1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

The 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 43rd Cup Series season and the 20th in the modern era.

The 1991 season introduced the past champion's provisional (also known as the "Petty rule"), which allowed a former Cup champion to claim the final starting position if he was too low in the points standings and was unable to qualify by speed.

The 1991 season was also the final year of Buick as a full-time manufacturer in the series; Buick cars would run in limited schedules without factory support in 1992 and 1993 before leaving the series for good; they could still be seen in the Busch Series up until the introduction of the SAFER Car in 1997, and in ARCA until 1998.

The biggest addition was the reintroduction of mid-week races, not seen in the Winston Cup Series since 1971. This caused the schedule to balloon from 36 races in 1990 to 57 races.

The 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season marked the debut of NASCAR Winston Cup Series races being televised on TNN. As of the 1991 season, there were 5 television networks broadcasting the 29 Winston Cup Series schedule: CBS, ABC, ESPN, TBS, and TNN.