The 1977 Mason-Dixon 500 was a 500-lap NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on May 15th at Dover Downs International Speedway in Delaware. A crowd of 34,700 fans watched a 36-car field take the green flag on the one-mile concrete oval.
Richard Petty captured the pole position with a speed of 136.033 mph. The race ran relatively clean with only two cautions for 10 laps. Cale Yarborough, driving the #11 Holly Farms Chevrolet for Junior Johnson, staged a remarkable comeback after falling four laps behind due to multiple issues. David Pearson led a dominant 297 laps, but Yarborough passed him on lap 404 and went on to win by 6.2 seconds with an average speed of 123.327 mph. Richard Petty finished third, followed by Darrell Waltrip in fourth and Dick Brooks in fifth. Yarborough earned $17,175 for the victory.
This impressive recovery win allowed Yarborough to extend his championship points lead to 202 points over Richard Petty.
