) | ||||||
| 10 | Rick Mast | 398 (–122) | |||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||