Benny Parsons was crowned Winston Cup champion at the end of the season finishing 67 points ahead of Cale Yarborough.
This was done "...so the events next year can continue to be representative of the type of the extremely close competition that has been typical of NASCAR racing.
Taking Bobby's place on the Howard racing team would be Cale Yarborough, returning from the USAC Stock Car division.
Bobby Allison finished second driving a self-fielded Chevrolet following a surprise divorce from the Richard Howard team.
Petty lost time when he ran into a backmarker's car under yellow and needed bumper repairs; he nonetheless rallied past Baker for the win.
Miller High Life 500 - Ownership changes at Ontario Motor Speedway led to cancellation of NASCAR's annual race in 1973, leading to an open date for March 4.
Inclement weather continued to plague the event, and after two more days of rain, the remaining 448 laps were rescheduled for the next open date, which was the week after the next race.
Yvon Duhamel, the legendary Canadian motorcycle racer, finished tenth in his only NASCAR Cup Series start.
Rebel 500 - Darlington Raceway's spring 400-miler was lengthened to 500 miles and David Pearson led the last 176 laps and grabbed his fourth career win in the event.
Alamo 500 - The financially troubled Texas World Speedway hosted another Petty-Baker showdown as Buddy led 168 laps; the lead changed back and forth between the two before Baker lost power in the final 30 laps and finished a distant sixth behind Petty, who posted only his third superspeedway win in the last two seasons.
Tuborg 400 - Bobby Allison ended his season-long winless streak when Richard Petty hit a barrier at the Riverside road course and Cale Yarborough blew his engine.
Motor State 400 - Once again Buddy Baker grabbed the lead at will, leading 119 laps, and once again it would not be enough as David Pearson led the last 23 laps for the fifth win for the Wood Brothers team (and Pearson's fourth, third with the #21) at Michigan International Speedway; but it was the combination's first Michigan win since Roger Penske took control of the speedway after the final collapse of Larry LoPatin's raceway empire.
That part of his ledger was checked off at Bristol amid brutal heat and humidity; John A. Utsman had to drive relief for Parsons as the combination led 320 laps.
Early contenders Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough crashed out while battling for the lead at Lap 331, leaving the #72 of Parsons and Utsman alone; runner-up L.D.
Dixie 500 - David Pearson's domination of intermediate tracks continued as he broke out of a tight duel with Cale Yarborough and led the final 165 laps for the win at Atlanta.
Early in the race, the previous season's Rookie of the Year Larry Smith hit the wall in Turn One and did not survive what appeared to be a harmless crash.
Buddy Baker roared from 21st to the lead but even more dramatic was that Dick Brooks, driving the Crawford Brothers' Plymouth in a last-minute deal and starting 24th, roared through the field; he stormed to the lead when Baker broke a steering line and Pearson slowed, stealing what would be his only career win.
Wilkes 400 - A year after their vicious showdown in the same race, Bobby Allison got a measure of revenge on Richard Petty and he swept to the win on the final lap, only his second of the season.
Old Dominion 500 - A late yellow allowed Richard Petty to close up on Cale Yarborough and grab the win in the final 48 laps.
Charlie Glotzbach appeared to win the pole in Hoss Ellington's Chevrolet but NASCAR ruled the car, which used the larger engine being phased out at the end of the season, featured an illegal sliding restrictor plate and Glotzbach had to start 34th; he later crashed with David Pearson 46 laps into the race and the two drivers nearly came to blows exiting their cars.
Harry Hyde clashed with inspectors the entire week and finally parked Buddy Baker's Dodge 228 laps in and was officially disqualified.
The inspection process on Cale's Chevrolet - owned by track president Richard Howard and wrenched by Junior Johnson - lasted an unusually long number of hours and NASCAR finally issued a statement that the results of the inspection of Cale's car would be sent to NASCAR headquarters for additional study.
Robert Yates, the head engine builder for Junior Johnson's team at the time, noted in an interview with author Tom Jensen for the 2002 book Cheating: An Inside Look At The Bad Things Good NASCAR Winston Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed that the engine was indeed illegal.
Petty stated at the time that only three of his engine's eight cylinders were checked, and that they were of varying sizes that averaged out to the NASCAR-mandated limit of 431 CID.