53 years on, the 1971 NASCAR race at Bowman Gray Stadium finally has a winner

Bobby Allison has finally been recognized as the winner of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bowman Gray Stadium from August 6, 1971.

NASCAR announced on Wednesday it is officially recognizing Allison (pictured above at Talladega in 1971) as the winner of the event, and the record books have been updated accordingly. The victory has long been a point of contention for Allison and those advocating for him to be recognized as a winner of 85 races.

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Allison is now in sole possession of fourth place on the all-time wins list for the Cup Series. The updated win total for Allison puts him behind Petty, David Pearson, and Jeff Gordon.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France and senior advisor to NASCAR Mike Helton informed Allison of the news in person.

“For 53 years, the Myers Brothers Memorial was the only race run by NASCAR that did not have an official winner,” France said. “As we began preparations for the upcoming Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the topic of that August 6, 1971 race returned to the forefront. We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby’s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. We are grateful for Bobby’s lifetime contributions to NASCAR.”

The results, and official credit, had been in dispute because of the car Allison drove to the victory over Richard Petty. NASCAR ran ‘combination’ races that year featuring its Grand National cars (designated for the Cup Series) and Grand American cars. The latter were smaller cars, and that's what Allison chose to drive at Bowman Gray Stadium. Because the cars weren’t the same, some, including Petty, said the win shouldn’t count.

Allison received the winner’s trophy and prize money for the race win at the time it was held.