1996 Hanes 500

1996 Hanes 500

Race details
Race 26 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1996 Hanes 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	September 22, 1996
Official name	48th Annual Hanes 500
Location	Ridgeway, Virginia, Martinsville Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Average speed	82.223 miles per hour (132.325 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Bobby Hamilton	Petty Enterprises
Time	20.119
Most laps led
Driver	Bobby Hamilton	Petty Enterprises
Laps	331
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1996 Hanes 500 was the 26th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 48th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 22, 1996, in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a 0.526 miles (0.847 km) permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. In a one-lap shootout to the finish, Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon would manage to defend the field to take his 18th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his ninth victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Hendrick Motorsports driver Terry Labonte and Petty Enterprises driver Bobby Hamilton would finish second and third, respectively.

Martinsville Speedway is an NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 20, at 3:00 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, September 21, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-32 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.

Bobby Hamilton, driving for Petty Enterprises, would win the pole, setting a time of 20.119 and an average speed of 94.120 miles per hour (151.471 km/h).^[4]

Six drivers would fail to qualify: Derrike Cope, Brett Bodine, Chad Little, Ward Burton, Billy Standridge, and Gary Bradberry.