1995 NAPA 500

The 1995 NAPA 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on November 12, 1995, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.

1995 NAPA 500
Race details[1]
Race 31 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Atlanta Motor Speedway, the race track where the race was held.
Date November 12, 1995 (1995-November-12)
Official name NAPA 500
Location Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
1.522 mi (2.449 km)
Distance 328 laps, 499.2 mi (803.3 km)
Weather Comfortable and sunny with temperatures reaching up to 66 °F (19 °C); wind speeds reaching of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Average speed 163.633 mph (263.342 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
DarWal Inc.
Most laps led
Driver Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing
Laps 268
Winner
No. 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network ESPN
Announcers Bob Jenkins
Benny Parsons
Ned Jarrett

NASCAR ban tinted windshields starting with this race, confiscating any that teams had in the pits before this one. The move to mandate clear windshields was to make it easier for drivers to see through cars ahead of them and see if a driver in front was signaling them for any reason.

The 1990s were a time when "extreme sports" were considered to be cooler than the mainstream sports of baseball, basketball, ice hockey, and American football. Busch Beer used footage from this race in a commercial that aired during the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season with a stern declaration stating that the NASCAR Cup Series has been "extreme" since it began operations. This would also be the last NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held during an era where the Internet was used by a minority of US residents and people generally did not have the money, equipment, or computer literacy skills to use the Internet on a daily basis.

Background

Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of ten intermediate to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.[2] The standard track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.[3] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[3]

Race report

Dale Earnhardt defeated Sterling Marlin by nearly four seconds after 22 lead changes during the event, with a record low of two safety car periods totaling eleven laps.[4][5] Earnhardt started in 11th place and came back from behind to win this race, which set a new race record for fastest 500-mile Cup race at the circuit in 3 hours, 3 minutes, 3 seconds, with an average speed of 163.633 MPH, a record that still stands after the 2019 season at the circuit.[4][5][6] Dale Earnhardt obviously had to dominate this race and they set up a very aggressive engine package and did just that as nobody could touch him and the engine held up for the win.[4][5]

Darrell Waltrip scored his 59th pole position with a qualifying time of 29.6099 seconds for an average speed of 185.046 miles per hour or 297.803 kilometres per hour, in what would be the final pole of his illustrious Hall of Fame career.[4] Ken Schrader finished dead last in this race in a coincidental manner; his engine blew and happened to be the one that clinched it for Jeff Gordon's championship. Ken had terrible luck all year in 1995.[4][5] The #26 of Hut Stricklin would be involved in an accident on the third turn.[4] Billy Standridge, Jack Sprague, Mike Wallace, Shane Hall, Delma Cowart, and Eric Smith would fail to qualify for this race.[7] Out of the 42-driver grid, only six of them would not finish the race.[4][5] All 42 of the qualifying drivers were born in the United States of America.[4]

Most of the field would have Chevrolet and Ford as their manufacturer while Pontiac would bring a limited number of vehicles.[4][5] The average speed of the race was 163.632 miles per hour or 263.340 kilometres per hour.[4][5] Jeff Gordon would go on to win the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship after this race. Gordon went with the least aggressive engine package they had all season to say the least, only needing to finish 41st and wanting to take no chance that it wouldn't fire or would blow up on the warm up laps or as soon as the green dropped. To say the least, the car was terribly slow, pretty much field filler slow; his vehicle managed to cough up a meager 32nd-place finish.[4][5] Junior Johnson would make his final appearance in this race as a car owner. He sold his team to Brett Bodine during the off-season.[4][5]

This was the final career race for owner Alan Dillard Jr., the owner of A.G. Dillard Motorsports.[4][5] It was also the final career race for long time veteran owner D.K. Ulrich.[4][5] The 1995 NAPA 500 was also the final race for Bobby Hillin in the #77, Michael Waltrip in the #30, Morgan Shepherd in the #21, Dick Trickle in the #15, Dale Jarrett in the #28, Jeff Burton in the #8, Hut Stricklin in the #26 and Todd Bodine in the #75.[4][5]

Some of the more notable crew chiefs to fully participate in this race were Robin Pemberton, Andy Petree, Donnie Wingo, Cecil Gordon, Ray Evernham, Larry McReynolds, and Tim Brewer.[8]

There was an opportunity for Dale Earnhardt to defeat Jeff Gordon by one point. Had Dale Earnhardt won the race and Jeff Gordon either finished in 42nd place, Earnhardt would have won the championship. Kenny Bernstein would retire from his career as a NASCAR team owner to spend more time with his family after this race.

Qualifying
Grid[4] No. Driver Manufacturer Owner
1 17Darrell WaltripChevroletDarrell Waltrip
2 10Ricky RuddFordRicky Rudd
3 43Bobby HamiltonPontiacPetty Enterprises
4 15Dick TrickleFordBud Moore
5 98Jeremy MayfieldFordCale Yarborough
6 2Rusty WallaceFordRoger Penske
7 30Michael WaltripPontiacChuck Rider
8 24Jeff GordonChevroletRick Hendrick
9 6Mark MartinFordJack Roush
10 41Ricky CravenChevroletLarry Hedrick
11 3Dale EarnhardtChevroletRichard Childress
12 5Terry LabonteChevroletRick Hendrick
13 1Rick MastFordRichard Jackson
14 26Hut StricklinFordKenny Berstein
15 94Bill ElliottFordBill Elliott
16 7Geoffrey BodineFordGeoffrey Bodine
17 16Ted MusgraveFordJack Roush
18 4Sterling MarlinChevroletLarry McClure
19 8Jeff BurtonFordStavola Brothers
20 11Brett BodineFordJunior Johnson
21 18Bobby LabonteChevroletJoe Gibbs
22 37John AndrettiFordMichael Kranefuss
23 31Gary BradberryChevroletAllan Dillard, Jr.
24 12Derrike CopeFordBobby Allison
25 19Loy Allen, Jr.FordMark Smith

Top 20 finishers
Pos[4] No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Laps led Time/Status
1 3Dale EarnhardtChevrolet3282683:03:03
2 4Sterling MarlinChevrolet3286+3.74 seconds
3 2Rusty WallaceFord3280Lead lap under green flag
4 94Bill ElliottFord32817Lead lap under green flag
5 22Ward BurtonPontiac3280Lead lap under green flag
6 23Jimmy SpencerFord3280Lead lap under green flag
7 88Ernie IrvanFord3270+1 lap
8 18Bobby LabonteChevrolet32713+1 lap
9 77Bobby Hillin, Jr.Ford3270+1 lap
10 10Ricky RuddFord32711+1 lap
11 7Geoffrey BodineFord3270+1 lap
12 30Michael WaltripPontiac3260+2 laps
13 5Terry LabonteChevrolet3260+2 laps
14 87Joe NemechekChevrolet3260+2 laps
15 37John AndrettiFord3250+3 laps
16 17Darrell WaltripChevrolet3253+3 laps
17 6Mark MartinFord3250+3 laps
18 98Jeremy MayfieldFord3250+3 laps
19 9Lake SpeedFord3240+4 laps
20 11Brett BodineFord3240+4 laps

Timeline

Section reference: [4]

  • Start of race: Darrell Waltrip had the pole position to start the race.
  • Lap 2: Ricky Rudd took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 7: Bobby Hamilton took over the lead from Ricky Rudd.
  • Lap 16: Ricky Rudd took over the lead from Bobby Hamilton.
  • Lap 18: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Ricky Rudd.
  • Lap 55: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Dale Earnhardt.
  • Lap 56: Sterling Marlin took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 61: Jeff Gordon took over the lead from Sterling Marlin.
  • Lap 62: Bill Elliott took over the lead from Jeff Gordon.
  • Lap 64: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Bill Elliott.
  • Lap 72: Caution for debris; ended on lap 77.
  • Lap 82: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Ricky Rudd.
  • Lap 92: Ken Schrader became the last-place finisher due to a faulty engine. Jeff Gordon officially clinches the championship.
  • Lap 104: Robert Pressley had problems with his engine, forcing him to end the race early.
  • Lap 138: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Bobby Labonte.
  • Lap 141: Todd Bodine's engine started acting up, ending his NASCAR race weekend prematurely.
  • Lap 194: Steve Grissom's transmission stopped working properly, causing him to be the fourth DNF.
  • Lap 201: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Bobby Labonte.
  • Lap 202: Hut Stricklin had a terminal crash.
  • Lap 204: Caution due to Hut Stricklin's accident, ended on lap 208.
  • Lap 270: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Bill Elliott.
  • Lap 289: Dave Marcis' engine gave out, making him the 37th-place finisher in the race.
  • Finish: Dale Earnhardt was officially declared the winner of the event.

Standings after the race
Pos Driver Points[4] Differential
1 Jeff Gordon 4614 0
2 Dale Earnhardt 4580 -34
3 Sterling Marlin 4361 -253
4 Mark Martin 4320 -294
5 Rusty Wallace 4240 -374
6 Terry Labonte 4146 -468
7 Ted Musgrave 3949 -665
8 Bill Elliott 3746 -868
9 Ricky Rudd 3734 -880
10 Bobby Labonte 3718 -896

References
  1. Weather information for the 1995 NAPA 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  3. "NASCAR Tracks—The Atlanta Motor Speedway". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  4. 1995 NAPA 500 racing results at Racing Reference
  5. 1995 NAPA 500 results at Race-Database
  6. NASCAR Race Results for the 1995 NAPA 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  7. Qualifying information for the 1995 NAPA 500 at Racing Reference
  8. 1995 NAPA 500 crew chiefs at Racing Reference
Preceded by
1995 Dura Lube 500		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1995-96		 Succeeded by
1996 Daytona 500
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