Sunday 16th April 1972

Making his first start in the Wood Brothers Mercury a winning one, David Pearson drove to victory in the NASCAR GN ‘Rebel 500’ at Darlington Raceway, South Carolina. It was Pearson’s first win in more than a year as he was with the ill-fated CV Enterprises attempt to return Pontiac to GN racing. The Wood Brothers car was vacated by A.J. Foyt, who left to concentrate on Indy Cars. Richard Petty ran with Pearson until 2 unscheduled tire stops dropped him a lap behind. Petty still finished 2nd. Fred Lorenzen made another comeback, this time in the Hoss Ellington Ford, running just behind the lead group until blowing the engine on lap 46.