The 1980 Atlanta 500 was a Winston Cup (now Nextel Cup) event held at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 16, 1980. Points leader Dale Earnhardt won his first race of the year, holding Rusty Wallace by 9.55 seconds.  Wallace was making his Cup Series debut for Roger Penske.  Earnhardt's points lead, meanwhile, was now 65 points on Bobby Allison (3rd). Stats