Petty was lively in his Monte Carlo and paced the field for 67 laps, and Cale Yarborough led for 61 laps of his own. Dave Marcis got in the mix too as the laps wound down. One car the drivers up front really had no reason to pay attention to was Donnie Allison in the Hawaiian Tropic Chevy. Allison seemed to be a lap down and no threat for the win.
With only a handful of laps to go, a late race five-car crash set the stage for a crazy finish.The green flew again with 3 to go. Marcis and Petty were going door to door. As the checkers flew, all eyes were on the finish that would bring Petty's 1-1/2 season losing streak to an end.
But as Petty pulled into victory lane as the crowd roared with approval, Donnie said "not so fast my friends". He argued he had made up his lap and was actually ahead of both Petty and Marcis. He claimed HE was the winner - not Petty.
The initial decision was then reversed - and Donnie was allowed to go to victory lane. But then the decision was made to review the scoring cards, and then no one was certain who the winner was. Petty met with NASCAR's scoring officials. Its still amazing that as recently as 1978 fans went home not knowing who'd won the race.
