1996 Pontiac Excitement 400 Last updated November 10, 2025 Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 1, at 10:30 AM 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, March 2, at 11:30 AM EST . As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-36 would be decided on time, [ 3] 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.
Terry Labonte , driving for Hendrick Motorsports , would win the pole, setting a time of 21.822 and an average speed of 123.728 miles per hour (199.121 km/h) . [ 4]
Three drivers would fail to qualify: Randy MacDonald , Robbie Faggart , and Dick Trickle .
Full qualifying results * Time not available.
Race results Fin St # Driver Team Make Laps Led Status Pts Winnings 1 2 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 124 running 180 $92,400 2 11 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 400 23 running 175 $44,225 3 15 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 400 0 running 165 $42,200 4 21 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 400 54 running 165 $22,350 5 5 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 400 0 running 155 $37,850 6 3 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 400 129 running 160 $37,900 7 14 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 400 26 running 151 $28,375 8 1 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 400 3 running 147 $34,475 9 34 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 400 0 running 138 $27,875 10 6 94 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott Racing Ford 400 26 running 139 $27,225 11 16 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 400 0 running 130 $28,675 12 38 37 John Andretti Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 400 0 running 127 $25,675 13 28 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 400 0 running 124 $26,725 14 13 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 399 0 running 121 $22,925 15 10 81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 399 0 running 118 $12,635 16 23 33 Robert Pressley Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 399 1 running 120 $22,570 17 4 41 Ricky Craven Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 399 0 running 112 $21,870 18 39 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 399 0 running 109 $21,720 19 18 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Pontiac 399 0 running 106 $21,495 20 36 42 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac 399 0 running 103 $23,170 21 7 29 Steve Grissom Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 399 0 running 100 $22,210 22 27 12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 398 0 running 97 $21,085 23 37 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 398 0 running 94 $26,515 24 25 90 Mike Wallace Donlavey Racing Ford 397 0 running 91 $13,890 25 24 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 397 0 running 88 $20,940 26 40 77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 397 0 running 85 $13,615 27 12 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 396 0 running 82 $20,490 28 29 98 Jeremy Mayfield Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 395 0 running 79 $13,365 29 30 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 394 1 running 81 $20,340 30 20 27 Elton Sawyer David Blair Motorsports Ford 394 0 running 73 $10,310 31 9 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 393 0 running 70 $27,265 32 22 75 Morgan Shepherd Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 392 0 running 67 $12,740 33 19 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 392 10 running 69 $17,225 34 8 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 391 0 running 61 $17,215 35 32 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 391 3 running 63 $10,215 36 35 21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 386 0 crash 55 $17,215 37 33 30 Johnny Benson Jr. (R) Bahari Racing Pontiac 386 0 running 52 $17,215 38 26 28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 379 0 overheating 49 $32,715 39 31 8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 288 0 running 46 $10,215 40 17 15 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Bud Moore Engineering Ford 19 0 crash 43 $18,215 Failed to qualify 41 78 Randy MacDonald Triad Motorsports Ford 42 02 Robbie Faggart Miles Motorsports Chevrolet 43 19 Dick Trickle TriStar Motorsports Ford Official race results
References ↑ Higgins, Tom (March 4, 1996). "Gordon out of pits, into Victory Lane" . That's Racin' . The Charlotte Observer . Archived from the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved October 10, 2022 . ↑ Luther, Bill (March 4, 1996). "Gordon roars to first win" . Citizens' Voice . p. 46. Retrieved October 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com . ↑ "Pontiac 400" . The Charlotte Observer . March 1, 1996. p. 28. Retrieved October 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com . ↑ Martin, Gerald (March 2, 1996). "Labonte, Gordon 1-2 for pole again" . The News and Observer . p. 34. Retrieved October 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
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