1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Recap

Dale Earnhardt claimed his fifth NASCAR Winston Cup champ­ion­ship in 1991, finishing comfortably ahead of runner-up Ricky Rudd. Earn­hardt won four races along the way to the title and finished 195 points ahead of Rudd in the final point tally.

1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt

Earnhardt assumed command of the points race in early May and never trailed again. Rudd managed to cling to second place in the points standings despite only one win and nine top-five finishes in the 29-race season.

Ageless Harry Gant provided the most fireworks during the season, ­winning four races in a row during the month of September. The 51-year-old Gant won five races for the year and had six more top-five finishes than Rudd, but he finished a distant fourth in the title race, more than 100 points behind runner-up Rudd.

Davey Allison finished third in the points on the strength of five victories and Ernie Irvan rounded out the top five with two wins. Check out the final results for the rest of the field when you explore the following standings chart.

1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Wins	Earnings
1	Dale Earnhardt	4,287	4	$2,416,685
2	Ricky Rudd	4,092	1	1,093,765
3	Davey Allison	4,088	5	1,712,924
4	Harry Gant	3,985	5	1,194,033
5	Ernie Irvan	3,925	2	1,079,017
6	Mark Martin	3,914	1	1,039,991
7	Sterling Marlin	3,839	0	633,690
8	Darrell Waltrip	3,711	2	604,854
9	Ken Schrader	3,690	2	772,434
10	Rusty Wallace	3,582	2	502,073
11	Bill Elliott	3,535	1	705,605
12	Morgan Shepherd	3,438	0	521,147
13	Alan Kulwicki	3,354	1	595,614
14	Geoff Bodine	3,277	1	625,256
15	Michael Waltrip	3,254	0	440,812
16	Hut Stricklin	3,199	0	426,254
17	Dale Jarrett	3,124	1	444,256
18	Terry Labonte	3,024	0	348,898
19	Brett Bodine	2,980	0	376,220
20	Joe Ruttman	2,938	0	361,661
21	Rick Mast	2,918	0	344,020
22	Bobby Hamilton	2,915	0	259,105
23	Ted Musgrave	2,841	0	200,910
24	Richard Petty	2,817	0	268,035
25	Jimmy Spencer	2,790	0	283,620
26	Rick Wilson	2,723	0	241,375
27	Chad Little	2,678	0	184,190
28	Derrike Cope	2,516	0	419,380
29	Dave Marcis	2,374	0	219,760
30	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	2,317	0	251,645
31	Kyle Petty	2,078	1	413,727
32	Lake Speed	1,742	0	149,300
33	Jimmy Means	1,562	0	111,210
34	Mickey Gibbs	1,401	0	100,360
35	Dick Trickle	1,258	0	129,125
36	Stanley Smith	893	0	56,915
37	Larry Pearson	848	0	56,570
38	Wally Dallenbach, Jr.	803	0	54,020
39	Greg Sacks	791	0	84,215
40	Buddy Baker	552	0	58,060
41	Jimmy Hensley	488	0	32,125
42	Eddie Bierschwale	431	0	55,025
43	Jim Sauter	423	0	47,395
44	Kenny Wallace	412	0	58,325
45	Jeff Purvis	399	0	42,910
46	Phil Barkdoll	364	0	41,655
47	Mike Chase	356	0	22,700
48	J.D. McDuffie	335	0	19,795
49	Bill Sedgwick	324	0	15,150
50	Randy LaJoie	304	0	23,875

For more information on all things NASCAR, see:

• NASCAR Home Page
• NASCAR Season Recaps
• NASCAR Tracks
• NASCAR Results
• NASCAR Drivers
• How NASCAR Race Cars Work
• How the Daytona 500 Works