1996 AC Delco 400 Last updated November 10, 2025 29th race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Motor car race
The 1996 AC Delco 400 was the 29th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 32nd iteration of the event . The race was held on Sunday, October 20, 1996, in Rockingham, North Carolina , at North Carolina Speedway , a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 393 laps to complete. At race's end, Ricky Rudd , driving for his own Rudd Performance Motorsports team, would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 17th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season. Meanwhile, third-place finisher, Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte , would manage to overtake the points lead from teammate Jeff Gordon , leading Gordon by 32 points. [ 1] [ 2] To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett would finish second.
Background The layout of North Carolina Speedway , the venue where the race was held. North Carolina Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School. [ 3]
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver.Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, October 18, at 2:00 PM EST . Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, October 19, at 9:30 AM EST . As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-32 would be decided on time, [ 4] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points.
Dale Jarrett , driving for Robert Yates Racing , would win the pole, setting a time of 23.291 and an average speed of 157.194 miles per hour (252.979 km/h) . [ 5]
Three drivers would fail to qualify: Ed Berrier , Norm Benning , and Terry Byers .
Race results Fin St # Driver Team Make Laps Led Status Pts Winnings 1 2 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 393 81 running 180 $90,025 2 1 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 393 207 running 180 $62,125 3 19 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 393 0 running 165 $46,725 4 20 28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 393 47 running 165 $35,950 5 22 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 393 14 running 160 $25,675 6 5 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 393 1 running 155 $33,300 7 4 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 393 0 running 146 $31,100 8 25 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 393 0 running 142 $28,900 9 15 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 393 37 running 143 $30,700 10 14 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 393 0 running 134 $28,100 11 12 8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 393 0 running 130 $17,400 12 3 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 392 1 running 132 $35,000 13 28 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 392 0 running 124 $29,150 14 34 21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 392 1 running 126 $23,700 15 13 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 392 0 running 118 $28,200 16 17 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 392 0 running 115 $23,200 17 41 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 391 0 running 112 $29,200 18 9 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 391 0 running 109 $22,700 19 8 81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 391 0 running 106 $15,400 20 10 33 Todd Bodine Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet 390 0 running 103 $25,850 21 24 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 390 0 running 100 $21,525 22 29 41 Ricky Craven Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 390 0 running 97 $21,325 23 31 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 390 0 running 94 $21,125 24 40 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 389 0 running 91 $20,925 25 11 42 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac 389 0 running 88 $20,925 26 6 98 John Andretti Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 387 1 running 90 $13,525 27 32 95 Gary Bradberry Sadler Brothers Racing Ford 387 0 running 82 $10,125 28 26 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 386 0 running 79 $20,225 29 39 75 Morgan Shepherd Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 385 0 running 76 $13,025 30 37 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 377 0 running 73 $12,825 31 21 90 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford 353 0 running 70 $12,600 32 16 94 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 326 0 handling 67 $19,000 33 42 77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 311 0 water pump 64 $9,400 34 33 37 Jeremy Mayfield Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 311 0 crash 61 $16,300 35 23 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 305 0 crash 58 $16,200 36 36 15 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Bud Moore Engineering Ford 303 0 crash 55 $16,175 37 30 29 Robert Pressley Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 294 0 engine 52 $16,175 38 18 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Pontiac 281 0 crash 49 $16,100 39 27 12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 267 3 crash 51 $17,675 40 38 30 Johnny Benson Jr. (R) Bahari Racing Pontiac 225 0 crash 43 $17,100 41 35 78 Billy Standridge Triad Motorsports Ford 140 0 handling 40 $9,100 42 7 40 Robby Gordon Team SABCO Chevrolet 4 0 crash 37 $9,100 Failed to qualify 43 60 Ed Berrier Berrier Racing Ford 44 79 Norm Benning T.R.I.X. Racing Pontiac 45 82 Terry Byers Byers Racing Chevrolet Official race results
References ↑ Green Jr., Ron (October 21, 1996). "Rudd's Rockingham victory extends streak" . That's Racin' . The Charlotte Observer . Archived from the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved October 25, 2022 . ↑ Strubin, John (October 21, 1996). "Rudd gamble works despite pit(iful) crew" . Fort Worth Star-Telegram . p. 73. Retrieved October 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com . ↑ "Fast Track High Performance Driving School, Inc" . Fasttrackracing.com. Retrieved July 16, 2012 . ↑ "AC Delco 400" . The Charlotte Observer . October 18, 1996. p. 30. Retrieved October 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com . ↑ Harris, Mike (October 19, 1996). "Jarrett shows muscle in battle for Winston Cup crown" . Palladium-Item . p. 16. Retrieved October 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
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