| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 19 of 31 in the1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 1996 Brickyard 400 program cover | |||
| Date | August 3, 1996 (1996-08-03) | ||
| Location | Indianapolis Motor Speedway,Speedway,Indiana | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.5 miles (4.023 km) | ||
| Distance | 160 laps, 400 mi (643.74 km) | ||
| Weather | Warm with temperatures approaching 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 139.508 mph (224.516 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Johnny Benson Jr. | Bahari Racing | |
| Laps | 70 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 88 | Dale Jarrett | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC | ||
| Announcers | Danny Sullivan,Bob Jenkins andBenny Parsons | ||
| Nielsen ratings | 4.3/-[2] | ||
The1996 Brickyard 400, the 3rd running of theevent, was aNASCARWinston Cup Series race held on August 3, 1996, at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway inSpeedway,Indiana. The race was the nineteenth of the1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.Jeff Gordon ofHendrick Motorsports won thepole position with a speed of 176.419 miles per hour (283.919 km/h),[3] whileRobert Yates Racing'sDale Jarrett won the race.
The track had been repaved, and speeds had been reported to have increased by 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h).[4]
Five laps into the race, the first caution flew for a crash involvingGreg Sacks,Robert Pressley,Ricky Craven,Dave Marcis, andBobby Hillin Jr.[5] On lap 23, pole-sitterJeff Gordon cut his right-front tire and hit the wall;[4] Gordon finished 37th.[5] Subsequently,Johnny Benson Jr. took the lead, and led a race-high 70 laps.[5]Ernie Irvan took the lead from Benson on lap 108, and on lap 126, an error made during a pit stop dropped Benson to 13th.[4] Meanwhile,Dale Jarrett took the lead from hisRobert Yates Racing teammate Irvan, who reclaimed the lead on lap 139 after passing Jarrett in turn 3. Jarrett managed to pass Irvan in turn 2[6] of lap 154,[5] and kept the lead after the race ended under caution due to Pressley crashing in turn 4 on lap 159.[6] Irvan finished second, followed byTerry Labonte,Mark Martin,Morgan Shepherd,Ricky Rudd,Rusty Wallace, Benson,Rick Mast andBill Elliott.[5]
Afterwards, Jarrett and crew chiefTodd Parrott kissed the yard of bricks at the start/finish line, a practice that has continued to be performed in NASCAR,[7] and was eventually also done byGil de Ferran after his win in theIndianapolis 500 in2003.[8]
In the points standings after the race, Terry Labonte led with 2792 points,Dale Earnhardt trailed with 2731 points; Jarrett (2729), Jeff Gordon (2688), and Ricky Rudd (2415) rounded out the Top 5.[5]
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terry Labonte | 2792 |
| 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 2731 |
| 3 | Dale Jarrett | 2729 |
| 4 | Jeff Gordon | 2688 |
| 5 | Ricky Rudd | 2415 |
| 6 | Rusty Wallace | 2393 |
| 7 | Ernie Irvan | 2363 |
| 8 | Mark Martin | 2357 |
| 9 | Ken Schrader | 2336 |
| 10 | Sterling Marlin | 2336 |
The 1996 Brickyard 400 was carried live on television byABC Sports.Paul Page, who was the announcer on ABC's Indianapolis 500 broadcasts, served as host for the final time.Bob Jenkins,1973Cup Series championBenny Parsons and1985 Indianapolis 500 winnerDanny Sullivan called the race from the broadcast booth except Sullivan who was stationed in turn 2.Jerry Punch,Jack Arute andGary Gerould handled pit road for the television side.
| ABC/ESPN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Host | Booth announcers | Pit reporters | |
| Lap-by-lap | Color-commentators | ||
| Paul Page | Bob Jenkins | Benny Parsons Danny Sullivan | Jerry Punch Jack Arute Gary Gerould |
| Preceded by | NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1996 | Succeeded by |