The 1977 Music City USA 420 was a 420-lap race that took place on May 7, 1977, at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.

Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.^{[citation needed]}

The race itself took two hours, fifty-one minutes, and forty seconds from the first green flag to the checkered flag.^[2] Benny Parsons was the race winner with an average speed of 87.49 miles per hour (140.80 km/h) while the pole position winner Darrell Waltrip had a speed of 103.643 miles per hour (166.797 km/h) and finished the race in 3rd place.^[2] Cale Yarborough led the race with most number of laps (275) and was the points leader after the race for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.^[2] However, Benny Parsons would defeat him by one second.^[2]

Ricky Rudd made his fourth 4th career top-10 finish at this race.^[3]

Twenty thousand people attended this race that had a total prize purse of $56,350 ($283,328.17 in current US dollars).^[2] The winner would leave the event earning an incredible $9,565 ($48,092.88 in current US dollars) while the last-place finisher would walk away with a meager $255 in cash earnings ($1,282.14 in current US dollars).^[4]

Other notable names among the drivers included Ricky Rudd, Coo Coo Marlin, Richard Petty, Elmo Langley, and Richard Childress.^[2] Notable crew chiefs included Buddy Parrott, Jake Elder, Joey Arrington, Kirk Shelmerdine, and Dale Inman.^[5]

Paul Dean Holt would retire from NASCAR after this race after competing in 85 races while Ralph Jones would make his introduction into NASCAR racing during this race.^[6]

Section reference:^[2]

* Driver failed to finish race

Section reference:^[2]

• Start: Darrell Waltrip was leading the racing grid as the green flag was waved.
• Lap 3: Benny Parsons took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
• Lap 19: Dean Dalton fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 30: Frank Warren fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 47: Paul Dean Holt managed to overheat his vehicle.
• Lap 86: Terry Ryan fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 108: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Benny Parsons.
• Lap 133: Richard Childress fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 154: Henley Gray managed to overheat his vehicle.
• Lap 176: J.D. McDuffie fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 182: Elmo Langley fell out with engine failure.
• Lap 269: The ignition on Dick Brooks' vehicle stopped working properly.
• Lap 313: The rear end of Skip Manning's vehicle came off in a manner that was unsafe for further racing.
• Lap 383: Benny Parsons took over the lead from Cale Yarborough.
• Finish: Benny Parsons was officially declared the winner of the event.