By Zane Miller
First round
(8) #3 Richard Childress v. (1) #2 Dale Earnhardt
(7) #90 Jody Ridley v. (2) #11 Cale Yarborough
(6) #15 Bobby Allison v. (3) #43 Richard Petty
(5) #88 Darrell Waltrip v. (4) #27 Benny Parsons
In the opening round of the playoffs at Darlington, Dale Earnhardt scored the early advantage over his future car owner, taking a seventh-place finish to Childress’ 12th. Meanwhile, Cale Yarborough suffered an oil fire early in the event, though he was able to get back out on track which proved vital later on as competitor Jody Ridley dropped out with steering issues. Yarborough had just enough laps left to get by Ridley in the running order to get out of the Palmetto State with the series lead. Bobby Allison finished a lap ahead of Richard Petty to grab the early advantage too, while Darrell Waltrip was bitten by mechanical problems, thus allowing Benny Parsons to take the lead with a fourth-place finish. In the second round at Richmond, Allison got the race win to knock out Petty, while Earnhardt nabbed a fourth-place result to Childress’ 11th to continue his sensational sophomore season. Yarborough fell out of the event near the midway point after sustaining a broken cylinder head with Ridley finishing an impressive fifth, while Waltrip also staved off elimination thanks to a sixth-place finish. The first round finale at Dover posed no problem for Waltrip, as he captured the race win after leading 264 of the race’s 500 laps in spite of a solid fifth-place run from Parsons. Meanwhile, Ridley’s playoff campaign came to a halt as Yarborough took a fourth-place finish to Ridley’s ninth.
Semifinal
(6) #15 Bobby Allison v. (1) #2 Dale Earnhardt
(5) #88 Darrell Waltrip v. (2) #11 Cale Yarborough
North Wilkesboro Speedway kicked off the semifinal round, which turned out to be fortuitous for Allison as he captured the checkered flag after leading 166 laps. Waltrip earned the runner-up spot to get the leg up on Yarborough for the second race at Martinsville. Not to be outdone by Allison, Earnhardt made his presence known with a dominating race win, with Allison suffering mechanical failure just past the halfway point. Not long after Allison’s misfortune, Waltrip fell out with a blown engine to hand the middle race to Yarborough, who led 51 laps on the way to a third-place finish. The final race at Charlotte saw all four drivers still in contention, though the battles themselves would end up being somewhat anticlimactic. Allison dropped out early for the second week in a row due to a faulty ball joint, enabling Earnhardt to cap off his breakthrough season with a championship final appearance. Despite leading several laps early, Waltrip blew his engine once again, thereby securing Yarborough’s shot at a record sixth Cup Series title.
Final
(2) #11 Cale Yarborough v. (1) #2 Dale Earnhardt
Despite technically being the lower seed, Yarborough came into Rockingham as the odds-on favorite against the relative newcomer in Earnhardt. Yarborough would prove those predictions right with a race win at the North Carolina track, leading the final 72 laps while Earnhardt only managed an 18th-place run. With the momentum now firmly on his side, Yarborough found another gear in Atlanta, leading nearly all of the race’s 328 laps. Unlike another certain event involving Atlanta and the numbers 3 and 28, Yarborough did not lose his massive advantage, taking the race win. Although Earnhardt put up a fight in third, it would not be enough to stop the pride of Timmonsville, South Carolina, from winning his sixth championship.
Cale Yarborough’s stats for 1980 saw six wins, 19 top-fives and 22 top-10s to finish second in the final standings to real-life champion Dale Earnhardt.
1980 Cup Series standings in real life: https://scorum.com/en-us/nascar/@zmiller82/1980-nascar-cup-series-season-recap
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