1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 (July)

Last updated
1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500
Race details [1]
Race 17 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Pocono Raceway.svg
Pocono Raceway, the race track where the race was held.
Date July 16, 1995 (1995-July-16)
Official name Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500
Location Pocono International Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (3.400 km)
Distance 200 laps, 501.0 mi (804 km)
Weather Temperatures of 99.9 °F (37.7 °C); wind speeds of 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)
Average speed 134.038 miles per hour (215.713 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Melling Racing
Most laps led
Driver Rusty Wallace Penske Racing
Laps 74
Winner
No. 28 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing
Television in the United States
Network TBS
Announcers Ken Squier
Mike Wallace

The 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on July 16, 1995, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Background

Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. [2] The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. [3] The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°. [3]

Race report

Randy MacDonald and Terry Byers were the only two drivers not to qualify for this event. Nearly 13% of the race was held under a caution flag and the average green flag run was slightly more than 29 laps. Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, and Morgan Shepherd's good attempts at qualifying made this the first race of 1995 where Fords started 1-2-3. Elliott's pole was his first of the season, earning him a spot in the 1996 Busch Clash. Ted Musgrave was on a roll heading into this race as he had a very solid 1995 and looked to be heading to his first career win. He also traditionally ran very well at Pocono so he was a very popular sleeper pick heading into the race after a strong qualifying run, but his race was almost over before it began. Ted had some valve issues that got repaired before the green even waved, but they sorted it out and he got running in time for the green and still managed to finish in fourth place. [4]

41 drivers were a part of this race; all of them were born in the United States of America. Dale Jarrett managed to defeat Jeff Gordon almost two-tenths of a second after a duel over the last 20 laps; Jarrett really did need to get this win. At this time Yates was a stronger team than Gibbs and that's why Jarrett left Gibbs for Yates. It had to be tough for him watching Bobby Labonte go to victory lane a couple of times in the team he helped build while he struggled in one of the very top cars of the time. Ricky Craven led two laps just before the halfway point of the race. Notably, those two laps were a part of the six leads that he would lead in the 1995 Winston Cup Series season. [4] Jarrett, however, ran out of gas coming to the checkered flag; needing Michael Waltrip's help to be pushed to victory lane. Formal attendance records were never kept for this three-hour-and-forty-nine-minute racing event.

This was the first top ten finish for Cale Yarborough Motorsports since May of 1993 when Derrike Cope drove the #98 Ford. Not only the first top ten finish for Cale but also the first career top ten finish for Jeremy Mayfield, who took over the ride one year earlier at this very event as a young rookie. [4]

Speeds during this race reached up to 134.038 miles per hour (215.713 km/h) and 37 changes were made to the leader's position. Five cautions slowed the race for 25 laps; primarily for debris and accidents. [4] Three drivers were considered the odds-on favorite going into the actual race: Ted Musgrave, Derrike Cope and Steve Grissom. [5] This race was the most competitive (37 lead changes among 13 drivers) since 1983 and once again the lead changed twice a lap on several laps.

Top 10 finishers

Pos [4] GridNo.DriverManufacturerLapsLaps ledPointsTime/Status
11528 Dale Jarrett Ford 200261803:43:49
21124 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 20018175+0.19 seconds
31310 Ricky Rudd Ford 2000165Lead lap under green flag
4716 Ted Musgrave Ford 2001165Lead lap under green flag
5194 Bill Elliott Ford 20015160Lead lap under green flag
6277 Geoffrey Bodine Ford 2001155Lead lap under green flag
726 Mark Martin Ford 20041151Lead lap under green flag
83898 Jeremy Mayfield Ford 2000142Lead lap under green flag
9987 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 2000138Lead lap under green flag
102515 Dick Trickle Ford 2000134Lead lap under green flag

Timeline

Section reference: [4]

Standings after the race

PosDriverPoints [4] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Jeff Gordon 25530
2 1rightarrow.png Sterling Marlin 2447-106
3 Increase2.svg Ted Musgrave 2397-156
4 Decrease2.svg Dale Earnhardt 2389-164
5 1rightarrow.png Mark Martin 2380-173
6 1rightarrow.png Terry Labonte 2141-412
7 1rightarrow.png Rusty Wallace 2139-414
8 1rightarrow.png Michael Waltrip 2069-484
9 Decrease2.svg Morgan Shepherd 2060-493
10 1rightarrow.png Bobby Labonte 2024-529

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References

  1. Weather information for the 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Pocono Raceway". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Race information regarding the 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Racing Reference
  5. Remember When: The Season of 1995 Part II at Popular Speed
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1995
Succeeded by