Finally Nascar has ruled, that the 1971 Bowman Gray race was won by Bobby Allison! Why the contentious omission for decades as to who won? Because of Nascar's preference for Richard Petty!

The race at Bowman Gray was one of six events in the 1971 season in which Grand National and smaller Grand American race cars shared a track. 

Between 1968 and 1971, NASCAR promoted Grand American races for what were known as pony cars. These Mustangs, Camaros, Cougars, Firebirds and Javelins generally ran standalone events but often were invited to help fill Grand National (now, Cup) grids.

Allison was a competitor in both divisions and elected to drive his No. 49 NASCAR Ford Mustang, which was classified as a Grand American race car. Allison led 138 of 200 laps around the quarter-mile oval, and while he was awarded the trophy, the win was never officially recognized and did not count toward his victory tally.

Now that Allison has been officially credited with winning at Bowman Gray in 1971, he has 85 victories to his name, this breaks the long-standing tie with fellow Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip. Allison moves to having sole possession of fourth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series win list.

Allison only trails Richard Petty with 200 wins, David Pearson with 105, and Jeff Gordon with 93.

“For 53 years, the Myers Brothers Memorial was the only race run by NASCAR that did not have an official winner,” said Jim France, NASCAR chairman and CEO, in a statement. “As we began preparations for the upcoming Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the topic of that August 6, 1971 race returned to the forefront. We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby’s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. We are grateful for Bobby’s lifetime contributions to NASCAR.”

Understandably, Petty was unhappy with the grid and the results. “I figured something like this would happen,” he said at the time. “They’ll probably win all these (combination) races. (Cup) racing isn’t supposed to be filled with Mustangs and Camaros.”

Forty-six years later, he felt no different. “Bobby won, but shouldn’t have gotten credit for it,” he insisted at Daytona Beach in July 2017. “The cars weren’t the same; those cars were too different. I shouldn’t have gotten credit, but Bobby shouldn’t have, either. That was a Cup race, and he wasn’t in a Cup car.”

I did a LONG post about this in 2018

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/01/sit-down-and-hold-onto-your-socks.html

and I have no idea why, but I revisited the topic for a SHORT post 2 months ago

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-only-nascar-race-with-no-winner.html

I can guess that I forgot I'd posted about it 6 years ago

https://fordauthority.com/2024/10/nascar-ford-recognized-as-bowman-gray-winner-53-years-later/