1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400

The 1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400 was the twenty-seventh stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was held on September 29, 1996 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in Wilkes County, North Carolina. The 400-lap race was won by Jeff Gordon of the Hendrick Motorsports team after he started from second position. Dale Earnhardt finished second and Dale Jarrett came in third.

1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400
Race details[1]
Race 27 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
North Wilkesboro Speedway
Date September 29, 1996 (1996-09-29)
Location North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
0.625 mi (1.006 km)
Distance 400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Weather Temperatures up to 66 °F (19 °C); wind speeds up to 6.9 miles per hour (11.1 km/h)[2]
Average speed 96.837 mph (155.844 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Roush Racing
Time 19.059
Most laps led
Driver Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 207
Winner
No. 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network ESPN
Announcers Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio MRN
Booth Announcers Allen Bestwick and Barney Hall
Turn Announcers Joe Moore (Backstretch)

The victory was Gordon's tenth of the season, and the nineteenth of his career. It was the last NASCAR race to be held at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Report

Background

Before the race Jeff Gordon led the Drivers' Championship with 3,903 points, eighty-one ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte in second, with Dale Jarrett a further eighty-one points adrift in third. Dale Earnhardt was fourth on 3,562, and Mark Martin was a further seventy-nine behind in fifth place.[3] Martin was the race's defending champion.[4]

It was announced shortly beforehand that the Tyson Holly Farms 400 would be the last NASCAR race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway after the track was sold to promoters Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre following the death of its previous owner Enoch Staley in 1995. North Wilkesboro's two races would be taken over by Smith's Texas Motor Speedway in the spring and Bahre's New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the fall starting from 1997 as part of a schedule realignment.[5]

First Round Qualifying

First-round qualifying started at 3 P.M. on Friday. Bobby Hamilton, driving the popular #43 Petty Enterprises Pontiac, had the fastest run before rain interrupted qualifying with 13 of the 40 drivers still waiting to make their run. After a 2 1/2-hour delay qualifying resumed with Jeff Gordon, the defending series champion, being the first driver to make a qualifying lap. Gordon put his #24 Chevrolet on top of the charts with a lap of 117.937 mph. Gordon's run held until Ted Musgrave, driving for Jack Roush in the #16 Family Channel/Primestar Ford Thunderbird, won the pole with a lap of 118.054 mph. It was Musgrave's first pole of the season and the fifth and final pole of his career. Hamilton ended up 3rd, with defending race winner Mark Martin and Ernie Irvan filling out the top five starting spots.

Second Round Qualifying

With only the top 25 locked in times from the first round Qualifying the previous day, Second-round qualifying allowed drivers to stand on their first-round times or make a second attempt. Only 6 drivers made a second-round attempt on Saturday. Hut Stricklin was the fastest in second-round qualifying, and Dale Jarrett also improved on his first day's effort. Race provisionals went to Geoffrey Bodine, Lake Speed, Robert Pressley, and Jeff Green. Darrell Waltrip got the past champion's provisional. Three drivers, Ward Burton, Dick Trickle and Gary Bradberry, failed to qualify.

Final Practice

Rain cut final practice short for Cup teams. Jeff Gordon completed just 15 laps when his car developed engine problems, later found to be debris in the carburetor.

Race Day

More than 40,000 fans were in attendance to see the final Winston Cup Series race at North Wilkesboro on Sunday. Many fans carried signs with messages such as, "We'll miss you North Wilkesboro," or "Farewell Old Friend". ESPN provided television coverage of the race as it had since 1982. It was the 30th Winston Cup Series race broadcast from the track by ESPN.

Race

The race started at 1 P.M. on Sunday. From the 2nd starting spot, Jeff Gordon jumped out past pole sitter Ted Musgrave to lead the first few laps of the race. On lap 22 the first caution came out for debris on the track. Gordon had a dominant car throughout the race. An accident on the front-stretch between Ernie Irvan, Kyle Petty and Bobby Hamilton brought out the 2nd caution on lap 72. At halfway, Gordon lead and collected the $10,000 halfway leader bonus. Another caution came out on lap 261 for oil on the track. Robert Pressley's accident in turn 3 brought out the final caution on lap 315. With 79 laps to go, Gordon moved past Dale Earnhardt on a restart and took the lead for the final time. Gordon would win the race by 1.73 seconds over Earnhardt. Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Terry Labonte rounded out the top five. It was Gordon's 10th win of the season and third win in a row after victories at Dover and Martinsville. The highest-finishing rookie, Johnny Benson, finishing 17th. Pole sitter Ted Musgrave failed to lead a lap and ended up finished 19th in the 37-car field. The race featured 18 Lead changes between 8 different drivers throughout the day with Gordon leading a race-high 207 laps. Every car that started the race was running at the finish.

Race results
Pos Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Status Laps Led Points
1224Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet400running207185
2113Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet400running35175
33088Dale JarrettRobert Yates RacingFord400running0165
41499Jeff BurtonRoush RacingFord400running2165
5165Terry LabonteHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet400running0155
6281Rick MastPrecision Products RacingPontiac400running0150
72110Ricky RuddRudd Performance MotorsportsFord400running17151
8343Bobby HamiltonPetty EnterprisesPontiac400running48147
946Mark MartinRoush RacingFord400running29143
1092Rusty WallacePenske Racing SouthFord400running43139
11134Sterling MarlinMorgan-McClure MotorsportsChevrolet400running0130
121021Michael WaltripWood Brothers RacingFord399running0127
131818Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingChevrolet399running0124
141975Morgan ShepherdButch Mock MotorsportsFord399running0121
152781Kenny WallaceFILMAR RacingFord399running0118
16268Hut StricklinStavola Brothers RacingFord399running0115
17630Johnny Benson, Jr.Bahari RacingPontiac398running0112
182425Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet398running0109
19116Ted MusgraveRoush RacingFord398running0106
203223Jimmy SpencerTravis Carter EnterprisesFord398running0103
211294Bill ElliottBill Elliott RacingFord398running0100
222041Ricky CravenLarry Hedrick MotorsportsChevrolet397running097
233111Brett BodineBrett Bodine RacingFord397running094
242398John AndrettiCale Yarborough MotorsportsFord397running091
25349Lake SpeedMelling RacingFord397running088
262987Joe NemechekNEMCO MotorsportsChevrolet396running085
273717Darrell WaltripDarrell Waltrip MotorsportsChevrolet396running082
281537Jeremy MayfieldKranefuss-Haas RacingFord395running079
292271Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet395running076
30337Geoffrey BodineGeoff Bodine RacingFord394running073
312542Kyle PettyTeam SABCOPontiac394running070
323629Jeff GreenDiamond Ridge MotorsportsChevrolet394running067
333533Robert PressleyLeo Jackson MotorsportsChevrolet392running064
341715Wally Dallenbach, Jr.Bud Moore EngineeringFord391running061
35877Bobby Hillin, Jr.Jasper MotorsportsFord389running058
36528Ernie IrvanRobert Yates RacingFord388running1960
37712Derrike CopeBobby Allison MotorsportsFord369running052

Race statistics
  • Time of race: 2:34:54
  • Average Speed: 96.837 mph
  • Pole Speed: 118.054 mph
  • Cautions: 4 Cautions for 29 laps
  • Margin of Victory: 1.73 seconds
  • Lead changes: 18 between 8 drivers
  • Percent of race run under caution: 7.25%
  • Average green flag run: 74.2 Laps

Post-race

The results meant Gordon extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Labonte and Jarrett. Earnhardt and Martin rounded out the top five positions.[6] The race took two hours. thirty-four minutes and fifty-four seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 1.73 seconds.[1]

gollark: Naturally.
gollark: G
gollark: We should do that on NDs.
gollark: Perhaps if we do this to hatchlings we can reach never before seen view figures.
gollark: I have many greens in case I suddenly need to clear my scroll in the worst way possible.

References
  1. "1996 Tyson Holly Farms 400". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  2. "Weather Information for North Wilkesboro, North Carolina". Old Farmers' Almanac. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  3. "1996 Official Driver Standings: Hanes 500". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 1, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  4. McKee, Sandra (September 28, 1996). "NASCAR takes last lap at roots Racing: With tomorrow's Holly Farms 400, NASCAR bids goodbye to its oldest track, North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway". The Baltimore Sun. North Wilkesboro, North Carolina: Tribune Publishing. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  5. Harris, Mike (September 26, 1996). "NASCAR says goodbye to North Wilkesboro". The Advocate-Messenger. North Wilkesboro, North Carolina: Schurz Communications. Associated Press. p. 16. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  6. "1996 Official Driver Standings: Tyson/Holly Farms 400". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 1, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
Previous race:
1996 Hanes 500		 Winston Cup Series
1996 season		 Next race:
1996 UAW-GM Quality 500
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