1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

The 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 43rd of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 20th modern-era Cup Season. It began February 10 and ended November 17. Dale Earnhardt of Richard Childress Racing won his fifth Winston Cup championship at the conclusion of the season. The season was marred by the death of driver and team owner J. D. McDuffie, who was killed in a wreck at Watkins Glen.

A bevy of new Pit rules were introduced at Daytona to start out the 1991 season, in response to the death of a Melling Racing rear tire changer in a pit road accident at Atlanta the previous November. The new rules changed the complexity of the races, and over the course of the season, they would be tweaked and revised. By mid-season, most of the more complicated rules were scrapped, but a few were made permanent. The pit road speed limit (at all times) and use of the "lollipop" style signboard were the significant changes made permanent (and remain to this day).

The 1991 season introduced the past champion's provisional (also known as the "Petty rule"), which allowed a former Cup Series champion to claim the final starting position in a race if he failed to qualify on speed, and if he was too low in the points standings to secure an ordinary provisional spot. If there were two or more former champions that failed to qualify, the Champion's Provisional would be awarded to the most recent champion. This rule was implemented after Richard Petty failed to qualify for four races in 1989, resulting in a drop in ratings that season.^[1][2]

The 1991 season was also the final year for Buick as a full-time manufacturer in the series; Buick cars would run only limited schedules in 1992 and 1993 before leaving the series for good.

The Nashville Network debuted as a cable television partner with the Cup Series in 1991. For 1991, there were five television networks broadcasting the 29-race Winston Cup Series schedule: CBS, ABC, ESPN, TBS, and TNN.

This would be the last season until 2017 without Jeff Gordon.