1991 Budweiser at The Glen

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, August 9, at 1:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, August 10, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be decided on time,^[9] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified on time but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.

Terry Labonte, driving the No. 94 Oldsmobile for Hagan Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 1:11.851 and an average speed of 121.652 mph (195.780 km/h) in the first round. The lap was a new track record.^[10][11] Thirty-nine drivers qualified on time. Michael Waltrip crashed his No. 30 Pontiac during his qualifying run and did not record a time, starting fortieth with a provisional. Jim Sauter, Jerry O'Neil, and Bob Ferree all were entered but withdrew from the event.

As the field entered the Loop on lap 5, the left front wheel spindle broke on J. D. McDuffie's No. 70 Pontiac, causing his brakes to fail and a wheel to come off of the car. He made contact with Jimmy Means, like McDuffie an owner-driver, and both the No. 70 and Means' No. 52 Pontiac left the racing surface and headed into the runoff area exiting the turn, which consisted of grass and a tire barrier placed in front of an Armco guardrail attached to a fence. McDuffie, with no way to slow his damaged car, hit the tires at 160 MPH. The force generated by the impact caused his car to become airborne, rotate 180 degrees, and land on the grass upside down. McDuffie suffered a basilar skull fracture in the accident and died instantly.^[4]

McDuffie's basilar skull fracture was presumed to have been caused by rapid head movement to his right rather than an impact.^[12] McDuffie's family and crew members have long believed that his injuries were caused by a foreign object entering the vehicle.^[13] McDuffie's sponsor, Medford Speed, hired accident investigators, Phil Moser and Terry Shaw, to perform to determine the cause of the fatal injuries. The investigation concluded that upon impact with the tire barrier, a tire from the barrier entered the cockpit through the passenger side window and struck McDuffie on the right side of his head near the jaw, causing his fatal head injuries. The report cited a "black tar-like substance" on the window and damage to McDuffie's helmet foam and microphone tab that was consistent with a tire from the barrier entering the car upon impact.^[14]

Means, meanwhile, was able to slow his car down before he hit the tire barrier; the No. 52 actually went underneath the No. 70 while it was in the air. Getting out of his own wrecked car, Means went over to McDuffie to check on his fellow driver. A few seconds later, having seen McDuffie's condition, Means began frantically waving for track safety officials to come to the scene. Means then spoke to Ned Jarrett, who as mentioned before was stationed on the track just behind where the accident occurred, on the ESPN broadcast moments later that he hoped his fellow driver was okay but conceded the situation did not look good. Means later said he had to "close his eyes" after seeing McDuffie in his car.^[15]

Just as the drivers completed the fifth lap, NASCAR threw the red flag and stopped the drivers on the front stretch. The race was red-flagged for one hour and 48 minutes, both to extract McDuffie from his car and repair the guardrail in turn 5, which was bent inward following the impact of Means' car on the tire barrier.^[7] Later, as the race was restarting, Jerry Punch of ESPN and Bill Bowser of MRN were both present for the official statement from Winston Cup Media Director Chip Williams that McDuffie had died from his injuries sustained in the crash. On ESPN, Bob Jenkins then eulogized McDuffie before Benny Parsons spoke directly to McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean.^[16]

As he had mentioned, Parsons had his own experience in having to deal with a spousal death. Earlier that season, during the Winston Cup’s June race weekend at Pocono, he had stayed behind at his North Carolina home to be with his wife Connie as she battled a terminal illness. On the day of the race, which Jenkins and Jarrett called without him, Connie Parsons died.^[17]

McDuffie was credited with a last-place finish of 40th, while Means was credited with a 39th place finish.

More information Pos, Driver ...

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 2,758 2 Ricky Rudd 2,650 (–108) 1 3 Ernie Irvan 2,544 (–214) 1 4 Davey Allison 2,532 (–226) 5 Mark Martin 2,495 (–263) 1 6 Darrell Waltrip 2,409 (–349) 1 7 Ken Schrader 2,357 (–401) 2 8 Rusty Wallace 2,286 (–472) 1 9 Sterling Marlin 2,283 (–475) 1 10 Harry Gant 2,210 (–548) Official driver's standings

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• Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.