1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 (June)

Last updated
1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500
Race details [1]
Race 12 of 31 in the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Dover International Speedway.PNG
Layout of Dover International Speedway
Date June 4, 1995 (1995-June-04)
Official name Miller Genuine Draft 500
Location Dover Downs International Speedway, Dover, Delaware
Course Permanent racing facility
1.000 mi (1.609 km)
Distance 500 laps, 500.0 mi (804.6 km)
Weather Temperatures of 77.9 °F (25.5 °C); wind speeds of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Average speed 119.880 miles per hour (192.928 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
 Hendrick Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver Kyle Petty SABCO Racing
Laps 271
Winner
No. 42Kyle PettySABCO Racing
Television in the United States
Network TNN
Announcers Mike Joy
Buddy Baker
Dick Berggren

The 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on June 4, 1995, at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Delaware.

Contents

Souvenir programs of this race sold for $10.00 ($17.78 when adjusted for inflation) and featured the then-favored driver Rusty Wallace. This race would see the final race victory from a Petty family member: Kyle Petty, son of Richard Petty and grandson of Lee Petty.

Background

Dover Downs International Speedway, now called Dover International Speedway, is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway. [2] The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval that is 1 mile (1.6 km) long. [3] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch are banked at nine degrees. [3]

Race report

Kyle Petty would defeat Bobby Labonte by nearly a quarter of a second after racing for more than four hours; leading Pontiac to its first victory since Penske Racing South switched to Ford vehicles. Ted Musgrave would've won this race had he not run out of gas on the backstretch on the lap he made his final pit stop. At the end he ran down Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty from a long way back, but he could not get by Bobby. [4] [5]

After the race, Petty had to be put on oxygen due to the double pneumonia that he had at the time. While Jeff Gordon would win the pole position at 153.669 miles per hour (247.306 km/h) during qualifying, the average pace of the race was 119.880 miles per hour (192.928 km/h). The fan favorite, Rusty Wallace, started in 16th place and would make an improvement of seven positions to finish ninth on lap 499. Almost 8% of the race was run under caution and the average green flag run was a 77 laps. [4] Petty's final win in the NASCAR Cup Series would eventually signal an end to the dominance that the Petty family had in NASCAR (with his father Richard not winning a race after the 1984 Firecracker 400 and retiring after the 1992 Hooters 500). [6]

Ward Burton started on the front row and had a strong run early, leading all but one of the first 44 laps. He was still running in the top 10 when the suspension failed in his car and he slapped the turn 4 wall. No caution came out, but Burton was done for the day. [4]

There were 20 changes in first-place this race; with Petty holding the lead for 82 laps at one point during the event. There were 500 laps. All of the 42 drivers on the racing grid were male and American-born. Bobby Hillin Jr. would become the last-place finisher of this race on lap 2 along with Elton Sawyer, Dale Jarrett, and John Andretti. [4] This was the very first race at Dover after the track was repaved, converting from black asphalt to its now famous white concrete. The switch was accompanied by a 19-car crash on Lap 2. [4]

This event was known as The Big One at Dover. [7] Kyle Petty walked away $77,665 richer ($138,114.46 when adjusted for inflation) while Hillin Jr. walked away with $12,780 ($22,727.13 when adjusted for inflation). The overall winnings for this race were $1,031,965 ($1,835,180.39 when adjusted for inflation). [8]

Qualifying

Grid [4] No.DriverManufacturerOwner
124Jeff GordonChevroletRick Hendrick
231Ward BurtonChevroletAlan Dillard Jr.
318Bobby LabonteChevroletJoe Gibbs
437John AndrettiFordMichael Kranefuss
54Sterling MarlinChevroletLarry McClure
67Geoffrey BodineFordGeoffrey Bodine
741Ricky CravenChevroletLarry Hedrick
887Joe NemechekChevroletJoe Nemechek
926Hut StricklinFordKenny Bernstein
1011Brett BodineFordJunior Johnson

Failed to qualify: Doug French (#79), Loy Allen Jr. (#19) [9]

Finishing order

Section reference: [4]

  1. Kyle Petty
  2. Bobby Labonte
  3. Ted Musgrave
  4. Hut Stricklin
  5. Dale Earnhardt
  6. Jeff Gordon
  7. Sterling Marlin
  8. Michael Waltrip
  9. Rusty Wallace
  10. Joe Nemechek
  11. Ken Schrader
  12. Derrike Cope
  13. Rick Mast
  14. Mike Wallace
  15. Bill Elliott
  16. Steve Grissom
  17. Jeremy Mayfield
  18. Kenny Wallace
  19. Robert Pressley
  20. Darrell Waltrip
  21. Brett Bodine
  22. Ricky Craven
  23. Randy LaJoie
  24. Bobby Hamilton
  25. Jeff Burton
  26. Morgan Shepherd
  27. Geoff Bodine
  28. Greg Sacks
  29. Jimmy Spencer
  30. Todd Bodine
  31. Ricky Rudd
  32. Dick Trickle
  33. Chuck Bown
  34. Lake Speed
  35. Mark Martin
  36. Dave Marcis
  37. Terry Labonte
  38. Ward Burton
  39. John Andretti
  40. Dale Jarrett
  41. Elton Sawyer
  42. Bobby Hillin Jr.

Timeline

Section reference: [4]

Post-race standings

PosDriverPoints [4] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Dale Earnhardt 18090
2 Increase2.svg Sterling Marlin 1709-100
3 Increase2.svg Jeff Gordon 1703-106
4 Decrease2.svg Mark Martin 1627-182
5 1rightarrow.png Ted Musgrave 1626-183
6 Increase2.svg Bobby Labonte 1531-278
7 Increase2.svg Rusty Wallace 1495-314
8 Increase2.svg Michael Waltrip 1455-354
9 Decrease2.svg Bobby Hamilton 1451-358
10 Decrease2.svg Terry Labonte 1431-378

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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 12 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  3. 1 2 "NASCAR Tracks—The Dover International Speedway". Dover International Speedway. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 racing information at Racing Reference
  5. ↑ Petty enjoys Monster turnaround in 1995 at NASCAR.com
  6. ↑ Tires, wrecks at Dover lead to Petty's final Cup victory at NASCAR.com
  7. ↑ The Big One at Dover Part I, June 1995 at YouTube
  8. ↑ NASCAR Race Results for the 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  9. ↑ Qualifying information at Racing Reference
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1995		Succeeded by
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