1996 Save Mart Supermarkets 300 Last updated May 16, 2025 Tenth race of the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Motor car race
The 1996 Save Mart Supermarkets 300 was the tenth stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series , the fourth race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston West Series , and the eighth iteration of the event . The race was held on Sunday, May 5, 1996, in Sonoma, California , at the Grand Prix layout of Sears Point Raceway , a 2.52 miles (4.06 km) permanent road course layout. The race took the scheduled 74 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace would manage to pull away on the final restart with six to go to take his 43rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season. [ 1] [ 2] To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Bud Moore Engineering driver Wally Dallenbach Jr. would finish second and third, respectively.
Background The layout of Sears Point Raceway used by NASCAR at the time. Sears Point Raceway is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Watkins Glen International . The standard road course at Sears Point Raceway is a 12-turn course that is 2.52 miles (4.06 km) long; [ 3] the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute , which bypassed turns 5 and 6, shortening the course to 1.95 miles (3.14 km) . The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout. [ 4] In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn , 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of 1.99 miles (3.20 km) . [ 5]
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver.Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, May 3, at 6:00 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, May 4, at 3:00 PM EST . As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-38 would be decided on time, [ 6] and four spots would be determined by NASCAR Winston Cup Series provisionals, while two more additional provisionals would be given to teams in the Winston West Series.
Terry Labonte , driving for Hendrick Motorsports , would win the pole, setting a time of 1:38.050 and an average speed of 92.524 miles per hour (148.903 km/h) . [ 7]
Seven drivers would fail to qualify: Geoff Bodine , Chad Little , Mark Krogh , Joe Bean , Wayne Jacks , Bill McAnally , and Lance Hooper .
Race results Fin St # Driver Team Make Laps Led Status Pts Winnings 1 7 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing South Ford 74 36 running 185 $58,395 2 4 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 74 0 running 170 $58,640 3 10 15 Wally Dallenbach Jr. Bud Moore Engineering Ford 74 0 running 165 $50,850 4 5 3 Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 74 6 running 165 $39,160 5 1 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 74 13 running 160 $41,995 6 6 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 74 12 running 155 $48,145 7 2 10 Ricky Rudd Rudd Performance Motorsports Ford 74 0 running 146 $31,195 8 12 25 Ken Schrader Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 74 0 running 142 $26,495 9 21 18 Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 74 0 running 138 $29,945 10 15 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Pontiac 74 0 running 134 $36,740 11 25 37 John Andretti Kranefuss-Haas Racing Ford 74 0 running 130 $24,430 12 20 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 74 0 running 127 $20,530 13 35 8 Hut Stricklin Stavola Brothers Racing Ford 74 0 running 124 $19,230 14 27 17 Darrell Waltrip Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Chevrolet 74 0 running 121 $23,130 15 14 4 Sterling Marlin Morgan–McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 74 0 running 118 $29,130 16 26 9 Lake Speed Melling Racing Ford 74 0 running 115 $22,880 17 19 43 Bobby Hamilton Petty Enterprises Pontiac 74 0 running 112 $22,205 18 31 30 Johnny Benson Jr. (R) Bahari Racing Pontiac 74 0 running 109 $23,055 19 38 1 Rick Mast Precision Products Racing Pontiac 74 1 running 111 $21,830 20 13 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 74 0 running 103 $23,505 21 22 23 Jimmy Spencer Travis Carter Enterprises Ford 74 0 running 100 $21,505 22 16 21 Michael Waltrip Wood Brothers Racing Ford 74 0 running 97 $21,355 23 11 16 Ted Musgrave Roush Racing Ford 74 0 running 94 $21,230 24 24 75 Morgan Shepherd Butch Mock Motorsports Ford 74 0 running 91 $14,060 25 40 29 Steve Grissom Diamond Ridge Motorsports Chevrolet 74 0 running 88 $21,150 26 39 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 74 0 running 85 $10,730 27 33 81 Kenny Wallace FILMAR Racing Ford 74 0 running 82 $10,705 28 32 94 Tommy Kendall Bill Elliott Racing Ford 73 4 running 84 $20,730 29 36 19 Dick Trickle TriStar Motorsports Ford 73 0 running 76 $10,620 30 8 42 Kyle Petty Team SABCO Pontiac 73 0 running 73 $20,590 31 3 41 Ricky Craven Larry Hedrick Motorsports Chevrolet 73 0 running 70 $20,840 32 37 98 Jeremy Mayfield Cale Yarborough Motorsports Ford 73 0 running 67 $12,790 33 41 71 Dave Marcis Marcis Auto Racing Chevrolet 73 2 running 69 $10,255 34 30 33 Robert Pressley Leo Jackson Motorsports Chevrolet 72 0 running 61 $17,240 35 28 14 Jeff Krogh Excel Motorsports Chevrolet 71 0 running 58 $10,215 36 43 35 Larry Gunselman Race Stuff Motorsports Ford 70 0 running 55 $10,200 37 44 38 Rich Woodland Jr. Bill Stroppe Motorsports Chevrolet 68 0 running 52 $10,095 38 29 00 Scott Gaylord Oliver Racing Chevrolet 67 0 running 49 $10,095 39 17 12 Derrike Cope Bobby Allison Motorsports Ford 65 0 accident 46 $17,095 40 23 7 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 65 0 running 43 $17,095 41 9 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet 64 0 running 40 $17,095 42 18 28 Ernie Irvan Robert Yates Racing Ford 61 0 running 37 $26,095 43 34 77 Bobby Hillin Jr. Jasper Motorsports Ford 55 0 running 34 $10,095 44 42 90 Mike Wallace Donlavey Racing Ford 52 0 rear end 31 $10,095 Failed to qualify 45 07 Geoff Bodine Geoff Bodine Racing Ford 46 45 Chad Little JTC Racing Chevrolet 47 20 Mark Krogh Excel Motorsports Chevrolet 48 03 Joe Bean Bean Racing Ford 49 58 Wayne Jacks Jacks Motorsports Pontiac 50 02 Bill McAnally Bill McAnally Racing Chevrolet 51 07W Lance Hooper Golden West Motorsports Pontiac Official race results
References ↑ Higgins, Tom (May 6, 1996). "Wallace springs into action at Sears Point" . That's Racin' . The Charlotte Observer . Archived from the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved October 14, 2022 . ↑ "Wallace wins in California" . Asheville Citizen-Times . May 6, 1996. p. 19. Retrieved October 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com . ↑ "Sears Point" . www.gt-racing.co.uk . Retrieved November 13, 2021 . ↑ "Passing is tough in Chute | chronicle.augusta.com" . June 7, 2011. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2021 . ↑ "SEARS POINT BREAKS GROUND ON MODIFIED CHUTE - RacingWest" . September 29, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved November 13, 2021 . ↑ "Save Mart 300" . The Charlotte Observer . May 3, 1996. p. 28. Retrieved October 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com . ↑ Higgins, Tom (May 4, 1996). "Terry Labonte wins fourth pole this year" . The Anniston Star . p. 15. Retrieved October 14, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
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