The 1977 Winston 500, the tenth race of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, was held on Sunday, May 1st at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. The event ran the full scheduled 188 laps on the 2.66-mile high-banked superspeedway with an average speed of 164.877 mph in a classic display of unrestricted, high-speed pack racing. Darrell Waltrip, driving the #88 Chevrolet for DiGard Motorsports, captured the victory from the 11th starting position, leading 18 laps and holding off the field for a margin of victory of 0.29 seconds in a dramatic finish. This marked Waltrip’s second win of the 1977 season and his first at Talladega. Attendance was reported at 90,000, and the race featured six cautions for 27 laps along with a remarkable 63 lead changes among 11 drivers. Cale Yarborough finished second in the #11 Chevrolet (leading 29 laps), followed by Benny Parsons in third in the #72 Chevrolet (leading 16 laps), Donnie Allison in fourth in the #1 Chevrolet (who led the most with 71 laps), and Dave Marcis in fifth in the #2 Mercury (leading 3 laps). The performance added excitement to the points chase amid Yarborough’s strong early-season dominance.
