1973 American 500

1973 American 500

Race details[1]
Race 28 of 28 in the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Layout of Rockingham Speedway
Date	October 21, 1973 (1973-October-21)
Official name	American 500
Location	North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina
Course	1.017 mi (1.636 km)
Distance	492 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather	Very hot with temperatures of 81.9 °F (27.7 °C); wind speeds of 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h)
Average speed	117.749 miles per hour (189.499 km/h)
Attendance	48,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Time	26.970
Most laps led
Driver	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing
Laps	396
Winner
No. 21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing

The 1973 American 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on October 21, 1973, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. This event would mark the only instance that a NASCAR Cup Series season would end at Rockingham Speedway. Having a 43-car racing grid was a very infrequent case during this era of NASCAR racing. Today, it forms the mandated standards that NASCAR developed over the years.

This is also the earliest in the year a Cup season has finished since the inaugural season in 1949, and the last time there have been no races in November.

1973 would become the "year of the smaller engine" while declining sponsorship interests for the drivers resulted in NASCAR keeping the bigger gas-guzzling engines from being abolished from the sport. Following this race, NASCAR started to tighten up on their pre-race inspections as a precautionary measure to ensure that only legal racing components are being used.