1996 DieHard 500

Last updated
1996 DieHard 500
Race details
Race 18 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1996 DieHard 500.jpeg
The 1996 DieHard 500 program cover, featuring Sterling Marlin.
DateJuly 28, 1996
Official name 28th Annual DieHard 500
Location Lincoln, Alabama, Talladega Superspeedway
Course Permanent racing facility
2.66 mi (4.28 km)
Distance 129 laps, 343.14 mi (552.249 km)
Scheduled Distance 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Average speed 133.387 miles per hour (214.666 km/h)
Attendance 100,000
Pole position
Driver Cale Yarborough Motorsports
Time 49.779
Most laps led
Driver Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing
Laps 40
Winner
No. 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network CBS
Announcers Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, Buddy Baker
Radio in the United States
Radio Motor Racing Network

The 1996 DieHard 500 was the 18th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, July 28, 1996, before an audience of 100,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race was shortened from its scheduled 188 laps to 129 laps due to darkness caused by rain delays and lengthy crash cleanups. At race's end, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to avoid numerous crashes and stay in front when the race was eventually called to take his 15th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series and his sixth victory of the season. [1] [2] To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett and Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish second and third, respectively.

Contents

On lap 117, a major crash involving 13 drivers, including the drivers of Dale Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin, would occur on the track's frontstretch. Marlin would be spun by hitting Ernie Irvan's front bumper, sending him into Earnhardt. Earnhardt would proceed to crash violently into the outside wall, sending Earnhardt into a flip before landing on all four wheels. In the midst of the chaos, others would be involved in the accident, with many placing blame on Irvan and Marlin for the crash. In the process, Earnhardt would be transported to the Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama where he was diagnosed with a broken sternum and a broken left collarbone. [3]

Background

The layout of Talladega Superspeedway, the venue where the race was held. Talladega Superspeedway.svg
The layout of Talladega Superspeedway, the venue where the race was held.

Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4 km) tri-oval.

Entry list

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor
1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Pontiac Hooters
2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford Miller
3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet GM Goodwrench Service Plus
4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet Kodak
5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford Valvoline
7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford QVC
8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford Circuit City
9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford Spam
10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford Tide
11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford Lowe's
12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford Badcock Home Furniture
15 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Bud Moore Engineering Ford Hayes Modems
16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford PrimeStar, The Family Channel
17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet Parts America
18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet Interstate Batteries, Pro Football Hall of Fame
19 Loy Allen Jr. TriStar Motorsports Ford HealthSource RI
21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford Citgo
22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac MBNA
23 Jimmy Spencer Haas-Carter Motorsports Ford Camel Cigarettes
24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet DuPont
25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Budweiser, 1996 Summer Olympics
28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford Texaco, Havoline
29 Greg Sacks Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet Cartoon Network, The Flintstones
30 Johnny Benson Jr. (R) Bahari Racing Pontiac Pennzoil
33 Robert Pressley Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet Skoal
37 Jeremy Mayfield Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford Kmart, Little Caesars
41 Ricky Craven Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet Kodiak
42 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac Coors Light
43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac STP
44 Jeff Purvis Phoenix Racing Chevrolet David Lee Murphy
71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet Prodigy
75 Morgan Shepherd Butch Mock Motorsports Ford Remington Arms
77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford Jasper Engines & Transmissions
81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford Square D, TIC Financial Systems
87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet Burger King
88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford Quality Care Service, Ford Credit
90 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford Heilig-Meyers
94 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford McDonald's
95 Gary Bradberry Sadler Brothers Racing Ford Shoney's
97 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Pontiac Sterling Cowboy
98 Jeremy Mayfield Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford RCA
99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford Exide

Qualifying

Qualifying was originally scheduled split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, July 26, at 4:00 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. [4] However, on Saturday, July 27, rain would eventually force the cancellation of second-round qualifying, and the decision was made that positions 26-38 would be determined by their first round qualifying speeds 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; up to four provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field. [5]

Jeremy Mayfield, driving for Cale Yarborough Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.779 and an average speed of 192.370 miles per hour (309.590 km/h) in the first round. [6]

Chad Little was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed
198 Jeremy Mayfield Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 49.779192.370
224 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.027191.417
388 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 50.113191.088
43 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 50.187190.806
59 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 50.262190.522
628 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 50.291190.412
799 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 50.315190.321
86 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 50.411189.959
917 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 50.423189.913
1030 Johnny Benson Jr. (R) Bahari Racing Pontiac 50.467189.748
1190 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford 50.472189.729
1281 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 50.514189.571
131 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Pontiac 50.546189.451
1433 Robert Pressley Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 50.598189.256
1523 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 50.603189.238
164 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 50.620189.174
1716 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 50.645189.081
1842 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac 50.654189.047
1937 John Andretti Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 50.654189.047
2044 Jeff Purvis Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 50.661189.021
2171 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 50.709188.842
2221 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 50.723188.790
2312 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 50.735188.745
2418 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 50.736188.742
258 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 50.737188.738
2625 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.769188.619
2741 Ricky Craven Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.779188.582
2810 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 50.809188.471
295 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 50.847188.330
3077 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 50.866188.259
3119 Loy Allen Jr. TriStar Motorsports Ford 50.877188.219
322 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 50.902188.126
3322 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 50.908188.104
3429 Greg Sacks Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 50.925188.041
3515 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Bud Moore Engineering Ford 50.949187.953
3675 Morgan Shepherd Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 50.957187.923
3743 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 50.982187.831
3895 Gary Bradberry Sadler Brothers Racing Ford 51.008187.735
Provisionals
3994 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 51.447186.133
407 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 51.055187.562
4111 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 51.064187.529
4287 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 51.104187.383
Failed to qualify
4397 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Pontiac 51.155187.196
Official first round qualifying results
Official starting lineup

Race

Rain Delay

The race was due to start at 12:15pm CST but rain delayed the start time to 3:35pm and ran eleven laps before rain red flagged the race at 4:09pm with the race restarting at 4:32pm and the race starting at 4:36pm on lap thirteen.

Race Start


The Big One

On lap 116, Earnhardt was leading with Marlin on his outside and Irvan behind him, the big one happened when Irvan got into Marlin which led him to turn into Earnhardt. Earnhardt was hit in the roof by Derrike Cope and on the side by Robert Pressley. The accident also collected Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Lake Speed, Brett Bodine, Wally Dallenbach, Jr., Ward Burton, Ken Schrader, Greg Sacks and Ricky Craven. Martin had a puncture and Irvan had right front fender damage but both stayed on the lead lap, Craven fell a lap down and Bodine fell three laps down. The race was red flagged on lap 118 to clear up the cars of Earnhardt, Marlin, Pressley, Labonte, Speed, Burton, Schrader, Craven, and Dallenbach, Jr did not restart the race. Earnhardt was then sent to hospital with a broken collarbone and sternum.

Finish

Wight light fading, NASCAR elected to shorten the race with a five lap shootout from the green flag on lap 125. Gordon would win from Jarrett. The race would be completed by 7:05pm

Race results

FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings
1224 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 12937running180$272,550
2388 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 1295running175$55,070
386 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 1297running170$53,980
4628 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 1291running165$44,455
51523 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 1290running155$50,025
6407 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 1290running150$40,175
7799 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 1290running146$23,475
82418 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 1290running142$33,425
9917 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 1290running138$27,795
10322 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 1290running134$31,925
112171 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 1293running135$19,955
121842 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac 1290running127$26,575
133994 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 1290running124$26,255
143675 Morgan Shepherd Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 1290running121$18,985
154287 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 1290running118$26,710
16198 Jeremy Mayfield Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 12912running120$24,375
173743 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 1280running112$25,110
181030 Johnny Benson Jr. (R) Bahari Racing Pontiac 1280running109$25,905
192741 Ricky Craven Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1280running106$24,625
201281 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 1270running103$19,085
213119 Loy Allen Jr. TriStar Motorsports Ford 1260running100$17,005
224111 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 1260running97$23,595
233895 Gary Bradberry Sadler Brothers Racing Ford 1210running94$13,495
24295 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1200crash91$29,715
253429 Greg Sacks Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 1190crash88$23,335
262625 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1190crash85$23,060
272312 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 1170crash82$22,490
2843 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 11740crash89$31,020
29164 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 11719crash81$29,450
3059 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 1170crash73$19,830
311433 Robert Pressley Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 1171crash75$19,690
323515 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Bud Moore Engineering Ford 1170crash67$19,620
333322 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 1170crash64$27,540
34258 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 1140running61$12,495
353077 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 1130running58$12,465
361716 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 1130running55$19,420
372810 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 1130running52$27,406
381190 Dick Trickle Donlavey Racing Ford 1090crash49$12,250
391937 John Andretti Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 1024crash51$19,250
402044 Jeff Purvis Phoenix Racing Chevrolet 860engine43$12,250
41131 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Pontiac 850running40$19,250
422221 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 160engine37$19,250
Failed to qualify
4397 Chad Little Mark Rypien Motorsports Pontiac
Official race results

Media

Television

The Diehard 500 was covered by CBS in the United States. Ken Squier, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Ned Jarrett and 1975 race winner Buddy Baker called the race from the broadcast booth. Mike Joy, David Hobbs and Dick Berggren handled pit road for the television side. Due to the rain delay, CBS aired Golf instead but aired the race as an abridge broadcast on August 4th, the day after the 1996 Brickyard 400. This would be the last race David Hobbs would work with CBS as he would leave for Speedvision to cover their Formula One races.

CBS
Booth announcersPit reporters
Lap-by-lapColor-commentators
Ken Squier Ned Jarrett
Buddy Baker
Mike Joy
David Hobbs
Dick Berggren

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References

  1. Harris, Mike (July 29, 1993). "Gordon triumphs as Earnhardt escapes serious injury". Messenger-Inquirer. p. 11. Retrieved January 7, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. McCollister, Tom (July 29, 1996). "Gordon first; Earnhardt injured". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 23. Retrieved January 8, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  3. Higgins, Tom (July 29, 1996). "Opinions differ on cause of crash". The Charlotte Observer. p. 20. Retrieved January 8, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. "DieHard 500". The Charlotte Observer . July 26, 1996. p. 22. Retrieved January 8, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  5. Higgins, Tom (July 28, 1996). "Mayfield has pole for Talladega race, but it may not help". The Charlotte Observer. p. 118. Retrieved January 8, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. Harris, Mike (July 27, 1996). "Little-known Mayfield wins first Winston Cup pole". The Stuart News. p. 40. Retrieved January 8, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
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