1970 Home State 200

This race was done on a dirt track spanning a distance of 0.500 miles (0.805 km); for a grand total distance of 100.0 miles (160.9 km). Benny Parsons was driving the car like a modern NASCAR driver would drive on asphalt while Richard Petty was swinging his car sideways and sliding around the corners. Parsons was carefully following Petty after losing the lead; thinking he could try to throw his car to a corner in an attempt to imitate Richard Petty. As soon as he came off of turn 4 and prepared to throw his car sideways into turn 1, the engine blew after 96 laps of consistent racing.^[2][3]

There were 23 drivers on the racing grid; all of them were American-born males.^[2][3] John Sears would finish in last-place as the result of an engine problem on lap 16 even though he was fastest qualifier and led the first ten laps.^[2][3][4] Richard Petty defeated Neil Castles by more than two laps^[3] in front of 6,000 live audience members. Neil Castles would receive his final 2nd-place finish in Grand National career. His name often comes up in the "best driver never to get a win" discussions.^[2] Two lead changes were made in addition to one yellow flag being waved for four laps; making the race last one hour and twenty-seven minutes.^[2][3][4] The other finishers in the top ten included: Bobby Isaac, James Hylton, Cecil Gordon, Bobby Allison, Dave Marcis, Ben Arnold, Bill Hollar, Jabe Thomas.^[2][3][4] Nord Krauskopf, James Hylton, and Bobby Allison were the most notable NASCAR owners in this race.^[2][3][4]

This race was the final dirt track race in what is now known as the Cup Series until the 2021 Food City Dirt Race.^[5][6] John Kenney would retire after this race while Bill Hollar would make his debut here.^[4] The top prize of the race was $1,000 ($8,096.83 when considering inflation) while the last-place finisher received $200 ($1,619.37 when considering inflation).^[2]

Section reference:^[2]

• Start of race: John Sears starts off the race in the pole position.
• Lap 11: Benny Parsons takes over the lead from John Sears.
• Lap 16: John Sears fell out with engine failure while he was racing at competitive speeds.
• Lap 29: The water hose came loose on Lee Roy Carrigg's vehicle.
• Lap 61: Ignition problems forced Frank Warren to bail out of the race prematurely.
• Lap 68: Transmission issues would force Wendell Scott to exit the race.
• Lap 77: Driveshaft issues would prevent J.D. McDuffie from winning the race.
• Lap 86: Elmo Langley managed to overheat his vehicle from the excess speeds of stock car racing.
• Lap 87: Bill Champion fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 89: Richard Petty takes over the lead from Benny Parsons.
• Lap 94: Ed Negre would cause his vehicle to overheat itself.
• Lap 96: Benny Parsons fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 97: Bill Seifert could no longer steer his vehicle in a safe manner, making him the final DNF of the race.
• Finish: Richard Petty was officially declared the winner of the event.