The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.[4] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[4]
Race report
It took three hours and fifty minutes for David Pearson to defeat Cale Yarborough by more than one lap. Pearson would take home $16,650 in prize money ($114,278.41 when adjusted for inflation) while last-place finisher Charles Barrett would receive $880 ($6,039.94 when adjusted for inflation).[5]
Though running a limited schedule, this was David Pearson's ninth win in the last ten races that he and the Wood Brothers entered, with a second in the other race.[6] In the NASCAR Cup Series after 1972, nobody has ever matched this.
Jabe Thomas, finished 9th in a 40 car field. He had higher finishes but many were at small tracks no longer used after 1971.[7]
Fourteen lead changes were exchanged among six drivers (Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Bobby Isaac, Cale Yarborough, Donnie Allison, and David Pearson).[8] Six cautions lasted 47 laps and the average speed of the race was 130.211 miles per hour or 209.554 kilometres per hour.[2] Thirty-thousand people would see a racing grid of 39 American drivers and one Canadian driver (Vic Parsons).[2]Richard Petty would win the pole position with a speed of 157.163 miles per hour or 252.929 kilometres per hour.[2]