1996 Miller 400 (Richmond)

1996 Miller 400

Race details
Race 24 of 31 in the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1996 Miller 400 program cover, featuring Rusty Wallace. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Date	September 7, 1996
Official name	39th Annual Miller 400
Location	Richmond, Virginia, Richmond International Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.75 mi (1.21 km)
Distance	400 laps, 300 mi (482.803 km)
Scheduled Distance	400 laps, 300 mi (482.803 km)
Average speed	105.469 miles per hour (169.736 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Roush Racing
Time	21.997
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	168
Winner
No. 28	Ernie Irvan	Robert Yates Racing
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 Miller 400 was the 24th stock car race of the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 39th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, September 7, 1996, in Richmond, Virginia, at Richmond International Raceway, a 0.75 miles (1.21 km) D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race, Robert Yates Racing driver Ernie Irvan would manage to defend and come out victorious against Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon, only beating Gordon by a tenth of a second. The win was Irvan's 14th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Jeff Burton would finish third.

Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series. Known as "America's premier short track", it formerly hosted a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, an IndyCar Series race, and two USAC sprint car races.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Friday, September 6, at 5:30 PM EST. However, only six drivers were able to set a lap before qualifying was rained out and postponed until Saturday, September 7, at 12:00 PM EST. Qualifying was eventually combined into only one round.^[3] Each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-36 would be decided on time,^[4] 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.

Mark Martin, driving for Roush Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 21.997 and an average speed of 122.744 miles per hour (197.537 km/h).^[5]

Three drivers would fail to qualify: Stacy Compton, Jay Sauter, and Gary Bradberry.