Gant Wins; Waltrip Passes Elliott in Points

Harry Gant won the Holly Farms 400 Grand National stock car race at North Wilkesboro, N.C. Driving a Chevrolet, Gant grabbed the lead with 128 laps to go and finished three-quarters of a lap ahead of Geoff Bodine, also in a Chevrolet.

Meanwhile, Darrell Waltrip took over the lead in the chase for the NASCAR points title. Bill Elliott, who came into the race with a 23-point edge over Waltrip in the points standings, developed mechanical problems with his Ford Thunderbird, left the race on the 118th lap and finished 30th in the 31-car field.

Though Waltrip finished 14th after limping around the track with distributor problems, he gained 126 points for his performance and now holds a 30-point lead over Elliott with 3,626. There are four races to go.

Gant averaged 95.067 m.p.h. in winning the race, which was slowed by six caution flags for 31 laps in the 400-lap event. He led four times for 294 laps at the 5/8-mile North Wilkesboro Speedway. It was the third victory of the season for Gant, who won $32,025.