1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

The 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 44th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 21st modern-era Cup season. The season began on January 26, 1992, and ended on November 15, 1992.

The 1992 season was considered one of the most dramatic and emotional years in NASCAR. The seven-time champion, and "King of stock car racing," Richard Petty retired from the sport at season's end, concluding a year-long "Fan Appreciation Tour." Petty appeared across the country for autographs and diecasts were made of his No. 43 car for all 29 of the races he appeared in. The season also saw the quiet debut of a future champion Jeff Gordon, who was planning to move up after two seasons in the Busch Series. Gordon debuted the No. 22 Ford at the final race of the year.

The 1992 season was also the final year of Oldsmobile as a full-time manufacturer in the series; Oldsmobile cars would run in limited schedules in 1993 before leaving the series for good; with the advent of the SAFER Car in 1997, several underfunded teams ran Oldsmobile Aleros, if only because Oldsmobile sheetmetal was the cheapest, but without any factory support, no Oldsmobiles finished in the top 20, and at the end of 1998, Oldsmobile quietly left for the last time before going defunct in 2004.

In terms of existing manufacturers, 1992 marked the final year that Chevrolet teams used the Camaro at restrictor-plate tracks, only running them for the Daytona 500 and associated races, as well as the first where they ran the Beretta at restrictor-plate tracks, doing so until the advent of the SAFER Car in 1997.

Notable Changes

 * The 1991 Chrysler 400 at Nazareth Speedway proved popular enough to warrant promoting it to a Sunday race.
 * Several midweek races had their tracks switched around or out; this would be common going forward. For example, the races at Showtime and Five Flags were swapped out for the races at Laguna Seca and Volusia County, while races at South Boston, Tucson, and Langley were added.