1994. Pontiac left NASCAR at the end of 2003, and GM discontinued the Pontiac division in 2010. Wallace holds the NASCAR record for most wins by a Pontiac driver (the first 31 of his 55 career wins). During practice, Dale Earnhardt, Ken Schrader, and Jeff Gordon all had crashes. However, all three were uninjured and qualified for the race. This race was a day of remembrance, as mentioned in the television broadcast opening. Exactly a one-year prior, the 1992 race ended up being one of the greatest races of all time - and two of the key fixtures Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison were killed in aviation accidents during the season. Neil Bonnett qualified for the race in a backup car (#31) for RCR, and executed one of the first start and park situations in NASCAR. The team arranged that Bonnett would climb out of the #31 car, at the last minute, in the event that Earnhardt's primary #3 car, after pre-race inspection, suffered mechanical failure on the grid or during the pace laps. If Earnhardt quickly hopped in and took the green flag to start the race in the #31 car, by rule, he would be awarded full points for that entry. The car Bonnett qualified was even prepared with Earnhardt's exact chassis set-ups. Earnhardt started his primary car (#3) without incident, and Bonnett pulled off the track to finish last after 3 laps. The team gave the reason of "engine failure". Bonnett's intentional "start and park" also helped maximize Earnhardt's finishing position, as only seven additional cars had to drop out for Earnhardt to mathematically clinch the title. RCR pulled out all the stops in preparation for this race. They brought a truck filled with extra spare parts, including an entire pre-assembled rear end and a framing machine to fix the car in case of a crash. This was also Bonnett's final ever NASCAR race he competed in before his death at Daytona in February 1994. Due to fog at the airport, several pit crew members on several teams were late arriving at the track. Darrell Waltrip started the race without his entire pit crew. Jeff Gordon secured the rookie of the year award, but in a mild surprise, he did not manage to win a points-paying race during the season. Todd Bodine, the contracted driver of car 75, was injured in the previous day's Busch Grand National