1996 MBNA 500

{{Short description|25th race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series}}

{{Infobox NASCAR race report|Type=NASWINSTON|Scheduled_km=804.672|Official_name=28th Annual MBNA 500|Caption=The 1996 Miller 500 program cover, featuring Ward Burton.|Radio=Motor Racing Network|Network=TNN|First_Team=Hendrick Motorsports|Most_Team=Hendrick Motorsports|First_Driver=Jeff Gordon|Most_Driver=Jeff Gordon|Pole_Team=Joe Gibbs Racing|Pole_Driver=Bobby Labonte|Most_laps=204|Car=24|Distance_km=804.672|Location=Dover, Delaware, Dover International Speedway|Scheduled_laps=500|Scheduled_mi=500|Distance_laps=500|Avg={{convert|105.646|mph|km/h}}|Date=September 15|Pole_Time=23.213|Course_km=1.6|Course_mi=1|Race_Name=MBNA 500|Year=1996|Season_No=31|Race_No=25|Distance_mi=500|Announcers=Eli Gold, Dick Berggren, Buddy Baker|Image=1996_MBNA_500.jpeg}}

The 1996 MBNA 500 was the 25th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 15, 1996, in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to dominate the late stages of the race to take his 17th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his eighth victory of the season.{{Cite web |last=Higgins |first=Tom |date=September 16, 1996 |title=Gordon cruises at Dover |url=http://www.thatsracin.com/96/docs/9_15mbna.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000815213708/http://www.thatsracin.com/96/docs/9_15mbna.htm |archive-date=August 15, 2000 |access-date=October 24, 2022 |website=That's Racin' |publisher=The Charlotte Observer}}{{Cite news |last=McKee |first=Sandra |date=September 16, 1996 |title=Gordon holds off Wallace by .441 of a second at Dover |pages=120 |work=The Baltimore Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111890430/gordon-holds-off-wallace-by-441-of-a/ |access-date=October 24, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} To fill out the top three, Penske Racing South driver Rusty Wallace and Robert Yates Racing driver Dale Jarrett would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

File:Dover_International_Speedway.svg, the venue where the race was held.]]

Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

= Entry list =

(R) denotes rookie driver.

class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"

!Driver

!Team

!Make

!Sponsor

|Rick Mast

|Precision Products Racing

1996 MBNA 500

Background

= Entry list =

Qualifying

= Full qualifying results =

Race results

References